Natalee Holloway has been missing more than 17 years after disappearing during a high school graduation trip in Aruba. Natalie’s mother, Beth Holloway, spoke at the Northeast Ohio AMBER Alert Conference March 25, 2022, about the desperation and panic she felt when her daughter went missing. “I think about in Natalee’s case the difference it would’ve made if we had a 911 number to call, if we would have had an AMBER Alert,” Holloway said. The case continues to spark international attention. A suspect has been named, but Natalee’s whereabouts are still a mystery.

Gina DeJesus also spoke at the conference about how she was kidnapped as a teen in 2002. She was held for more than a decade with two other young women before they escaped from the “house of horrors.” “I have had to learn a lot since I came home. I take it day by day,” she said. DeJesus has since started the “Cleveland Missing” organization to help find and support missing people.

Gina DeJesus, a woman who was held against her will for 11 years, has partnered with the Northeast Ohio AMBER Alert Committee to assist families and law enforcement agencies. DeJesus’s organization, the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children, will offer support in cases involving missing or endangered children. DeJesus was 14 when she was abducted and held in a home with two other female teens. You can read more about her story of survival and advocacy efforts for missing children in the June 2019 issue of The AMBER Advocate.