Since 1998, law enforcement has used Amber Alerts to quickly notify communities of potential child abductions, sharing license plate numbers and identifying information in an effort to quickly apprehend abductors within the critical first few hours.
Her namesake Amber Hagerman, 9, was abducted, kicking and screaming, from her pink bicycle in the parking lot of an abandoned Texas grocery store and bundled into a black van on January 13, 1996, two years before the first alert, according to Arlington. Police department.
Jim Kevil recalled the kidnapping in an interview with CBS 11 seven years ago.
“I saw [Amber] going up and down, I was alone,” Kevil said. “I saw this black van. He stopped, jumped up and grabbed her. When he screamed, I thought the police should know, so I called them.”
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Amber Hagerman, 9, was last seen by her parents before she and her little brother Ricky went for a bike ride through their neighborhood on January 13, 1996. She was found with her throat cut in her bed. from a nearby creek four days later, although her killer has never been captured, Amber's kidnapping inspired the national alert system that has reunited hundreds of kidnapped children with their families. (Arlington Police Department)
However, he and other witnesses painted a blurry picture of their abductor: a white or Hispanic man in his 20s or 30s, who was less than 6 feet tall, with brown or black hair and a medium build.
They remembered their vehicle most clearly: a full-size black truck from the '80s or '90s, fleet side, with a short wheelbase, a single cab, clear rear windows, no sliding window in the rear, no No chrome or scratches and in good condition with no noticeable dents or scratches.
Pictured is the bicycle that Amber Hagerman was riding when she was kidnapped in 1996, preserved as evidence by the Arlington Police Department. The box shows a photo of 9-year-old Amber riding it. (Arlington Police Department)
Fort Worth resident Diane Simone called an area radio station with a novel idea after hearing about Amber's disappearance in 1996, according to the Peacock documentary “Amber: The Girl Behind the Alert”: She broadcast details about the appearance of the girl and the suspect's vehicle so that drivers could keep their eyes peeled and help with the search.
The community mobilized to search the area, but despite their best efforts, the girl's body was recovered in a nearby creek bed, about four miles away, four days later. An autopsy would determine that she died from stab wounds to the neck.
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Pictured is the creek where Amber's body was recovered four days after her abduction, about four miles from the grocery store lot where she was snatched from her bicycle. Her throat had been slit, a later autopsy showed. (Arlington Police Department)
The girl's abductor has still not been apprehended, 28 years after she was last seen alive, despite more than 7,000 tips, according to the department.
In 2020, the Arlington Police Department announced plans to present evidence in the case in hopes of developing a DNA profile for Amber's abductor, but as of this year no progress has been announced.
Although she died young, Amber left a lasting impact. As of Dec. 31, 2023, 1,161 abducted children have been successfully rescued through the Amber Alert system, according to the U.S. Office of Justice Programs. Data collected by that office shows that 149 of those recoveries were the result direct emergency alerts sent to area cell phone users.
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Based on Simone's idea, a more sophisticated warning system was devised, whose acronym derives from the name of the Texas girl and stands for “America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.” Alerts are now displayed on phone screens, road signs and broadcasts when a child is abducted.
It was first successfully tested in 1998 when 8-week-old Rae-Leigh Bradbury was kidnapped by her babysitter.
Ninety minutes after the mass alert was sent, FOX 23 reported, a driver spotted the babysitter's car on a highway in Arlington, Texas.
“That's her!” the driver said in the 911 audio played in the Peacock documentary.
“I can not believe it!” Donna Williams, Amber's mother, told the filmmakers, adding that her rescue provided some comfort in the midst of her grief. “That was amazing. My mom and I looked up at the sky and said, 'You did it, girl!'”
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Despite decades without answers, Williams has continued to call for her daughter's killer to come forward.
“To Amber's killer, I ask you today to turn yourself in,” Williams said at a press conference in 2021. “Give Amber justice. Amber needs justice, deeply.”
Now, all 50 states have adopted the Amber Alert system, with 82 coverage areas nationwide as of 2023, data from the Office of Justice Programs shows.
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Pictured is a sign distributed by the Arlington Police Department in the days leading up to the recovery of Amber Hagerman's body. (Arlington Police Department)
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The Department of Transportation joined the initiative in 2022, according to OJP, using traffic signs, normally intended to warn drivers about inclement weather and construction, to display critical information about hijackings.
National criteria and a US Department of Justice Amber Alert coordinator were established for alerts under the PROTECT Act of 2003; Two years later, Hawaii became the 50th state to implement a statewide Amber Alert plan.
Canada and Mexico adopted the system in 2009, allowing them to cooperate more fully with the United States in the search for missing children.
In 2013, the Federal Emergency Management Agency began using its national alert system to send the now-iconic alerts directly to wireless users.
