The Amber Alert

Happy True Crime Thursday True Crimers! This weeks story is a truly sad one, but in light of a tragedy a system was put into place to help others going through similar situations. Today i'm covering the story of Amber Hagerman, the inspiration behind the Amber Alert. 

In January 1996, 9 year old Amber Hagerman and her 5 year old brother Ricky  went to Arlington, Texas to pay their grandparents Glenda and Jimmy Whitson a visit along with their mom Donna.  On the afternoon of January 13th around 3 pm the kids asked if they could go on a bike ride, Donna said yes without a second thought. They rode to the abandoned parking lot of a Winn-Dixie grocery store. A bike ramp set up by local kids was used often in that parking lot. After Ricky had his fun he was ready to go back, Amber wanted to stay and told Ricky to go on without her. Little did he know that this would be the last time he saw his sister.

Amber's Grandpa Jimmy became worried when Amber didn't come back home shortly after Ricky did, he got into his car and rushed over to the Winn-Dixie. When he arrived police were there, a man named Jim Kevil had called them, he had witnessed Amber being abducted. Shortly after Ricky left a black pickup truck pulled up and a young man took advantage of Amber being alone. He forcefully dragged her into the truck, she kicked and screamed, but he was able to successfully take her within seconds. Jim had called the police immediately after witnessing this happen from his backyard, he said the man took off west of Arlington.  

Amber's family quickly started handing out and hanging up flyers, they called local newspapers to have Amber's face put on the front page, and her mom went on television to plead to the stranger who took her daughter to set her free. Sadly that day didn't come.

Four days after Amber was abducted her body was found less than 5 miles away from where she was abducted. A man was walking his dog when the dog began to bark loudly and pulled the leash towards a local creek behind an apartment complex. This is where he discovered the nude body of Amber. The autopsy revealed Amber was held captive for 2 days after her abduction. It was also discovered that she was continuously sexually assaulted before her murder, her cause of death was a deep wound to the neck.  Unfortunately any evidence to help solve her case was washed away, a very large storm had come through causing the creek to rise rapidly. Today Amber's murder is still unsolved. 

Amber's parents pushed to have stricter laws governing predators and sex offenders. Soon they established P.A.S.O (People Against Sex Offenders,) they received almost daily coverage in the local media and the donations came flooding in. Congressman Martin Frost drafted the Amber Hagerman Child Protection Act. President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law, creating the National Sex Offender Registry.

 A woman named Diane Simone, a mother herself,  phoned into a Dallas radio station and asked "If you can interrupt programming and alert us of severe weather at any given time, why can't you immediately report when a child has been abducted?" Perhaps if the community had known Amber had been abducted and was aware of the suspect and vehicle description, Amber could have been located before she was killed.  This idea soon spiraled into something greater, and the nationwide Amber Alert System was created in Amber's honor in 1996. The program is currently used in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Indian country, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and 22 other countries. 

Since 1996, Arlington law enforcement has investigated up to 8,000 tips regarding Amber's case. None of them have opened any valuable leads. Lead detective Ben Lopez says he's still holding out hope that one day there will be an arrest. "There's a possibility that someone knows something and just hasn't come forward for some reason...I certainly hope that's the case."  

In 2016, 20 years after her daughters abduction/murder Donna did an interview where she stated "It's a shame my daughter had to be butchered and had to go through what she went through for us to have the Amber Alert, but I know she would be proud of it." "There's another part of me that wonders what would have happened if we would have had the alert when Amber went missing. Could it have helped bring her back to me?" 

Sadly we will never know. 

According to the Amber Alert Website, 957 children have been rescued because of the Amber Alert system as of April 2019.  

* If you or anyone you know has any information about the death of Amber Hagerman, or who is responsible, please call the Arlington Police Department at 817 274-4444.  Anonymous tips may also be reported to the Tarrant County Crime Stoppers at 817-479-TIPS (817-469-8477).

Resources:
https://sites.psu.edu/jiyoonnicky/unsolved-crimes/amber-hagerman/
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/9s3y02/in_1996_9_year_old_amber_hagerman_was_abducted/
https://morbidology.com/the-unsolved-murder-of-amber-hagerman/