How The Abduction And Murder Of A 9-Year-Old Led To The AMBER Alert System

The AMBER alert system first debuted in 1996 as a collaboration between news media and police in Arlington, Texas. Named for Amber Hagerman, the alerts have helped find more than 1,000 abducted children.

January 10, 2022
Amber Hagerman missing poster, professional portrait of Amber

Amber Hagerman

Photo by: National Association for Missing & Exploited Children

National Association for Missing & Exploited Children

Amber Hagerman

It’s been nearly 30 years since 9-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted on January 13, 1996, while riding her bike with her younger brother, Ricky. The siblings had been at their grandmother’s home in Arlington, Texas, and were instructed not to ride further than around the block.

Instead, the children went to a nearby parking lot at a shuttered grocery store because there was a “cool ramp,” according to KIRO. Ricky, who remembered the warning to stay close, turned back.

Amber was gone within eight minutes. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the girl was taken by a man driving a black pickup truck. An eyewitness, whose yard was adjacent to the parking lot, told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth that he heard Amber scream when the man grabbed her, so he called police.

Despite the tip, it was too late. Four agonizing days passed for Amber’s family until a man walking his dog spotted the girl’s body in a creek bed about 4 miles from where she was abducted.

Arlington resident Diane Simone followed the unfolding saga on the evening news when the lightbulb came on—if there were emergency alerts for weather and national emergencies, why weren’t there alerts about abducted children?

National Attention

Her idea came to fruition as the AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert, a system managed by the U.S. Justice Department. With this new system, information about abducted and endangered children would be sent to radio and TV stations, departments of transportation, and to NCMEC.

In 1998, an AMBER Alert led authorities to rescue their first child, an 8-week-old baby who had been abducted by her babysitter. The child was recovered in less than 2 hours. Overhead highway signs were first used to spread the word about an AMBER Alert in 2002 during a California case. By February 2005, all 50 states had an AMBER Alert plan, according to NCMEC.

As for Amber’s case, though police have received more than 7,000 tips, her killer has never been found. In early 2021, police revealed that they had DNA evidence from the case that they were planning to have tested. When Amber went missing, DNA testing was still in its infancy, though investigators trusted that advances in the science could one day help. Now, with the advent of genetic genealogy, police may be able to identify Amber’s killer.

If you have any information about the kidnapping and murder of Amber Hagerman, call the Arlington, Texas police at 817-575-8823. Anonymous tipsters can relay their information to Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County at 817-469-TIPS (8477).

Next Up

Navajo Nation Girl Assaulted, Killed After Man Kidnapped Her While She Was Playing

Tom Begaye Jr. left the 11-year-old child to die in the desert after “repeatedly hitting her on the head and face with a tire iron.”

An Unsolved July 4th Child Murder Still ‘Haunts’ Southeast Texas

Dannarriah Finley was only weeks away from turning 5-years-old when she was snatched from her bedroom in the middle of the night, police say.

Arizona Police ID ‘Little Miss Nobody’ Found Dead In Desert In 1960

More than six decades after the body of a child was found in the Arizona desert, police have confirmed her identity through forensic genealogy.

Classmate Charged In Cheerleader's 1982 Stabbing Death

The high school football captain dating a beautiful cheerleader is a stalwart of small-town tradition, but what happens when a handsome athlete harbors evil in his soul?

True Crime News Roundup: Prince Andrew Stripped Of Military Titles After Judge Allows Sex Abuse Case To Proceed

Plus: A Chicago mother is arrested in connection to the murder of her 6-year-old son; the convicted killer Robert Durst dies at age 78; Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ sentencing date is set; and an LGBTQ+ rights movement hero is found dead in a Florida landfill.

Mother Who Claimed 7-Year-Old Daughter Was Sick Sentenced To Prison After Girl Dies

“This is a despicable crime,” prosecutor says of Kelly Renee Turner approving “surgery after surgery” for the child.

FedEx Driver Charged With Murder After 7-Year-Old Went Missing From Outside Her Texas Home

On Nov. 30, 2022, Athena Strand went missing from her front yard. Two days later, her body was found and 31-year-old Tanner Lynn Horner was charged with her murder.

Man Convicted Of Quadruple Murder Nine Years After Girlfriend, Her Three Kids Found Dead

“At some point, one plus one plus one equals three,” a Florida prosecutor says of the long road to put a killer behind bars.

5 Facts You May Not Know About Cleveland 'House Of Horrors' Kidnapper Ariel Castro

How a fired school bus driver abducted three young women and held them in his home for a decade — until one victim escaped with the daughter she’d had in captivity.

5 Things To Know About Andrea Yates, The Mom Who Drowned Her 5 Kids In The Bathtub

On June 20, 2001, mother of five Andrea Yates drowned her children, who ranged in age from six months to seven years, in the bathtub at her home in Houston, Texas.