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Friends,
The world is filled with evil. This post is not meant to pay homage to the perpetrators of the crimes, but to remember the victims. Their lives deserved to be remembered.
Amber Hagerman
On 13 January 1996, in Arlington, Texas, 9-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted while riding her bike in an abandoned Winn-Dixie parking lot. She and her brother were visiting their grandparents while their mother gave an interview to the Dallas news station WFAA regarding families that had successfully left the welfare system.
They were told to stay close. But the parking lot had a ramp, and Amber had just gotten a new pink bike for Christmas. And it was only a few blocks away- 2/10 of a mile away.
Still safe in a child’s mind.
Amber’s brother, Ricky, hesitated and went home. Amber stayed.
A man, Jim Kevil, who lived across the street, witnessed the events unfold. He called the police, letting them know that a man in a black pickup truck had just snatched a little girl from her bike. He forced her into his vehicle and drove off. She was kicking and screaming.
The whole thing happened in less than 8 minutes after Amber left her grandparents’ home.
Discovery
On 17 January 1996, Stuart Kocher was walking his dog when it suddenly stopped. That’s when Kocher saw the body lying face down on a concrete slab of a drainage culvert located behind an apartment complex playground. Maintenance workers at the apartment complex had been working near the creek earlier that morning, and they hadn’t seen a body. Police suspected the recent rains had caused the creek to rise, and the waters carried Amber’s body downstream.
The Arlington Police Department
Autopsy
The autopsy sent chills down the investigator’s spine. Amber died from multiple cuts to her neck, her head attached only by a slim sliver of skin. Her body was bruised, and there were other injuries. She had been kept alive for at least two days before she died.
Funeral
The funeral was held at the First United Methodist Church and was attended by thousands of mourners wanting to pay their respects to ‘a child of the nation.’ Almost 750 attended the burial at Moore Memorial Gardens Cemetery.
Amber was buried alongside 30 other children in an area called ‘Babyland,’ which overlooks a peaceful body of water.
Newspapers.com
Amber’s favorite toy was a stuffed Teddy bear, and almost everyone brought one. Some were buried with her, and others were donated to the local police department charity.
Investigation
Six individuals initially confessed to the crime, but they were all ruled out.
Since Amber’s abduction, the authorities have received over 7,000 tips, but no arrests have been made. Because of the body’s condition when it was discovered, very little physical evidence could be recovered.
Authorities are still hopeful that with the advancement of DNA technology, at some point, they will be able to solve the case, like the Golden State Killer, where a relative’s arrest led to the serial killer’s arrest.
AMBER Alert System
Frustrated, a self-proclaimed “ordinary woman and mother” named Diane Simone called into a Dallas-Fort Worth radio station with an idea: If we have a weather and civil defense alert system, why can’t there be one for missing children?
I would like to suggest an emergency system be set up so that when a verified 911 call is placed, all the radio stations in the area would be notified immediately and they would interrupt programming to broadcast an emergency alert, giving whatever information and descriptions that are pertinent.
If you are able to gather support for this Emergency Broadcast Plan, my one request is that it be known as Amber’s Plan.
Diane Simone, Letter to KDMX/102.9 FM Radio Station
That simple phone call and request paved the way for what we now know as the AMBER Alert System (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response).
Thanks to the diligence and dedication of seven radio station managers, a local broadcast alert system was established.
On 30 April 2003, President George W. Bush signed the PROTECT Act. This codified the role of the National AMBER Alert Coordinator under the Department of Justice.
As of December 2023, the AMBER Alert Program has contributed to the recovery of 1,186 children. Wireless emergency alerts have resulted in the rescue of 165 children.
Finals Thoughts
I would love to tell you how you can support efforts to recover missing children, beyond paying attention to AMBER Alerts and keeping a watchful eye on children, but the nonprofits I looked up haven’t updated their websites in years.
The AMBER Alert System is a federally funded program, so donations are not accepted.
If you have information that can help solve the cold case of Amber Hagerman, please call the Arlington, TX, Police Department at 817-575-8823 or Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County at 817-469-TIPS (8477).
One missing child is one too many.
John Walsh
Until next time, Keep Reading and Stay Caffeinated.
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