ARLINGTON, Texas—The 1996 slaying of a Texas girl that led to the Amber Alert notification system to find missing children remains unsolved, and Wednesday is Amber Alert Awareness Day in Texas marking the anniversary of her death.
Police in Arlington repeated their request on Tuesday for tips in finding the killer of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman. Her mother, Donna Williams, also appealed for justice for her daughter. Wednesday is the 20th anniversary since Amber was abducted while riding her bicycle in Arlington.
Her body was found four days later in a drainage ditch and her throat had been cut.
Radio and TV stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area joined forces to broadcast alerts to help find the child. Their efforst led to creation of a voluntary child abduction advisory system nationwide known as the Amber Alert. Since 2002 through the end of 2015, 143 children were safely recovered during 141 DPS activations of the Texas AMBER Alert Program.
Activation of an alert involves the following resources:
- Texas Department of Public Safety
- Office of the Governor
- National Weather Service
- Texas Department of Transportation
- Local, state and federal law enforcement
- Media
- Texas Association of Broadcasters
- Independent Bankers Association of Texas
- Texas Lottery Commission
- The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which was added as a state partner in 2005, providing notification to the public through wireless carriers, content providers and major retailers.