Amber Hagerman

Infobox Person
name = Amber Hagerman


image_size =
caption = puic|1=|log=2008 August 31
birth_date = birth date|1986|11|25
birth_place =
death_date = death date and age|1996|1|17|1986|11|25
death_place = Arlington, Texas
parents =

Amber Hagerman (November 28, 1986–January 17, 1996) was a young girl who became a victim of an abduction and murder. On January 13, 1996, she was riding her bike near her grandparents' home in Arlington, Texas, and was kidnapped soon thereafter."The Abductions That Changed America", "Newsweek", 29 January 2007, pp.54–55.] Her murder would later inspire the creation of the AMBER Alert system.

Abduction

On January 13, 1996, a man in a pickup truck abducted Hagerman, who was riding her bicycle in Arlington, TX. A witness, Jimmie Kevil, was able to provide police with a cursory description of both the abductor and his vehicle.citation|title=Search continues for Arlington girl|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|date=January 15, 1996|page=Section A, p. 17|url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1996_|accessdate=August 8, 2008] According to Kevil, a man in a black pickup stopped in the parking lot of the abandoned grocery store where Hagerman was playing, sprinted to Hagerman, and dragged her into his truck. As Kevil was relating his observations to the police, Hagerman's grandfather, Jimmy Whitson, drove up, looking for the child. Hagerman was the second child in her family to have been kidnapped. Her father's two-day-old-granddaughter was abducted in 1991 and recovered safely 10 hours later.

Arlington police began searching for Hagerman immediately. Volunteers searched for Amber Hagerman for several days, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated.citation|last=moore|first=evan|title=Kidnap victim's family hopes good news repeats|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|date=January 16, 1998|url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1996_|accessdate=August 8, 2008] Four days after her abduction, a man walking his dog found Hagerman's body in a creek bed. An autopsy revealed that her throat had been cut. [citation|last=Moore|first=Evan|title=Body of missing girl discovered|date=January 19, 1996|page=Section A., p. 29|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1996_|accessdate=August 8, 2008] Although a $75,000 reward was offered for information leading to Hagerman's killer, he has not been found.citation|last=Kopenec|first=Stefani G.|title=Young girl's kidnapper elusive: A year has passed without leads on 'low-life killer'|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|date=January 12, 1997|url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1997_|accessdate=August 8, 2008] The task force investigating Hagerman's murder was dissolved in June 1997.citation|title=Police task force dissolved|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|date=June 24, 1997|url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1997_|accessdate=August 8, 2008]

No arrests were made. Her murder remains unsolved, [Dallas Morning News, January 12, 2006 (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/011306dnmetamber.1c5ccd05.html)] but on July 25, 2007 it was announced that Terapon Adhahn, of Tacoma, Washington, was under investigation for Amber's slaying. Adhahn was arrested July 9, 2007 in connection with another abduction, that of 12-year-old Zina Linnik, whose body was found July 12 in east Pierce County in Washington State. Zina disappeared from a July 4th celebration. Adhahn was charged with aggravated first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape in Zina's abduction and death. In addition to Zina's slaying, Adhahn was considered a person of interest in the slaying of Adre'Anna Jackson, 10, of Tillicum, Washington, who was killed in 2005. He has also been charged with raping two other girls.

Legacy

Within days, Hagerman's mother, Donna Whitson, was "calling for tougher laws governing sex offenders".citation|title=Mom says tougher laws need|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|date=January 20, 1996|url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1996_1319615|accessdate=August 8, 2008] Whitson testified in front of the U.S. Congress in June, asking legislators to create a nationwide registry of sex offenders. Representative Martin Frost, the Congressman who represents Whitson's district, proposed an "Amber Hagerman Child Protection Act". Among the sections of the bill was one that would create a national sex offender registry.citation|title=Parents push for sex offender registry: Family of slain girl fights for new bill|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|date=June 20, 1996|url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1996_1348971|accessdate=August 8, 2008] Both of Hagerman's parents were present when President Bill Clinton signed into law the bill creating the national sex offender register. Whitson and Richard Hagerman then began collecting signatures in Texas, which they planned to present to then-Governor George W. Bush as a sign that people wanted more stringent laws for sex offenders.

AMBER Alert

The first AMBER Alert trial was run in 1996 at KRLD Radio Studio at the Ball Park in Arlington, TX. Those in attendance were Rick Roberts, Richard Hagerman and Bruce Seybert. Seybert worked with Amber's parents from day one, calling for what was later named the AMBER Alert, based on what Mark Klaas had told Amber's father what needed to be done on the day of his daughter's abduction. He released the AMBER Alert at a media symposium. In October 2000, the United States House of Representatives adopted H.R. 605 which encouraged communities nationwide to implement the AMBER Plan. In April 2003, President George W. Bush signed the AMBER Alert legislation, making it a national program. While the AMBER Alert system is now mandated across the USA, some states are still trying to implement the procedures necessary in bringing the alerts to the public.Fact|date=February 2007 Hampered by outdated Emergency Broadcast guidelines and different activation criteria in each state, the system is still being developed to provide optimal effectiveness.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children assists in the implementation of AMBER Alerts.

In 2006, a TV movie, "Amber's Story, [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0840999/] " was broadcast on Lifetime. It stars Elisabeth Röhm and Sophie Hough.

ee also

*Amie Zyla

Notes

External links

* [http://www.ncmec.org National Center for Missing and Exploited Children]
* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/amber_hagerman/1_index.html Crime Library on Amber Hagerman]
* [http://www.amber-plan.net/the_plan.htm Houston's Amber Plan]
* [http://codeamber.org/ CodeAmber - Amber Alert Java Ticker]