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Amber Hagerman Prologue: The Amber Plan · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The Gone Cold podcasts may contain violent or graphics subject matter.
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  Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. On Wednesday, October thirtieth, nineteen ninety six,
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  Speaker 1: representatives from about twenty North Texas law enforcement agencies and
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  Speaker 1: the Association of Radio Managers held a news conference at
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  Speaker 1: Dallas City Hall to unveil a new joint effort with
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  Speaker 1: the abduction of Amber Hagerman. We had enough of a
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  Speaker 1: description that it could have been helpful, Arlington Police Chief
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  Speaker 1: David Kunkel said, referring to the vehicle whose driver snatched
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  Speaker 1: the nine year old girl more than ten months earlier
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  Speaker 1: in his city. Amber was kidnapped in Arlington in January
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  Speaker 1: of nineteen ninety six and later found murdered. If we
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  Speaker 1: had this type of program in place, the lawman continued,
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  Speaker 1: we could have gotten the word out. Perhaps, Chief Councle
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  Speaker 1: suggested Amber's life would have been saved. Garland police, who
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  Speaker 1: were also in attendance, might have said the same thing
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  Speaker 1: about the kidnapping and killing of eight year old kem
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  Speaker 1: Newen three years earlier, had they spoken in front of
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  Speaker 1: the television and newspaper microphones clustered atop the podium. Kim's
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  Speaker 1: was another case that included a relatively specific vehicle description.
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  Speaker 1: This new emergency broadcast plan, named for Amber Hagerman, which
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  Speaker 1: was to go into effect immediately, called for North Texas
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  Speaker 1: police agencies to alert local radio stations via facts when
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  Speaker 1: the disappearance of a child is confirmed as an abduction,
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  Speaker 1: after which the station will promptly interrupt programming to provide
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  Speaker 1: a description of the missing child and the vehicle in
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  Speaker 1: which they were abducted. The confirmed part was vital, at
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  Speaker 1: least in concept, to ki keep false alarms to a minimum,
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  Speaker 1: although President of the Association of Radio Managers, Skip Schmidt
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  Speaker 1: commented that the possibility of false alarms that existed was
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  Speaker 1: overshadowed by the importance and benefits of the new plan.
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  Speaker 1: If it saved just one life, Schmidt said it was
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  Speaker 1: worth the effort. He also estimated that around ninety eight
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  Speaker 1: percent of area adults would likely be reached by the
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  Speaker 1: new emergency program, which today has inarguably proven to be
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  Speaker 1: one of the most important and successful projects in the
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  Speaker 1: history of American law enforcement. At this point, however, the
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  Speaker 1: Amber Plan was less a requirement or law and more
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  Speaker 1: of an agreement between the twenty nine Dallas Fort Worth
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  Speaker 1: area radio stations involved in the Association of Radio Managers
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  Speaker 1: and a couple dozen local police jurisdictions, but it was
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  Speaker 1: a huge step. Nonetheless, US Dallas Police Chief Ben Klick,
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  Speaker 1: in fact, was adamant on that point when he spoke
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  Speaker 1: of the crucial role time plays in an abduction case.
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  Speaker 1: If we don't recover the child in those first few hours,
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  Speaker 1: Chief Click said, the chances of finding the child unharmed
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  Speaker 1: or alive greatly diminish as time goes on. Earlier that month,
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  Speaker 1: President Bill Clinton had signed into law the Amber Hagerman
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  Speaker 1: Child Protection Act, proposed in the United States Congress by
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  Speaker 1: Representative Martin Frost of North Texas. The act resembled a
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  Speaker 1: national version of the previous year's Ashley's Laws, which was
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  Speaker 1: named after abducted and murdered seven year old Ashley Estelle
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  Speaker 1: in September of nineteen ninety five. Ashley's Laws set minimum
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  Speaker 1: prison sentences for sexual predators in Texas, required sex offenders
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  Speaker 1: to publicly register as such in the state, and required
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  Speaker 1: them to inform proper authorities should they relocate. With the
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  Speaker 1: Amber Hagerman Child Protection Act, a year later, the creation
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  Speaker 1: of a national sex Offender Registry was underway. Child rapists
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  Speaker 1: under specific circumstances were required to serve life sentences after
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  Speaker 1: their second defense, and judges who impose sentences that do
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  Speaker 1: not meet those guidelines, the Act said, are to be
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  Speaker 1: reported to the United States Congress. The Act also paved
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  Speaker 1: the way for the Amber Plan, but it was the
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  Speaker 1: culmination of civilian ideas, not authorities and radio big wigs
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  Speaker 1: that had set the entire thing in motion. In early
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, not long after Amber Hagerman was abducted
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  Speaker 1: and murdered, her mother, Donna Whitson, father Richard Hagerman, and
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  Speaker 1: a close friend, Bruce Siebert, began a support team. They
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  Speaker 1: called it PAYSO, which stood for People Against Sexual Offenders.
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  Speaker 1: Immediately upon coming together, PAYSO began collecting signatures of citizens
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  Speaker 1: to bring to the Texas Legislative Branch in hopes the
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  Speaker 1: pressure would lead to harsher punishment for sex offenders, as
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  Speaker 1: well as laws that might make it more difficult for
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  Speaker 1: them to re offend. By the summer of ninety six,
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  Speaker 1: the group purposefully caught the attention of their United States
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  Speaker 1: representative in Congress, Martin Frost, who began drafting the Amber
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  Speaker 1: Hagerman Child Protection Act alongside them, it would be a
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  Speaker 1: disservice to leave out the important contribution of the individual
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  Speaker 1: who came up with the idea that would become the
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  Speaker 1: Amber Plan in the first place. A concerned mother from
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  Speaker 1: Dallas named Diane Simone called a local radio station the
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  Speaker 1: day Amber Hagerman's body was found, according to NBC News,
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  Speaker 1: and suggested that local broadcasters team up with local police
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  Speaker 1: to disseminate information immediately upon a child abduction. That simple
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  Speaker 1: yet brilliant idea and the group pay so set in
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  Speaker 1: motion everything that followed. So after the Act signed into
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  Speaker 1: law by President Clinton, came the unveiling of the Amber
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  Speaker 1: Plan at Dallas City Hall, which had been in planning
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  Speaker 1: since the moment National Treasure Diane Simone phoned her local
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  Speaker 1: radio show host. Then on Friday December sixth, nineteen ninety six,
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  Speaker 1: Dallas Fort Worth Arlington radio station KRLD unveiled the tone
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  Speaker 1: that would go on to be heard preceding child abduction
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  Speaker 1: broadcast reports under the Amber Plan live on the air.
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  Speaker 1: The step was an important one, much like whether emergency alerts.
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  Speaker 1: The tone was designed to catch the attention of listeners
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  Speaker 1: and eventually provide them with familiarity regarding the preceding alert's importance.
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  Speaker 1: The following July, after months of tests and unrealistic hopes
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  Speaker 1: they'd never have to use it, the Amber Plan was
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  Speaker 1: implemented for the first time when seven year old Jonathan
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  Speaker 1: Harrison disappeared in North Dallas. The first use of the
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  Speaker 1: alert did not necessarily follow the guidelines that were deemed
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  Speaker 1: so important upon its unveiling. There were no signs of
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  Speaker 1: an abduction, no vehicle description, and Jonathan's last known where
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  Speaker 1: thereabouts were vague. After the tone, only Jonathan's description and
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  Speaker 1: the fact that he was missing followed. Though they would
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  Speaker 1: later be criticized for waiting too long as they tried
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  Speaker 1: to confirm an abduction. Authorities and radio station management ultimately
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  Speaker 1: forewent the normal requirements in an attempt to find Jonathan Harrison.
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  Speaker 1: Rules be damned might have been the emotional response, but
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  Speaker 1: no one in their right mind would argue it was
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  Speaker 1: the wrong call. Unfortunately, Jonathan was found deceased in a
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  Speaker 1: creek bed after a couple days searches. The boy was
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  Speaker 1: a daredevil, his death the result of drowning after trying
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  Speaker 1: to jump the creek with his bicycle and becoming unconscious
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  Speaker 1: after crashing while Jonathan's death was tragic. The implementation of
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  Speaker 1: the first Amber Plan alert exceeded expectations. Minutes after police
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  Speaker 1: sent it in, radio stations like WBAPAM aired information about
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  Speaker 1: Jonathan every fifteen minutes for many hours. The words spread
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  Speaker 1: far and wide in Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, and the
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  Speaker 1: surrounding areas. Though the broadcasts would prove irrelevant, tips came
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  Speaker 1: in to the Dallas Police exactly what they'd hoped would
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  Speaker 1: happen when an emergency broadcast was issued. In fact, it
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  Speaker 1: was only a handful of tipsters who called, most of
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  Speaker 1: whom lived near the missing boy. This was a good thing.
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  Speaker 1: It showed that agencies wouldn't necessarily be bogged down with
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  Speaker 1: false reports and unhinged types trying to insert themselves into
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  Speaker 1: an investigation. The only real hitch occurred when a few
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  Speaker 1: stations did not receive the facts with the alert information,
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  Speaker 1: but other stations quickly supplied it to them, losing no
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  Speaker 1: more than a couple minutes. Alerts that followed over the
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  Speaker 1: next year or so had their fair share of problems, however,
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  Speaker 1: but most had nothing to do with law enforcement or
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  Speaker 1: radio station implementation. On Wednesday, July twenty second, nineteen ninety seven,
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  Speaker 1: a nine to one one operator received a report that
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  Speaker 1: three men had barged into a southeast Dallas home a
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  Speaker 1: little after ten am. At the scene in the city's
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  Speaker 1: Pleasant Grove neighborhood, an eleven year old girl told police
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  Speaker 1: that her older sister, thirteen, who had been watching her
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  Speaker 1: three siblings, was taken by these mysterious men after they
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  Speaker 1: rifled through the apartment and dragged her outside. This prompted
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  Speaker 1: the broadcast of the second ever Amber Plan alert, the
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  Speaker 1: immediate set up and management of a police command post,
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  Speaker 1: a seven hour search led by the Dallas Police that
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  Speaker 1: included a search dog team and even brought in the
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  Speaker 1: assistance of the FBI. The thirteen year old was found
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  Speaker 1: at about six thirty pm hiding in a field of
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  Speaker 1: tall brush. She'd run away from home in reality, she
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  Speaker 1: admitted to police. The Amber Plan came under heavy scrutiny
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  Speaker 1: as the result of this initiation, specifically and the use
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  Speaker 1: of resources as its result, but Dallas Police spokesperson Chris
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  Speaker 1: Gilliam defended its use when he told the Dallas Morning
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  Speaker 1: News it helped us find her, regardless of the circumstances.
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  Speaker 1: Gilliam pointed out that things might have turned out tragically
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  Speaker 1: worse had the thirteen year old girl been left outside
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  Speaker 1: to the elements of both the hot Texas summer and
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  Speaker 1: the city's relatively high crime rate. Activating the Amber plan
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  Speaker 1: worked and it was the right thing to do. It's
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  Speaker 1: doubtful that anyone with a warm, beating heart would disagree.
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  Speaker 1: When the next use of the Amber plan came, the
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  Speaker 1: circumstances were downright bizarre. A woman will call Linda Martinez
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  Speaker 1: left her place of employment and Arlington, Texas Bank in
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  Speaker 1: the early evening of Thursday, August twenty eighth, nineteen ninety six.
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  Speaker 1: From there, twenty one year old Linda would later tell
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  Speaker 1: police she picked up her son at the babysitter's house
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  Speaker 1: and headed to her mom's to borrow some cash. Linda's
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  Speaker 1: mother lived at the corner of Childress Street and Vaughan
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  Speaker 1: Boulevard in Fort Worth, and once there, she parked on
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  Speaker 1: the road and began walking to the door. As she did,
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  Speaker 1: Linda claimed she looked back to see two men jump
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  Speaker 1: in her nineteen ninety two Honda Civic, which she left
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  Speaker 1: running with her three year old boy, Angelo still inside.
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  Speaker 1: Linda ran toward the vehicle, she said tearfully pleading with
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  Speaker 1: the thieves to take the car but leave the child. However,
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  Speaker 1: they sped off with the boy inside. At six fifteen pm,
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  Speaker 1: Linda called the Fort Worth Police from inside her mother's home.
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  Speaker 1: The Amber Plan was immediately activated, and descriptions of Angelo
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  Speaker 1: and Linda's Honda were broadcast throughout the Dallas Fort Worth
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  Speaker 1: Arlington Metroplex. It was the first time all the originally
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  Speaker 1: agreed upon requirements to implement the plan were present and available,
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  Speaker 1: or so authorities originally thought. Police frantically searched for Angelo
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  Speaker 1: by cruiser and helicopter. Volunteers too, sprung into action to
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  Speaker 1: help find the car and the boy. But at nine
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  Speaker 1: point fifteen pm that night, after Linda left with detectives,
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  Speaker 1: her mother drove to the babysitter's house where lo and behold,
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  Speaker 1: little Angelo had been all along. Linda had never picked
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  Speaker 1: him up. Her torched nineteen ninety two Honda Civic was
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  Speaker 1: later found in the garage of an abandoned house on
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  Speaker 1: Avenue h Linda Martinez was later charged with perjuring a
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  Speaker 1: police report, a Class A misdemeanor. Many other details concerning
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  Speaker 1: why Linda did this are elusive. Leaving the entire situation
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  Speaker 1: as mysterious as when it first happened. Oddly, perhaps the
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  Speaker 1: next use of the Amber plan the following November was
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  Speaker 1: an honest to God karja that involved a child in
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  Speaker 1: southwest Dallas. That eight month old boy was found and
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  Speaker 1: rescued by Dallas Police Sergeant Alan Brown, who found the
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  Speaker 1: child in the abandoned vehicle, wearing a Dallas cowboy's hooded coat,
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  Speaker 1: curled up, cute as could be and warmest toast. Sergeant Brown,
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  Speaker 1: a father himself, was elated to report. On Wednesday, January
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  Speaker 1: twenty eighth, nineteen ninety eight, in Thorpe Spring, Texas, an
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  Speaker 1: unincorporated community in Hood County, about forty three miles southwest
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  Speaker 1: of Fort Worth, what was considered the county's deadliest day
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  Speaker 1: up to then occurred, though no one will ever know
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  Speaker 1: exactly how the massacre, carried out by fifty one year
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  Speaker 1: old Donald Wayne Martin played out. The body of his
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  Speaker 1: nineteen year old step son, Christopher Cantwell, was found inside
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  Speaker 1: the face family's home, and the body of his wife,
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  Speaker 1: thirty eight year old Patricia Houston Martin, was found in
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  Speaker 1: a storage shed on the property. Both had been shot
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  Speaker 1: in the back of the head. Two weeks before, Donald
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  Speaker 1: Wayne Martin had gone to a Hood County judge hoping
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  Speaker 1: she would grant him some sort of right to evict
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  Speaker 1: one of his step sons, who he said, to paraphrase,
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  Speaker 1: was a lazy freeloader. Judge Judy Watson told Martin she
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  Speaker 1: could not legally intervene in the matter. He told the judge,
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  Speaker 1: I guess we'll just have to deal with it then.
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  Speaker 1: Judge Watson had no way of knowing what Martin meant
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  Speaker 1: by that until the horror unfolded upon killing his wife
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  Speaker 1: and nineteen year old step son. Hood County Sheriff's deputies
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  Speaker 1: believed Martin waited in the home for his other stepson,
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  Speaker 1: seventeen year old Carlos Ortiz, to get home from school,
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  Speaker 1: but gave up after the boy hadn't returned for some time.
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  Speaker 1: At about two am, sixty miles west of Thorpe Spring,
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  Speaker 1: an Eastland Police patrol officer ran the license plate number
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  Speaker 1: of a van parked outside city hall. Eastland was a
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  Speaker 1: known spot for travelers to pull off Interstate twenty and
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  Speaker 1: catch some rest, since the small town sits just off
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  Speaker 1: the highway. Another patrolman pulled up shortly thereafter, and they
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  Speaker 1: saw a man inside who they assumed was sleeping. There
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  Speaker 1: was no reason to wake the man, the officers figured,
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  Speaker 1: so they let him be. It was a fairly typical
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  Speaker 1: site anyway. Back in Hood County. At sun up, authorities
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  Speaker 1: tried to make sense of what had happened there and
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  Speaker 1: what the next step should be. Out Of the family
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  Speaker 1: of five, two had been murdered, one the killer was
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  Speaker 1: on the loose somewhere and presumed to be alive, and
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  Speaker 1: one was known to be alive and out of danger.
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  Speaker 1: The fifth, however, fourteen year old Ashley Foster, was nowhere
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  Speaker 1: to be found. Inarguably his best course of action at
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  Speaker 1: that moment, Sheriff Alan Harden decided to issue an Amber
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  Speaker 1: Plan alert at approximately seven am on Thursday, January twenty ninth,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight. Exactly two hours later, Ashley's body was found.
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  Speaker 1: She'd also been shot in the head, her body dumped
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  Speaker 1: alongside a remote country road. In between the implementation of
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  Speaker 1: the Amber Plan and the discovery of fourteen year old
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  Speaker 1: Ashley Foster's body, police in Eastland discovered that the van
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  Speaker 1: parked at city Hall there was that of a man
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  Speaker 1: wanted for murder and Hood County. As Eastland Police Chief
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  Speaker 1: Cecil Thunderberg and one of his men approached the vehicle.
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  Speaker 1: It appeared as though the man inside was still sleeping,
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  Speaker 1: but when they noticed a firearm between his legs, they
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  Speaker 1: backed off without waking him. Firefighters broke out the back
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  Speaker 1: window of the van when the driver didn't wake up.
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  Speaker 1: Police entered and found the man, Donald Wayne Martin, dead
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  Speaker 1: from a self inflicted nine millimeter gunshot wound to his
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  Speaker 1: right temple. Among several other items collected as evidence, the
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  Speaker 1: police found a mini cassette recorder in the van. On
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  Speaker 1: the tape inside, the fifty one year old man unemotionally
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  Speaker 1: detailed why he felt he had to kill nearly his
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  Speaker 1: entire family, like a true narcissist. None of it was
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  Speaker 1: Martin's fault. In his own eyes, the coward was losing
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  Speaker 1: the grip of control. His wife had misled him, he said,
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  Speaker 1: about trying to reconcile their marriage. Martin hated her, and
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  Speaker 1: likely an extension of that hatred, felt her children were
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  Speaker 1: worthless and not living how he thought they should be.
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  Speaker 1: He explained, matter of factly on the tape, just after
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  Speaker 1: killing his family, and before driving to Eastland to off himself.
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  Speaker 1: Instead of facing justice, he stopped at the pocket Change
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  Speaker 1: convenience store and purchased a lottery ticket. The Amber plan
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  Speaker 1: didn't work in this particular case. Ashley Foster was already
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  Speaker 1: dead by the time it was issued, and the cops
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  Speaker 1: had no real reason to believe or not believe for
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  Speaker 1: that matter, she'd been forced to go with her stepfather
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  Speaker 1: in his van. Regardless, the possibility existed, if only briefly,
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  Speaker 1: that Ashley might be found alive. County authorities not only
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  Speaker 1: made the right call, but they also brought to light
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  Speaker 1: another tragic situation in which the alert might help. This
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  Speaker 1: is not going to affect our usage of the Amber Plan,
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  Speaker 1: fort Worth Police spokesperson Lieutenant Mark Kraye said, just after
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: a series of mistaken and even hoax reports of kidnappings
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: the year following the Amber plans unveiling, However, cops in
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Fort Worth opted not to implement it. When eight year
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: old Edna Marie Rodriguez vanished from the city's east side
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  Speaker 1: in the middle of the night, the Fort Worth Police
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: at first denied this was the case. Police Chief Thomas
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Wyndham cited the immediate media coverage as the reason for
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: not issuing the alert, but citizens and radio station management
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  Speaker 1: alike were not buying this line when they chastised the
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  Speaker 1: department for its decision. Many thought his choice might be
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: the result of Edna's ethnicity and her family's socioeconomic status.
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  Speaker 1: Police were moving two damn slow. League of United Latin
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: American Citizens District twenty one director Joe Guerrero said because
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  Speaker 1: Edna was a Mexicana. Her body was found at a
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  Speaker 1: vacant house near her own home thirty five hours after
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  Speaker 1: she disappeared. Had the Amber Plan been utilized in Edna's case,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: it would have been only the sixth time the program
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: was used, only one of those actually involved an abduction,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: but nonetheless they were working. The emergency broadcasts anyway, were
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: occasionally being referred to as Amber alerts at this point,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: leaving out the word plan and little Edna Rodriguez's case
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: was hardly the last time a department or the program's
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: implementation in general, would come under harsh criticism. The first
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  Speaker 1: few years had been a particularly rocky beginning for a
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  Speaker 1: system that would end up becoming so important and saving
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  Speaker 1: the lives of so many children. After several years, it
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: was readily noticeable that Amber Alerts would be used more
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  Speaker 1: in family abductions, meaning a non custodial parent taking off
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  Speaker 1: with a child, rather than stranger kidnappings, which are and
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  Speaker 1: were far more uncommon. The plan was also spreading at
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  Speaker 1: a snail's pace, something that in hindsight seems shocking. The
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  Speaker 1: couple dozen law enforcement jurisdictions and the Association of Radio
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Managers no doubt expected the Amber Plan to gain in
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: popularity fast, but years after its inception, it wasn't even
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: set up in many areas of the state in which
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: it started, Texas. After the turn of the twenty first century,
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  Speaker 1: the Amber Plan became referred to as the Amber Alert Plan,
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  Speaker 1: or simply the Amber Alert. By two thousand and one,
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  Speaker 1: five years after it was introduced in North Texas, the
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Amber Alert was being used statewide in only four states.
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  Speaker 1: The following year, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft appointed
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  Speaker 1: Assistant Attorney General Deborah Daniels the first National Amber Alert Coordinator,
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  Speaker 1: at the request of President George W. Bush, who had
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: been Governor of Texas both during the program's creation and
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  Speaker 1: the abduction and murder of nine year old Amber Hagerman,
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  Speaker 1: for whom, of course, it is named appointing a coordinator
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  Speaker 1: for Amber Alert's worked. At the close of two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and four, most states in the US were using them
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  Speaker 1: and following the guidelines and criteria recommended by the Department
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: of Justice. They are quote, law enforcement must confirm that
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: an abduction has taken place, the child is at risk
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: of serious injury or death. There is sufficient descriptive information
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: of the child captor or captor's vehicle to issue an alert.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: The child must be seventeen years old or younger. It
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: is recommended that the child's name and other critical data
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: be entered immediately into the FBI's National Crime Information Center.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Information describing the circumstances of the abduction should also be entered,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: and the case flagged as a child abduction end quote.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: The Department of Justice also tweaked the plan and made
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Amber an acronym. Now it was not only a tribute
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: to nine year old Amber Hagerman, but also stood for
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: America's missing broadcast emergency response. Two thousand and five was
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: a big year for the program. Hawaii became the last
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: state in the Union to complete its statewide plan, called
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: the Miley Amber Alert. Miley Gilbert, a six year old
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: girl abducted from her Kailua home and later found murdered
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty five, was added to the plans named there.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: A few months later, the Department of Justice came to
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: agreements with the wireless industry, which was gaining momentum fast,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: of course, and announced that cell phone users could opt
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: into receiving geographically specific AMBER alerts. That initiative and multimedia
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: public service camp pains would last for years and include
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: help from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: the ad Council, and the Wireless Foundation. Later in two
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: thousand and five, the Department began offering assistance to and
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: training of state and local law enforcement agencies in proper
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: response to abducted and missing children. The response teams were
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: called KART, an acronym for Child Abduction Response Teams. In
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, an initiative was launched to establish
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: the program on Native American territories, a move that would
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: eventually create what the DOJ refers to as a seamless
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: ambreller network. In the following years, the program would set
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: up accounts on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: The first successful rescue of a child due to the
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: wireless emergency. The alert system occurred in twenty thirteen. While
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Victoria Rosco showered at her Minneapolis, Minnesota home just before
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: noon on Wednesday, February twentieth, twenty thirteen, Her eight month
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: old boy, Carlos was napping. He'd fallen asleep in his
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: car seat earlier, and instead of risking waking the boy up,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Victoria let him be and took the opportunity to attend
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: to herself. When she got out of the shower, little
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Carlos was gone. Victoria immediately called police. An Amber alert
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: was quickly sent out over wireless networks and across social
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: media websites. Victoria had an idea of who might have
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: taken her child, a woman she'd recently become acquainted with
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: named Isabelle Diaz Castilla, who she met while at an
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: area laundromat. Diaz Castilla, according to Victoria, became quickly infatuated
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: with her baby Carlos. There was something off about the woman,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: the frantic mother told the cops. Victoria was able to
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: describe Diaz Castilla's read twenty twelve Kia sportage, a description
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: of which was sent out with the Amber alert. The
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: alert came across the cell phone screen of a local
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: teenaged girl who happened to spot the vehicle at a
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: little before four pm that day. She quickly phoned her father,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: who made an anonymous call to nine one one immediately.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: In the first instance of an Amber alert being sent
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: to cell phones across Minnesota, a child was reunited with
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: his mother, his life possibly saved. Carlos was completely unharmed,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: and the Amber Alert a complete success. Upon the programs
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: unveiling in nineteen nine twenty six, when it was only
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: an agreement between more than twenty North Texas police agencies
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: and twenty nine local radio stations, Association of Radio Manager's
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: president Skip Schmidt said that if the Amber plan saved
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: just one life, it was worth the effort. As of
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: January twenty twenty three, one thousand, one hundred and twenty
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: seven children have been recovered thanks to the Amber Alert
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: system and one hundred and thirty one rescued as the
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: result of the implementation of wireless emergency alerts. It's difficult
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: to imagine the idea coming to fruition, or at least
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: coming into fruition when it did, without the horrific tragedy
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: for which it was named, having unfortunately taken place the
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Amber Plan later. The Amber Alert is the life saving
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: legacy that nine year old Amber Hagerman gave the world
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: when she left. Though the creation and the first use
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: of the program came relatively quickly after her tragic murder,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: it was a long, hard road for those who loved
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: her and for the residents of Arlington, Texas. We'll continue
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: her story next time on Gone Cold. If you have
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: any information about the abduction and murder of Amber Hagerman,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: please call the Arlington Police at eight one seven four
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: five nine five seven seven to two, or to remain
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: anonymous and be eligible for a reward, please call Terrant
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: County Crime Stoppers at eight one seven four six' nine
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: eight four seven. Seven if you have not, already look
• 31:48
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• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Gone cold and looking for The texas. Logo if you'd
• 31:56
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• 31:58
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• 32:02
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• 32:07
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• 32:17
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• 32:21
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• 32:26
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• 32:30
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• 32:42
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• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Notes thanks for, listening. Y'all