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Amber Hagerman Part 1: The Abduction · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The Gone Cold podcast may contain violent or graphics subject matter.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. On Monday, July eighth, nineteen ninety one,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: at John Peter Smith Hospital in downtown Fort Worth, known
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: by residents as JPS, nineteen year old Tammy Hagerman gave
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: birth to a healthy, eight pound baby girl. Tammy named
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: her new arrival Felicia Nicole Hagerman. The following Wednesday, July tenth,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: at about ten am, a woman entered the semi private
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: room at the JPS Maternity ward where Tammy had been
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: convalescing and enjoying her first two days of parenthood. The
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: woman told the new mother she was a staff photographer
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  Speaker 1: for the hospital and asked if she'd like to have
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  Speaker 1: her baby girl's picture taken. Tammy said she would. The
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  Speaker 1: woman left the room and returned about a half hour later.
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  Speaker 1: She was taking baby Felicia to an on site studio
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  Speaker 1: to photograph her, the woman said, and they'd be back shortly.
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  Speaker 1: Tammy was looking forward to hearing how the woman thought
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  Speaker 1: the photos turned out, and especially anxious to take Felicia
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  Speaker 1: home later in the day. They'd be released from the
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: hospital to go back to that comfort. At this time,
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  Speaker 1: the nurse on duty was making her rounds. About fifteen
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  Speaker 1: minutes after the photographer left with Felicia, the nurse entered
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  Speaker 1: Tammy's room to see how she and the newborn were
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  Speaker 1: holding up. She saw the mother, but to her surprise,
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  Speaker 1: there was no baby. Tammy explained, telling the nurse that
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  Speaker 1: the staff photographer had taken Felicia to have her picture made.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Confusion struck, the nurse followed immediately by panic. JPS had
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: no photographer on staff, she told Tammy, who also began
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  Speaker 1: to panic. The nurse rushed to the phone and called security.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: The hospital was promptly and thoroughly searched, but there was
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: no sign of little Felicia Hagerman or the woman who
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: took her. The Fort Worth Police put out an all
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: points bulletin with the description of Felicia's kidnapper, and patrol
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: officer's attention became almost singularly focused. Agents from the city's
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: FBI office were immediately contacted and sprang into action. Time
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: law enforcement knew was of the essence. Even before radio
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: and television news got the story, word had spread in
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  Speaker 1: and around John Peter Smith Hospital via employees and area
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  Speaker 1: police patrol. Most reported sightings could not be confirmed. A
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: city bus driver said he'd seen a woman fitting the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: kidnapper's description holding a baby at a bus stop at
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  Speaker 1: sixth th Throckmorton, but the man couldn't remember if they'd
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: gotten on the bus let alone where they might have gone.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Employees at the hospital, even the guards, criticized its security.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Employees there often opted not to wear their ID badges.
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  Speaker 1: Security guards complained JPS is taxpayer funded and very busy.
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  Speaker 1: Too many folks were in and out of the place
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  Speaker 1: for them to handle. The thinly stretched guards continued. Local
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: news crews swarmed John Peter Smith Hospital to film a
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  Speaker 1: news conference, portions of which would be quickly televised. Tammy Hagerman,
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  Speaker 1: in a wheelchair and donning her hospital gown, pleaded to
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  Speaker 1: the woman who kidnapped Felicia to return her baby. It's
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  Speaker 1: really tearing me apart. I love her so much. Tammy
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  Speaker 1: tearfully lamented, I would appreciate the lady would find it
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  Speaker 1: in her heart to bring my baby back. The next
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  Speaker 1: several hours were excruciating for the young mother, but that
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  Speaker 1: evening after the conference, footage was ran several times on
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  Speaker 1: all the local news stations. A tip came in. Vigilant
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  Speaker 1: residents at an apartment complex in North Arlington reported seeing
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  Speaker 1: a woman with a newborn but without physical signs of
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  Speaker 1: having been recently pregnant. At about seven forty five pm
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  Speaker 1: on the first floor of the Plantation Place apartments. Three
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  Speaker 1: local FBI agents were at the door of Tom and
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  Speaker 1: Sandra Ingell. The couple had a newborn baby and they
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  Speaker 1: said it was theirs, but agents were immediately skeptical. The woman, Sandra,
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  Speaker 1: excused herself to a bedroom to change the infant's diaper.
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  Speaker 1: It's unclear if she did indeed perform that particular duty,
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  Speaker 1: but it is known she opened the bedroom's window and
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  Speaker 1: fled with the child. She didn't get far after realizing
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  Speaker 1: she'd taken off, agents were hot on her trail. Lucky
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  Speaker 1: for them, a gaggle of teenagers had seen Sandra Ingle
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  Speaker 1: rush past and were able to point in the right direction.
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  Speaker 1: Sandra was apprehended, and shortly thereafter Tammy Hagerman was reunited
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  Speaker 1: with Felicia. The relief was palpable. She'd been unable to rest, eat,
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  Speaker 1: or even swallow since the moment she realized her baby
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  Speaker 1: had been kidnapped. Tammy said as Felicia peacefully napped in
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  Speaker 1: her arms. She was angry, but she thanked the woman
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  Speaker 1: for taking care of her baby. Most of all, Tammy
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  Speaker 1: went on she didn't want Felicia mad at her for
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  Speaker 1: what happened, but she also graciously hoped the troubled kidnapper
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  Speaker 1: would get help. Though Felicia's story ended happily, the story
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  Speaker 1: of Sandra Ingle was tragic, with no good ending in sight.
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  Speaker 1: She was thirteen years old when she gave birth to
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  Speaker 1: her first child, and underwent a hysterectomy in her late twenties.
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  Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty six, while Sandra and Tom cared for
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  Speaker 1: two of their grandchildren, their two year old grandson died
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  Speaker 1: as the result of complications from cerebral palsy. Not long after.
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  Speaker 1: Sandra tried overdosing on sleeping pills. Then she purposefully began
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  Speaker 1: gaining weight in order to convince those around her that
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  Speaker 1: she was pregnant. The day she kidnapped, Felicia Tom picked
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  Speaker 1: Sandra up outside the JPS Hospital emergency room. Today, it's
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: difficult to imagine a time before our mobile devices startled
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  Speaker 1: us by vibrating intensely as the familiar high pitch of
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  Speaker 1: the amber alert tone brings us the dreaded news of
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  Speaker 1: a likely child abduction. There was no program in place
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  Speaker 1: to broadcast the information about Felicia Hagerman's kidnapping over the
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  Speaker 1: Dallas Fort Worth Arlington Metroplex airwaves immediately upon its report,
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  Speaker 1: But luckily, the terrible incident ended relatively quickly and most importantly,
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  Speaker 1: without harm befalling the baby. Amber Hagerman, Tammy's half sister
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  Speaker 1: and Felicia's aunt, was approaching five years old when the
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  Speaker 1: newborn was taken for a second. Kidnapping to happen within
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  Speaker 1: the same family is unthinkable, but Amber's abduction nearly five
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  Speaker 1: years later was something far different than Felicia's, something far
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  Speaker 1: more sinister and depraved, as both the Arlington Police and
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  Speaker 1: her family has said so many times since. Had something
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  Speaker 1: like the Amber Plan been active when its nine year
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: old namesake was abducted, Amber Hagerman's life might have been saved.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: When Donna Gail Whitsen was young, she was diagnosed with
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: a rare disease that paralyzed her from the waist down.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Doctors told Donna and her parents that she'd never be
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  Speaker 1: able to have children, let alone ever walk again. The
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: side effects were not limited to direct physical impairment. As
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: she battled the illness, Donna dropped out of school in
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  Speaker 1: the seventh grade. Despite doctor's grim predictions of lifelong paralysis, however,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Donna did walk again. In fact, she began walking her Arlington,
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  Speaker 1: Texas neighborhood fairly relentlessly, sometimes with friends and sometimes by herself.
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  Speaker 1: That's how Donna Whitson met Richard Hagerman. One day while
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: she was out walking, he was in his front yard
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  Speaker 1: and the two struck up a conversation. At thirty four
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  Speaker 1: years old, Richard was twice seventeen year old Donna's age,
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  Speaker 1: but they would later say the two hit it off
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: right out of the gate and were seeing each other
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  Speaker 1: romantically in no time. Richard Hagerman had three children who
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: lived with his estranged wife, and within two years of
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: his relationship with Donna, the couple welcomed a baby girl
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  Speaker 1: into their lives. On Thursday, November twenty fifth, nineteen eighty six.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: There was more than the holiday for Donna Whitson and
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  Speaker 1: Richard Hagerman to be thankful for that day. Amber Renee
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  Speaker 1: Hagerman became Donna's first child and her parents' first grandchild.
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  Speaker 1: Though she'd been terrified since she found out she was pregnant.
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  Speaker 1: Donna badly wanted to be a mother, and when it happened,
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  Speaker 1: she could think of nothing in the world as beautiful
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  Speaker 1: as her new baby girl. Donna knew right away that
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  Speaker 1: she and Amber would have a special and unique bond.
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  Speaker 1: Richard too was smitten, and when he saw his little
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  Speaker 1: girl trying to turn herself over just after birth, the
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  Speaker 1: father later said he knew there was something different about her,
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  Speaker 1: something special. As an infant, Richard later recalled, Amber liked
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  Speaker 1: to knock her head against whatever was in her way,
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  Speaker 1: earning her the nicknames Bam Bam and Bamber. Richard Hagerman
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  Speaker 1: was a lifelong Arlington resident and graduated from Sam Houston
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  Speaker 1: High After Amber's birth, he and Donna's life together was
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  Speaker 1: rocky financially speaking. At first. Richard was a machinist who
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  Speaker 1: worked for companies that got the bulk of their business
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  Speaker 1: from area economic behemoth Bell Helicopter. When Bell cuts back production,
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  Speaker 1: it isn't only the employees who bear the brunt. Smaller
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  Speaker 1: Dallas Fort Worth companies, particularly mom and pop machine shops,
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  Speaker 1: also feel the sting, A much worse sting. Really, It
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  Speaker 1: can effect a beginning family quite negatively. Richard was in
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  Speaker 1: and out of work when Amber was nearing four years old.
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  Speaker 1: In the summer of nineteen ninety, Richard and Donna welcomed
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  Speaker 1: a baby boy to the family. Though he was named
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  Speaker 1: after his father, the smaller Richard Hagerman became known as Ricky. Again.
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  Speaker 1: Donna was over the moon, but she was quickly pushed
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  Speaker 1: aside by Amber, who immediately took charge and began calling
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  Speaker 1: Ricky her baby. Amber was about as good as a
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  Speaker 1: big sister gets. She watched over Ricky independently nurturing the boy,
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  Speaker 1: and the two spent hours playing together every day. She
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  Speaker 1: called him Bubba, and when he began speaking, he called
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  Speaker 1: her sissy. Their bond was unbreakable and something that would
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  Speaker 1: help them get through the unfortunately difficult times that were coming.
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  Speaker 1: Around the time Amber was seven years old, her father, Richard,
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  Speaker 1: began drinking heavily while Donna was home caring for the children.
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  Speaker 1: She'd later say he'd go out partying with her friends,
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  Speaker 1: and when he was done, he'd continue drinking at the house.
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  Speaker 1: Richard got mean when he was drunk, Donna says, and
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: he became physically and verbally abusive toward her. He was loud,
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  Speaker 1: which caused neighbors to call the cops on many occasions.
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  Speaker 1: He never laid a hand on the kids, Donna said,
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  Speaker 1: but seeing their mother abused was incredibly traumatic. Nonetheless, they
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: were scared of what their father had become. One time,
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  Speaker 1: officers told Richard that if they had to come back,
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  Speaker 1: they'd make sure the children were removed from the home.
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  Speaker 1: It was, in fact, the final time It's all Donna
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  Speaker 1: had to hear. She quickly gathered minimal personal belongings, grabbed
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  Speaker 1: Ricky and Amber, and left for good, knowing Richard would
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  Speaker 1: easily find her at her parents house. Donna wasn't sure
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  Speaker 1: what to do. For a couple days, she and the
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: kids slept in the car. Then Donna went to the
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  Speaker 1: local women's shelter, where she was immediately taken in and
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  Speaker 1: provided a place to stay, warm, meals, and toys for
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  Speaker 1: the kids to play with. After six weeks, the shelter
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  Speaker 1: helped Donna secure an apartment. She applied for welfare to
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  Speaker 1: help her get back on her feet. Richard had abused
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  Speaker 1: Donna to the point that every knock at her door
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  Speaker 1: startled her and the kids. Each time, or even when
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  Speaker 1: the slightest out of the ordinary noise occurred, they thought
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  Speaker 1: Richard had found them. Finally, after living on their own
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  Speaker 1: for about a year, Donna, Amber and Ricky were able
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: to let their guards down and enjoy life happily and
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  Speaker 1: as carefree as was possible. Richard Hagerman eventually found Donna
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  Speaker 1: and the kids. He begged her to come back, but
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  Speaker 1: she refused. Donna felt if she did, once they were
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  Speaker 1: settled in, things would go back to the way they were,
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  Speaker 1: claiming he had stopped drinking. Donna allowed Richard back into
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  Speaker 1: Ricky and Amber's life slowly. Before long, he was visiting
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: his children most weekends, usually bringing with him movies on
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  Speaker 1: VHS and pizza. Richard was keeping his word, and everything
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  Speaker 1: was calm and amicable between the estranged couple. During the
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: summer and warm weather holidays, the entire family would float
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: on inner tubes down at Joe Pool Lake. The kids
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: eventually became comfortable being around their father again. Amber, Richard
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  Speaker 1: would later remark, was a daddy's girl and her little
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: temper might be his fault. Meanwhile, Donna struggled as a
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  Speaker 1: single mother. She refused to seek child support payments from Richard,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: perhaps Donna thought that if she did, she'd have to
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: legally agree to visitation rights. But even as she navigated
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: herself and the children through the financially hard times, Donna
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: was able to obtain her ged enrole in medical assistant training,
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  Speaker 1: and she kept the kids well fed and in good clothing,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: usually with the help of local charities and clothing drives.
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  Speaker 1: Besides the modest help from Uncle Sam, Donna Whitson was
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  Speaker 1: independent and answered to no one for the first time
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  Speaker 1: in her life save her children, but she was probably
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  Speaker 1: too humble to know how strong she was. Amber Hagerman,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: even through the bad times, kept her chin up. Not
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: only was she a happy child, but she was also
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: remarkably intelligent. That was especially apparent in her favorite class writing,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: where she crafted stories with names like the Big Brown
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Teddy Bear and shop Bugs. Her teachers were always amazed
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: with her writing work. At Barry Elementary in Arlington, Amber
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: was on the AB on her roll. She didn't like
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: the B part much, and every time Amber saw that
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: grade on her report card, she'd become quite upset. If
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: the girl didn't get the grade she wanted on an
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: assignment or project, she'd redo it. Amber was a perfectionist.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Her third grade teacher remembered she had a collection of
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: a war ribbons and achievement certificates. She was crushed when
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: a fever caused her to break her perfect attendance record.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: But Amber wasn't just a big brained, creative kid. She
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: was also known as kind and considerate. These natural characteristics
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: effortlessly secured the girl many friends. Amanda was her closest.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Amber and Amanda met in kindergarten. They both liked the
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: same things, namely Barbie dolls and doing flips on trampolines.
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  Speaker 1: Amanda later recalled and became fast friends. Inseparable friends, Amanda's
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: mom led a Girl Scout troop. The two were active Brownies,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: earning badges for their vests and selling cookies. Amber looked
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: forward to moving up to Junior Girl Scout, but unfortunately
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: she never got the chance. When Donna Whitson was still
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: at the woman's shelter in early nineteen ninety five, producer
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: and reporter Pam Curry from WFAA Channel eight approached her
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and asked if she was willing to be the subject
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  Speaker 1: of a segmented news documentary along with Amber and Ricky.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: The series would be about single mothers struggling to get
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: ahead and off of welfare. Believing she could help just
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: one other single mom out there somewhere, Donna agreed. The
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: documentary began filming long after Donna and the kids had
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: moved out of the shelter nine months later, in August
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: of nineteen ninety five. She was filmed going about her
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: daily business, medical assistant classes, regular volunteer work at the
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  Speaker 1: food stamp office, and life at home with Amber and Ricky.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: She tried not to show the kids her frequent stress
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: and occasional depression about the family's financial situation, but Amber
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: was exceptionally bright and often picked up on it anyway.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: At times she worried right alongside her mom. Regardless, they
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: were happy and Donna was providing the light at the
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: end of the tunnel. Virtually their every waking moment was
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: filmed for a short time, culminating in hundreds of hours
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: of video footage of the family. The film crew even
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: captured Amber's ninth birthday. By the time filming stopped anyway,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five was nearing a close, and the new
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: year seemed promising like a new beginning. Not long after
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the turn from nineteen ninety five to nineteen ninety six. However,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: the most unimaginable tragedy struck. The new year. Nineteen ninety
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: six started out well for Donna Whitsen and her children,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Ricky and Amber Hagerman. The family was doing well, and
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Amber especially was thriving. The nine year old was at
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: an age where she enjoyed being best friends with her mom.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: The two did make up and haired together, and their homework.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Donna later called her the perfect little girl. Amber was
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: full of and absolutely loved life. Donna said she was
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: a great student, sister, daughter, and granddaughter. As a bonus,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: she'd never even been in trouble. She was a normal girl,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: a whiz on roller skates, always giggling, and she kept
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: her more than two dozen barbies pristine. Amber la to
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: get her picture taken, jump into large piles of leaves.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: She raked up herself and was particularly fond of the
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Disney version of Pocahontas. She adored younger kids and always
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: took care of and looked out for her cousins, and
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: more than anyone else, her little brother, Ricky. Saturday, January thirteenth,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six started out as a typical North Texas
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: winter day. In the morning, it was chilly out with
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: the high in the upper thirties, but warmed up fast,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: eventually reaching a record temperature of seventy eight degrees. The
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: day was family Day, and at noon Richard came by
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: for a few minutes to visit the kids while they
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: got ready for a day out of the apartment with mom.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: As Amber walked by her father on their way out,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: he remembered she gave him a big hug as he
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: told her he'd see her later at Grandma's. Burger King
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: was the first stop, one of Amber's favorite eating spots,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: second only perhaps to Taco Bell. Next, they stopped at
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Castle Park in North Arlington so the kids could work
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: off lunch, but mostly because Amber loved swinging on the
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: monkey bars. After that, and since it was the season,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: they stopped by a relative's house to sell some of
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Amber's Girl Scout cookies. Finally, Donna, Ricky, and Amber ended
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: up at Glinda and Jimmy Whitson's house, Donna's parents and
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: of course, the kid's grandparents. When they arrived, Jimmy was
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: under the hood of a car out front, but stopped
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: his tinkering to say hi to his daughter and grandkids.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Just like nearly every other child in the world, Amber
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: and Ricky loved going to Grandma and Grandpa's. The big
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: tree in the front yard of the Highland Drive East
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Central Arlington home was a favorite of the kids, particularly Amber,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: who'd climate and refused to come down when it was
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: time to leave. But on this sunny, unseasonably warm winter day,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: they were itching to ride their bikes. Since they lived
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: in an apartment complex, Amber and Ricky's bicycles stayed at
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: their grandparents' house. Amber's pink and white Magna was only
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: a couple weeks old, a Christmas gift that she'd already
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: adorned with multicolored noisy spoke beads, or spoky doaks as
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: they were more commonly known. Donna had grown up in
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: the close knit, working class neighborhood. She felt at home there,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: and most importantly, when considering her children, she felt safe,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: and it wasn't just the familiarity. At the time, and
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: although the crime rate was significantly higher than it is today,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: the twenty four hour news cycle was relatively new and
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: a lot of folks were not necessarily plugged in. Kids
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: could be seen in droves in every North Texas neighborhood, walking, riding, skateboarding, whatever,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: whether its parental fear or wireless devices that keep the
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: kids inside today. The prior was less common at the
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: time and the latter nonexistent, so when Ricky and Amber
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: asked to ride their bikes for a little while, Donna
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: was fine with it, but had conditions go once around
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: the block only and stay together. That second directive was
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: hollered as the kids sped off. Okay, Mommy, we will,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Amber replied, I love you. It was about ten minutes
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: after three pm. Ricky and Amber took off, going southwest
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: on Highland before taking a sharp ride on to Claudia
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Street going north once at Ruth Street. Now traveling east
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: on their bikes, they rode right past Highland, where they
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: were supposed to have taken another right turn toward Jimmy
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: and Glinda's place, completing the path they were ordered to
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: take by Donna. Instead, they continued to Browning Drive and
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: took a left and rode about two hundred feet before
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: taking another left into a parking lot. They were heading
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: to an abandoned whind Dixie grocery store at sixteen ten
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: East Abrams street. The vacant stores windows were covered with
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: sheets of plywood, and attached to the building's east was
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: a long, large concrete ramp where semi trailers once backed
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: in to unload their products into the grocer's storeroom and
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: walk in coolers. That was Ricky and Amber's destination, or
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Ambers more accurately, as her kid brother just followed her
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: wherever she went. The ramp, Amber knew anyway was a
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: cool place to ride bikes. After a few minutes of
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: riding up and down, something came over Ricky. He later
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: said it wasn't a sense of foreboding or anything. Ricky
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: simply knew he and his big sister were not supposed
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: to be there and got scared he would get in trouble.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: He told Amber he was heading back to grandma and Grandpa's,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: and she said to go ahead, she'd be right behind him.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: No longer than a couple minutes later, Jimmy Whitson saw
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: his grandson coming up the driveway alone. Where's Cissy, He asked.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Ricky told him about the ramp and that Amber had
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: stayed behind to ride at one more time. Glinda, his grandma,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: told the five year old boy to go and tell
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: her to come back. Ricky rode off. A few minutes later,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: he returned alone again. I can't find Cissy, Ricky told
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: his grandfather. Jimmy grabbed Ricky, hopped in his truck and
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: sped off to the abandoned Dwynn Dixie. Just after he arrived,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: an Arlington police patrolman pulled up. The officer told Jimmy
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Whitson that a man standing in his yard nearby heard
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: a terrible scream. He looked up to see a man
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: carrying a little girl to his pickup truck and then
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: putting her inside. Jimmy's heart dropped and his eyes drifted,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: almost as if he thought he was having a nightmare
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: and looking for something, anything, that might wake him up.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: That's my granddaughter's bike, he said somberly. Jimmy drove back
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: to the house to tell Donna. The drive was quick,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: too quick. How was he going to tell his baby
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: girl that her baby girl was gone? When Jimmy told her,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Donna panicked like the weight of the world was suddenly
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: resting upon her chest, making it hard to breathe or think,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: or even know what was real and what was not.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: She began running down the street toward the parking lot,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: crying frantically and as hard as anyone ever had Amber,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Where are you? She was screaming. She told herself that
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: her little girl would yell back and make her whereabouts known,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: but she didn't answer. Next time, I'm Gone Cold, the
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: search for Amber Hagerman. If you have any information about
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: the abduction and murder of Amber Rene Hagerman, please call
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: the Arlington Police at eight one seven four five nine
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: five seven seven to two. To remain anonymous and to
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: be eligible for a reward, you can provide a tip
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: at Terrant County Crime Stoppers at eight one seven four
• 30:08
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• 30:13
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• 30:18
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• 30:22
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• 30:24
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• 30:29
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• 30:33
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• 30:37
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• 30:41
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• 30:44
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• 31:12
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