America’s Lost Children: 37 Active AMBER Alerts Still Haunt Families

The first AMBER Alert was issued in 1996. The notification, which stands for America’s Missing Broadcast Emergency Response, has recovered at least 1,074 abducted children around the country.

Throughout the years, however, not all missing children are found and there are still 37 active alerts.

“Obviously we would want ever case of a missing child to be resolved and for the child to be recovered alive,” Alan Nanavaty, executive director of special programs the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children missing children division, told Newsweek.

The alerts serve as just one tool to help find missing children. Last year alone, Nanavaty said her organization had 20,000 children missing reported to the organization. Around 90% of those children were found.

“Since we’ve been tracking AMBER Alerts, since early 2005 timeframe, 99% of the children have been recovered,” Nanavaty said. “It’s not a good or bad thing. It’s just what it is, and law enforcement continues to work on the cases.”

In the past, the alerts were sent out through law enforcement and over television. A case stays under the supervision of a case manager at the NCMEC, according to Nanavaty. There are managers for different lengths of time that a child has been missing.

“It’s a tool that’s used as a program started by the Department of Justice as a means to galvanize the public,” Nanavaty said. “As a case progresses, we have some other tools.”

The NCMEC is able to use biometrics from photographs of the missing child and their family to “age them” in a new photo of what they could potentially look like two, six and even 50 years down the line.

“What we provide really is a service to the alert,” Nanavaty said. “It’s very effective in terms of just getting information out there.”

The original press release can evolve to videos and additional information from families to try and get the word out there. New technology, including cell phone alerts and social media use, have changed the landscape of the AMBER Alert notifications as well.

Nanavaty said the new eyes on cases help, and keeping the public aware seems to generate new leads.

Newsweek created a map shows the 37 active alerts that date back to 2003.

“I think in terms of the AMBER Alert being used or activated at this point on these cases, the value diminishes over time. However, there are still things that can be done,” Nanavaty said. “The most important part is locating that child as quickly as possible and bringing them home safely.”

2024 Amber Alerts

Elijah Vue was last seen on Feb. 20 in Two Rivers, Wisconsin while staying with his mother’s boyfriend, 39-year-old Jesse Vang, on the 3900 block of Mishicot Road.

Vang took a nap and woke up three hours later around 11 a.m. to find the child missing.

Elijah was last seen wearing gray sweatpants, a long sleeve dark colored shirt and red and green dinosaur slip on shoes, according to the Amber Alert. He has a birthmark on his left knee.

Vang and Vue’s mother, 31-year-old Katrina Baur, are being held at Manitowoc County Jail on child neglect charges in connection with the child’s disappearance.

Sebastian Rogers, 15, disappeared from his mother and stepfather’s home in Sumner County, Tennessee on February 26. There were no signs of a break-in, leading officials to believe the child left on his own accord.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Amber Alert for the teenager who is described as having “a medical condition that may impair his ability to return safely without assistance.”

Sebastian Rogers is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs around 120 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes and wears glasses. He was last seen wearing black sweatpants and a black sweatshirt.

Seth Rogers, Sebastian’s father, previously suggested foul play may be involved in his son’s disappearance.

2023 Amber Alerts

Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez was last seen alive in Texas in October 2022. An Amber Alert was issued in March 2023 after relatives reported not seeing the 6-year-old for months.

Investigators now believe he may be dead.

His mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, was indicted on felony charges of capital murder, two counts of injury to a child and one count of abandoning without intent of return.

Keshaun Williams, 15, went missing in Cleveland. He had called his mom around 10:30 pm to say he was on his way home but never made it. Keshaun is described as 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds with brown eyes. He was last seen wearing black jogging pants and a T-shirt.

2021 Amber Alerts

Linda Sardar Khil was last seen on a playground on San Antonio’s North Side. Her family came to the United States from Afghanistan in 2019.

Summer Wells went missing from her Tennessee family home three years ago.

Summer’s family reported the then-5-year-old missing around 6:30 p.m. on June 15, 2021. She was last seen wearing a pink shirt and gray shorts. She may have been barefoot.

She had been outside with her mother and grandmother planting flowers, according to her father Donald Wells. Summer went back inside to play with her toys. The basement door was left open.

When Wells checked the basement for her, she was gone.

2020 Amber Alerts

Andrew Caballeiro went missing when his family was killed. His mother Arlety García Valdés, 40; grandmother Isabel Valdés González, 60; and Lina González Licor, 84, were killed in Miami by the baby’s father Ernesto Caballeiro who kidnapped Andrew and fled.

Caballeiro was found dead by a self-inflicted gunshot in a wooded area of Pasco County, but Andrew hasn’t been seen since.

Armaidre Argumon went missing when he was just one-month-old.

Deandre Argumon was sentenced in 2021 in connection with the disappearance of his infant son.

2019 Amber Alerts

Vanessa Morales went missing when she was one year old. Police had responded to where Vanessa and her mother, Christine Holloway, lived for a wellness check on the mom after she didn’t show up for work. Officers found Holloway’s body.

Dulce Alavez vanished near Bridgeton City Park in New Jersey.

She is believed to have been abducted when she and her brother were playing on the swings.

2016 Amber Alert

Pearl Pinson was kidnapped at 15 years old on May 25, 2016 on her way to school. She was last seen on a bridge above Highway 780 in California. A day later, the suspect, Fernando Castro, was killed in a shootout with police. Pearl was not found.

The family believes that the person who knows where Pearl is was the suspect that is now dead. However, they are hopeful for some answers and continue to visit the bridge.

2014 Amber Alerts

Relisha Rudd disappeared from Washington, D.C. She was living in the D.C. General Shelter with her mother. Relisha befriended janitor Kahlil Tatum, a former felon.

Relisha was last seen on camera with Tatum at an area hotel. Tatum’s wife was found shot dead in a Maryland hotel a few weeks later. Tatum’s body was found in a shed in the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens.

Myra Lewis was last seen playing outside of her home in Camden, Mississippi. The then two-year-old was left by her mother, who went to the grocery store. Her mother told Myra and her sisters to go inside the house, where their father was.

Each parent thought Myra was with the other one.

2013 Amber Alert

Daphne Webb was last seen in Oakland, California. Her father, John Webb, called 911 and said she’d been kidnapped out of his car. Webb said Daphne was taken from the right rear passenger seat.

Webb said he went into the supermarket to buy a drink, leaving Daphne in the car with his 87-year-old mother. When Webb returned, Daphne was gone.

Authorities initially treated Daphne’s case as a non-family abduction. Webb was arrested for felony child endangerment for leaving Daphne in the car with his mother who had dementia.

Webb was a potential person of interest in the disappearance but died by suicide ten months after his daughter’s disappearance. The investigation has been stalled by a lack of evidence.

2012 Amber Alerts

Chloie Leverette and Christopher Daniel were originally believed to have died in a house fire in Tennessee with their grandparents. Investigators searched for several days and never found the children’s remains.

2011 Amber Alerts

Jhessye Schockley was left at home with her siblings when her mother went to cash a check. When her mother came back the front door was open and Jhessye was missing. Around the same time, a woman as seen putting a young girl into a car.

Katherine Phillips was last seen in Ludington, Michigan. The day Katherine went missing, her mother Ariel Courtland and boyfriend Sean Michael Phillips were sitting in his car in front of Courtland’s apartment. Courtland got out of the car to get Katherine’s stroller from her apartment, but when she was gone Phillips drove away. Phillips was arrested and his car was recovered but Katherine was missing.

Bianca Jones’s father D’Andre Lane said he was driving in Detroit when his vehicle was carjacked. Bianca was in her car seat in the back at the time. Officers found the car less than a mile from where it was reportedly stolen without any signs of Bianca. Investigators believe Lane may have beaten Bianca to death the night before her disappearance.

Lisa Irwin was reported missing from her home in Kansas City, Missouri. Her mother said she was in bed, but a man allegedly broke into their house. Two witnesses saw a man walking down the street with a baby. A cadaver dog turned up a scent of a dead body near the mother’s bed.

Zaylee Fryar vanished when she was 3 months old. Her mother disappeared the same day. They were living in Tennessee.

2010 Amber Alerts

Alexander, Alexander and Tanner Skelton disappeared from Morenci, Michigan. Their father claimed they were given to an underground sanctuary to protect them from their mother. Officials didn’t believe him and charged him with child abandonment. He was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison and is scheduled to be released November 2025.

Their mother announced this week that she wants the court to declare them legally dead.

2009 Amber Alerts

Haleigh Cummings disappeared from her home in Florida. She went missing from her bed. Haleigh’s three-year-old brother and their father’s girlfriend (who later married him) were in the room as well.

When Haleigh’s father came come from working a second shift, his girlfriend told him she just discovered Haleigh was missing from her bed. The rear door to the trailer was slightly ajar.

Police found no signs of forced entry. Haleigh’s brother told investigators that a man dressed in black had come to their home.

Daisja Weaver was last seen in Dallas. Her mother, Tamaira Creagh, said she was kidnapped by an intruder to their apartment. Creagh, who was six months pregnant at the time, said the man came into the apartment around 11:40 p.m. and tried to sexually assault her. She fought him off and he fled, taking Daisja with him.

Creagh was unable to provide a description of the assailant.

The family was in the process of moving at the time. Daisja’s father, Alandus Kjeman Weaver, was allegedly not in the apartment when the abduction occurred and was taking some of their belongings to the new apartment.

Creagh and Weaver were arrested and charged with tampering physical evidence. Investigators said they had reason to believe Daisja had not been kidnapped but in fact murdered by her father.

According to court documents, Creagh left the baby with Weaver while she was at work. When Weaver picked Creagh up, Daisja wasn’t with him. Creagh found Daisja in their new apartment, lying on the floor, naked and wrapped in a towel. She wasn’t breathing and had several bruises on her face, back and abdomen.

The couple made up the story, threw the infant’s body into the Lewisville Lake with a sandbag off of the Interstate 35 bridge. Weaver punched Creagh several times to make it look like a kidnapper assaulted her.

Weaver originally maintained his innocence but then said he accidentally drowned Daisja while bathing her in the kitchen sink. He again later changed his story to blame Creagh.

Police have made several searches in the Lewisville Lake looking for Daisja but have not found anything.

2008 Amber Alert

Tangena Hussain disappeared from a gas station in Detroit. Her mother’s boyfriend, Jamrul Hussain was convicted of statutory rape and is a suspect involved in her disappearance. No charges have been filed.

2006 Amber Alerts

Joliet Cedano disappeared from Palmdale, California. She was with her foster mother and was abducted. The abductor fled with Joliet in a red car. Jose Martinez, the suspected kidnapper, told police he gave the baby to her biological mother.

Trenton Duckett was last seen in Florida. His mother put him to bed and then she went in his room to check on him two hours later, he was missing. The bedroom window had been slit.

Bryan Dossantos-Gomes was abducted from Fort Meyers. He and his mother were waiting for a friend at a bus stop. A woman drove up and asked for directions. The woman followed the bus until Byran and his mother got off.

Kendrick Jackson went missing from Houston. The boy’s father was convicted of murder, but his body was never found.

Elian Majano was last seen playing in Irving, Texas with his brother. Authorities initially believed Elian was just lost. Their extensive search turned up no signs of him.

Danielle Jimenez was last seen in Texas. Her parents had an ongoing dispute. On the day of Danielle’s disappearance, her father allegedly stabbed her mother to death and fled the scene.

2005 Amber Alert

Bianca Piper disappeared at 13 in Missouri. Piper required daily medications to prevent disorientation and hallucinations.

On March 10, 2005, Piper and her mother had a dispute. Her therapist had recommended that her mother drive Piper a certain distance from home and walk back on her own to deal with her own aggression.

Following the suggestion, Piper was driven about a mile from home. Hours later, she still had not returned.

2004 Amber Alert

Jesus Martinez was last seen at his home in northwest Houston. His mother’s estranged husband, Avelino Martinez, had moved in with a roommate. Martinez asked to borrow his roommate’s car to take his daughter to the doctors with his estranged wife and Jesus.

They went to the doctor, but at 1 a.m. the next day, the roommate found Jesus’s mother in his bed stabbed twice and strangled. He had thought she was sleeping until her daughter began to cry and she did not wake up.

There were no signs of Martinez and Jesus.

2003 Amber Alerts

Acaia Bishop was abducted by her grandmother from her great-grandparents’ in Salt Lake City. The grandmother claims she drowned the baby in the Snake River.

Sofia Juarez went missing at four years old in Washington. Her case was the first to use an AMBER Alert in the state. She went missing one day before her fifth birthday.

Christian Ferguson left with his dad when he was 9 years old and was never seen again. His father, Dawan, called 911 from a payphone saying someone carjacked his SUV with Christian inside. The car was found, but Christian was not.

If you have information on the whereabout of these missing children, contract NCMEC at 800-843-5678.