AMBER Advocate – Summer 2017

Summer 2017

In This Issue:

The latest issue of The AMBER Advocate is now out with remarks from Patty Wetterling at the National AMBER Alert Symposium. Plus, the terrific efforts of Tennessee and Georgia to save an abducted girl

The AMBER Alert Symposium name tent table

2017 AMBER ALERT SYMPOSIUM GATHERS AMBER ALERT COORDINATORS AND MISSING PERSONS CLEARINGHOUSE MANAGERS

Patty Wetterling fought back tears while describing how she learned her son’s body had been found after nearly three decades of searching and hoping he was still alive. On October 22, 1989, her eleven-year old son Jacob was riding his bike when he was taken by a masked gunman in St. Cloud, Minnesota...

Nicole Morrell

FACES OF THE AMBER ALERT NETWORK: MASSACHUSETTS

Nicole Morell has worked for the Massachusetts State Police for 21 years and became the state’s AMBER Alert coordinator in 2007. Sergeant Morell also worked with the Missing Persons Clearinghouse for three years. She previously worked as a detective for the Worcester County State Police Detective Unit and investigated major crimes, including the disappearance and murder of Molly Bish. Sergeant Morrell also worked as an undercover
narcotics detective.

FACES OF THE AMBER ALERT NETWORK: Indiana

Shea Reliford has overseen the Indiana Clearinghouse for Missing Children & Missing Endangered Adults since September 2016. He is also a First Sergeant with the Office of Intelligence and Investigative Technologies and serves as the Administrative Officer for the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center. He began his career with the Indiana State Police in 2006. Previous duties include serving as a state trooper, police academy counselor and instructor, human resources sergeant, field training officer, recruiter, emergency vehicle operations instructor and background investigator...

AMBER Alert in Indian Country

It took only a few minutes for 10-year old Ashton Fish to express for everyone at the 2017 AMBER Alert Symposium, through both word and dance, why everything possible must be done to protect missing and abducted children in Indian Country...

On the Front Lines: Tennessee & Georgia

On June 6, 2017, a 14-year-old girl with a history of suicide attempts and other mental health problems went missing in Georgia. The Gordon County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office received a call at 11 a.m. from the girl’s mother and reported she saw her daughter the night before, but she was gone when she went to look for her in the morning...

AMBER Alert International

Representatives from the U.S., Canada and Mexico are working to make sure the AMBER Alert systems in their countries and bordering areas work seamlessly when cross-border child abduction cases occur. The 2017 AMBER Alert Symposium included a panel discussion about what is being done to return abducted children who are taken across a national border...

AMBER Alert Briefs

Stories in the AMBER Alert Briefs section cover Federal AMBER Alert legislation, a conference on missing persons held in Atlanta, a Delaware baseball clinic raising awareness about the AMBER Alert, and a new Blue Alert law signed by the Missouri Governor...