Home/Crime & Violence Prevention/AMBER Alert/ Utah AMBER Alert History
(1) The Salt Lake City Police issued Utah’s first statewide child abduction alert after a 14-year-old girl was kidnapped at knife point from her bedroom. The alert prompted worldwide attention about the abduction and the relatively new child abduction alert plan. Sandy City Police found the girl nine months later after some citizens spotted her walking on the street with her alleged abductors. The alert was known then as the Rachael Alert, in memory of Rachael Runyan, a three-year-old Sunset, Utah girl who was kidnapped and murdered in 1982. The alert’s name was later changed to the AMBER Alert to avoid confusion. Utah now gives the Rachael Runyan Award to honor citizens who help in the recovery of an abducted child. (2) The Salt Lake City Police issued an alert after a 3-year-old boy was taken by some acquaintances of his mother and authorities received information that the child was in danger. After the alert went out, the public started flooding the police with tips about the suspects. Jeff Salt was driving to a meeting that same morning and saw “CHILD ABDUCTION ALERT” flashing on the electronic highway signs. Salt spotted the suspects and hour later as they were walking into the YWCA. Both Salt and YWCA employees called police and the baby was recovered less than five hours after the alert went out. This was the first time that the alert incorporated electronic highway signs, a highway advisory radio message, flyers and the UDOT Commuterlink website. Jeff Salt later received the Rachael Runyan Award. (3) The Provo Police Department issued an alert for an 11-year-old girl after receiving information from police in St. Cloud, Minnesota that a 21-year-old man may be heading to Provo with the girl. Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Randall Richey noticed the alert on the laptop computer in his car and started figuring out how long it would take someone to travel from Minnesota to Utah. While he was waiting for the results, he spotted the suspect’s car. The suspect was arrested and the child was recovered less than 45 minutes after the alert was issued in Utah. This was the first time that the alert went out as an AMBER Alert. Richey was later honored with the Rachael Runyan Award. (4) The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office issued an AMBER Alert after a 19-month-old girl was taken by her grandmother, who was suffering from mental illness and had not taken her medication. The grandmother was found less than 10 hours later in Idaho Falls, Idaho. She said the girl was lost in the waters of the Snake River and authorities believe the child had drowned. This was the first time an AMBER Alert had been issued in Utah to find a child who had allegedly been abducted by a family member. This was also the first time that the plan fully used private electronic business signs. (5) Sandy Police issued an AMBER Alert after a woman’s car was stolen with her 6-week-old daughter in the backseat of the vehicle. Within 25 minutes, the AMBER Alert was being disseminated on highway message signs, the Commuterlink web page, 511 traffic information line and through the media. Shane Wilkinson saw the alert on TV and went out and found the car within minutes at the Jordan Commons parking lot. The baby was safely sleeping in the back of the car. The child was found less than an hour after the vehicle had been stolen. Thirty minutes later the alleged kidnapper called the mother and told her where to find the car. This was the first time that the alert was broadcast over the Utah Criminal Justice Information System. The new system sends the alerts instantly to law enforcement officers, broadcasters and the public through pagers, cell phones, computers or any text message device. Shane Wilkinson was later honored with the Rachael Runyan Award. (6) Harrisville Police issued an AMBER Alert after a mother reported that her 5-year-old daughter had been abducted by her ex-husband and he had threatened to “go out in style” if anyone tried to stop him. Harrisville authorities believed the child was in danger after the suspect refused police orders to return the girl back home. The suspect and the girl were recovered in Rawlins, Wyoming less than four and a half hours after the alert was initiated. This was the quickest fully-implemented AMBER Alert issued in Utah. This was also the first alert issued by Wyoming and it went out less than 36 hours after the state had implemented its AMBER Alert Plan. (7) The Utah Department of Public Safety issued an alert for a 14-year-old girl from Fortville, Indiana. The girl had been missing for three days when the FBI in Indiana received new information that she was traveling through Utah with a 30-year-old Reno, Nevada man she had met on the Internet. The Utah Department of Public Safety sent out an Attempt To Locate notice to law enforcement on Monday at 6:30 p.m. Wendover police officers actually found the suspect and the victim near the Utah-Nevada border minutes before the alert was activated at 8:47 p.m. The alert was cancelled at 8:54 p.m and the victim was returned to her parents. (8) The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office issued an AMBER Alert for a 3-year-old boy after his father allegedly threatened to kill his son and himself. Motorists spotted the suspect’s vehicle an hour after the alert went out and began following the suspect’s vehicle. Deputies were able to arrest the suspect and recover the victim less than 90 minutes after the alert was issued. This was the first time Utah entered an AMBER Alert into the NCIC system using the new AMBER Alert flag. Tonia McPeak and Steve Garrett were later honored with Rachael Runyan Awards. (9) The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office issued an AMBER Alert for a 3-year-old boy after a family friend with an extensive criminal history failed to deliver the child to his aunt’s home. The alert went out at 1:08 a.m. and detectives apprehended the suspect and recovered the child seven hours later at the suspect’s parents home. This is believed to be first alert that was translated and aired on Spanish radio stations. It was also the second time that Wyoming issued an alert for Utah. (10) The Utah County Sheriff’s Office issued an AMBER Alert for a 7-year-old boy after his non-custodial father refused to bring the boy back to his grandparents unless he received some money. Salt Lake City Police arrested the suspect when he arrived at a grocery store parking lot to pick up the money. The suspect told police where the child was and he was safely recovered about 90 minutes after the AMBER Alert was initiated. This was the first AMBER Alert for the Utah County Sheriff’s Office. (11) Taylorsville Police issued an AMBER Alert for a 5-year-old girl who had allegedly been taken by her mother’s drug-addicted fiancé. The suspect promised to bring the child home at noon and the mother had been notified by the bank that the suspect had been trying to forge her checks. Police were called at 7:23 p.m. and they became concerned about the suspect’s state of mind and the drop in temperature. They determined the child was in imminent danger and issued an AMBER Alert at 9:11 p.m. A woman heard the alert on the radio and called police after seeing the suspect’s car in a West Valley City grocery store parking lot. The suspect was arrested and the child was returned to her mother less than two hours after the alert went out. (12) 13) Taylorsville Police issued an AMBER Alert after a car thief stole the car a mother was driving with her six-week-old daughter in the backseat. The alert went up quickly on TV, radio, highway signs and cell phones and pagers. Taylorsville Police Detective Brett Miller found the car in an apartment complex parking lot with the baby sleeping inside 20 minutes after the alert went out. The suspect has not been found. (14) The Box Elder County Sheriff's Office issued an AMBER Alert at 8:59 p.m. for a 12-year-old boy and his 7-year-old brother after they were allegedly kidnapped by their noncustodial mother in a stolen vehicle. Authorities feared the children were in imminent danger because the suspect allegedly suffers from psychotic schizophrenia and has a history of drug abuse and violence with other family members. Mike Butcher and his wife Chasity Angell saw the alert on TV and spotted the suspect the following morning. The couple called the Ivins City Police Department and followed the suspect's car. The mother was arrested and the children were recovered 2 minutes later. (15) The Provo Police Department issued an AMBER Alert after an estranged father allegedly kidnapped his 3 children and promised to "take them to heaven" by driving them off a cliff. The alert was activated at 8:13 p.m. for a 6-year-old boy, his 4-year-old brother and 20-month-old sister. The alert was cancelled 6 minutes later after Provo Police found the suspect and all of the children safe at Point of the Mountain. However, the father allegedly tried to drive his SUV off a cliff but the vehicle was high-centered. He has been charged with attempted homicide. (16) The Salt Lake City Police Department issued an AMBER Alert at 6:45 a.m. for a 5-year-old girl. Police fear she has been abducted because a man who was once accused of child sex abuse is seen in the area acting in a suspicious manner. The person of interest turns himself in shortly after the alert is issued and police reduce the AMBER Alert to an Endangered Person Advisory. Police issue an AMBER Alert again on July 23 after a witness says he saw the girl in a truck with a man in Farmington. The alert is cancelled after police find the truck and determine the girl in the truck was not the subject of the alert. Police arrest the victim's neighbor on July 24 and discover her body in his basement. (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) 22) |
