Amber Hagerman Was A Victim of An Abduction and Murder

Amber Hagerman (November 28, 1986–January 17, 1996) was a young girl who became a victim of an abduction and murder. On January 13, 1996, she was riding her bike near her grandparents' home in Arlington, Texas, and was kidnapped soon thereafter,On January 13, 1996, a man in a pickup truck abducted Hagerman, who was riding her bicycle in Arlington, TX. A witness, Jimmie Kevil, was able to provide police with a cursory description of both the abductor and his vehicle.According to Kevil, a man in a black pickup stopped in the parking lot of the abandoned grocery store where Hagerman was playing, sprinted to Hagerman, and dragged her into his truck. As Kevil was relating his observations to the police, Hagerman's grandfather, Jimmy Whitson, drove up, looking for the child. Hagerman was the second child in her family to have been kidnapped. Her father's two-day-old-granddaughter was abducted in 1991 and recovered safely 10 hours later.

Arlington police began searching for Hagerman immediately. Volunteers searched for Amber Hagerman for several days, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated.Four days after her abduction, a man walking his dog found Hagerman's body in a creek bed. An autopsy revealed that her throat had been cut.Although a $75,000 reward was offered for information leading to Hagerman's killer, he has not been found.[5] The task force investigating Hagerman's murder was dissolved in June 1997.

No arrests were made.Her murder remains unsolved, but on July 25, 2007 it was announced that Terapon Adhahn, of Tacoma, Washington, was under investigation for Amber's slaying. Adhahn was arrested July 9, 2007 in connection with another abduction, that of 12-year-old Zina Linnik, whose body was found July 12 in east Pierce County in Washington State. Zina disappeared from a July 4th celebration. Adhahn was charged with aggravated first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape in Zina's abduction and death. In addition to Zina's slaying, Adhahn was considered a person of interest in the slaying of Adre'Anna Jackson, 10, of Tillicum, Washington, who was killed in 2005. He has also been charged with raping two other girls.

The First Amber alert Trial was run in 1996 at KRLD Radio studio at the Ball Park in Arlington, TX. Those in Attendance were Rick Roberts and Richard Hagerman and Bruce Seybert who worked with Amber's Parents and released the Amber alert at a Media Symposium, and worked with Amber's parents from Day one calling for what was called the Amber Alert based on what Mark Klaas had told Amber's father the day she was abducted on what needed done. In October 2000, the United States House of Representatives adopted H.R. 605 which encouraged communities nationwide to implement the AMBER Plan. In April 2003, President George W. Bush signed the AMBER Alert legislation, making it a national program. While the AMBER Alert system is now mandated across the USA, some states are still trying to implement the procedures necessary in bringing the alerts to the public.[citation needed] Hampered by outdated Emergency Broadcast guidelines and different activation criteria in each state, the system is still being developed to provide optimal effectiveness.