Amber Alert Canceled, Children Safe
A military mom involved in a custody dispute had taken off with her two young children and military police feared for the kids' safety. It is raising questions about the use of the Amber Alert.
When an Amber Alert is issued, people respond. Everyone was looking for a white van.
It was believed a mother involved in a divorce case had abducted her two young children. The freeway signs lit up with a description of her car and people were on the lookout.
McChord resident Haley Ethengain was asked, "Sounds pretty frightening?" She answered, "Yes. I'm a mother too going through a divorce and I understand how both parties feel."
Security folks at McChord believed the mother did not have custodial rights and they feared for the kids' safety.
Two hours into the alert, security forces determined that the mother had custodial rights and that she had every right to be with her children. They cancelled the Amber Alert.
Now the question is: should the Amber Alert have been issued in the first place? Why didn't security forces know about the divorce case and who actually had custody rights?
McChord says the early report from the baby sitter of the children is that they didn't know what had happened to the kids.
"I can't stress enough the fact that the information that desk sergeant had at the time caused him to make a decision based on the safety of the children," said Col. Rick Martin of McChord.
As it turns out, the Amber Alert worked. A State Patrol Trooper stopped the mother on I-90 in Eastern Washington. The kids were okay and the Amber Alert had just been cancelled.
The family was sent on its way while McChord and law enforcement agencies work to figure out if this could have been handled better.
McChord says as far as it is concerned no action will be taken against the father who is a senior airman at the base.