WENATCHEE, Wash. – The local community is questioning why an Amber Alert was not issued for three girls reported missing on May 30 and on Tuesday.
The Wenatchee Police Department contacted the Washington State Patrol (WSP) to issue an Amber Alert.
However, the WSP did not release the alert, stating the case did not meet two of the four required criteria.
The criteria for an Amber Alert include the child being under 18 and known to be abducted, the child being in danger of death or injury, having enough descriptive information about the abduction, and the abduction being investigated by law enforcement.
The WSP explained that the first two criteria were not met in this case.
Chris Loftis with WSP said, “There has to be abduction. It needs to be suspect, and in this case you had a parent with custodial rights and privileges and missed the deadline, but it doesn’t automatically mean abduction.”
Loftis added that there was no evidence the children were in imminent peril.
“There has to be evidence that the children are in imminent peril, that they’re in peril of bodily injury or death and there just wasn’t any evidence to this in this case at that time – Friday night and Saturday morning when these decisions were being made.”
When asked about the possibility of a different outcome had an Amber Alert been issued, Loftis responded, “Maybe there could’ve been. Maybe is a big word isn’t it? I can tell you it’s not a maybe that the people of the Wenatchee Police Department and the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office have done all they can do and countless hours have gone into this. They care, and they care mightily.”
Loftis emphasized that the focus should be on the suspect rather than law enforcement actions, saying, “People say ‘is there blame on law enforcement?’ Somebody murdered these three little girls. The blame is with the murderer.”
Despite the absence of an Amber Alert, an Endangered Missing Person Alert was issued.
These alerts appear on WSDOT reader boards and on TVs and radios but lack the push notification system of an Amber Alert.
Loftis explained, “The 4th thing that the Amber Alert has that the other ones don’t is that push system, that push notice that you get with a loud sound that’s going to make you look at your phone. That’s one thing this alert did not have in this situation, but it had everything else.”
So far this year, only three Amber Alerts have been issued in Washington State.
WSP stated that their urgency makes people pay closer attention.
Loftis concluded, “I know people are being critical of law enforcement on this, but I’ll be honest with you, of all the things you could criticize us for, moving heaven and earth when there’s a child in peril is not one of them, because we’re all parents, we’re all grandparents, we’re brothers, we’re sisters, we’re sons, we’re daughters and when there is a child missing, we do everything we possibly can, but in this case, Amber is not something we possibly could.”
