TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) -- Seventeen years ago Amber Hagerman was outside doing what kids do playing.
A neighborhood heard her scream.
Gretl Plessinger is with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, she says, "Amber Hagerman was 9 years old she was abducted while riding a bike near her home in Arlington, Texas. Police found her body four days later after she vanished. Her throat was slit and she was sexually assaulted."
In 2000 Florida became the second state in the country to issue Amber Alerts getting messages out on the roads and in the media.
Officials say the system works. Plessinger says, "In october of this year a boy in Miami was abducted along with his mom by the father who had an extensive criminal history felony warrants. An Amber Alert was issued an Florida Highway Patrol trooper spotted the mom and child in a car. During a traffic stop they were safely recovered the child and mom."
To get the word out about amber alerts even quicker Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials want you to go to their website and sign up for Amber Alerts on your cell phone, tablet or via email.
Plessinger says, "The goal of the amber alert is to get as many people information as soon as possible when a kid is missing whether television or on a mobile device."
To sign up for Amber Alerts go to www.fdle.state.fl.us
The person who killed Amber Hagerman has not been found.
