ARLINGTON, Texas — The Amber Alert system, a nationwide emergency notification program for abducted children, takes its name from Amber Rene Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered in Arlington, Texas, in January 1996.

Amber Hagerman was riding her bicycle in a parking lot near her grandparents' home on Jan. 13, 1996, when an unknown man abducted her. Her body was found four days later in a creek a few miles away. The crime remains unsolved.

In response to the tragedy, local residents and broadcasters in the Dallas-Fort Worth area pushed for a better emergency alert system. Radio stations and law enforcement collaborated to create an early warning mechanism that could quickly inform the public about child abductions.

The system was officially named in memory of Amber Hagerman. Although "AMBER" is presented as the acronym for "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response," this is a backronym created after the system was already named for the girl.

The first Amber Alert was issued in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 1996. It quickly spread to other Texas regions and then........

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