Amber Hagerman
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In 2020, in a small California mountain town, five women disappeared. I found out what happened to all of them, except one. A woman known as Dia, whose estate is worth millions of dollars. I'm Lucy Sheriff. Over the past four years, I've spoken with Dia's family and friends, and I've discovered that everyone has a different version of events.

Hear the story on Where's Dear? Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics, including violence, abuse, and murder.

This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

Today, I am discussing the case of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman. In 1996, Amber was riding her bike in a parking lot in Arlington, Texas, just a few blocks from her grandparents' home, when a man grabbed her from her bike, threw her in his truck, and drove away in broad daylight. Four days later, Amber's body was recovered from a nearby creek.

After 26 years of frustration, Amber's family and law enforcement are imploring the public to continue to share Amber's case. And Amber's mother is begging for the public to see her daughter as more than just the girl who inspired the Amber Alert. This is the case of Amber Hagerman.

Amber Renee Hagerman was born on November 25, 1986 in Arlington, Texas, to her parents Richard and Donna. Four years later, her brother Ricky was born. Unfortunately, Amber's parents didn't have a great relationship, and Donna has stated that Richard became abusive. Around 1995, when Amber was eight and Ricky was four, Donna left Richard and began her journey as a single mother.

It wasn't easy for Donna. She dropped out of school in the seventh grade and was struggling to find enough work to pay her bills while also studying to get her high school equivalency, get further job training, and volunteering at the Arlington Welfare Office.

Despite times being pretty turbulent for the family, Amber still thrived. She attended Berry Elementary where she got straight A's and even received the Principal's Award for Excellence. Here is a clip of Amber herself talking about this award in 1995. You got a Principal's Award here for excellence. That's a pretty big deal, isn't it? Yes. What'd you do to get that? Um,

A on a row, A, B on a row, and I had to do good things in the class and help. Amber really seemed like your typical, maybe a little bit shy, but very sweet little girl. Her favorite song was America the Beautiful, specifically the line for Amber Waves of Grain.

Her favorite Christmas carol was the 12 Days of Christmas, and she acted like a second mother to her little brother Ricky. Amber was also in brownies, but in her free time, she mostly liked to play with her Barbies with her best friend Amanda and ride her brand new pink bike that she'd just gotten for Christmas. Getting this bike was a pretty huge deal for Amber. Even though Donna worked very hard to make ends meet, there just wasn't a lot of money to go around, even with the government assistance she received.

Donna has said that because of this, Amber was a very mature little girl for her age, and she often worried about the family having enough money to live and eat.

One thing that I think makes Amber's case very unique is that her and her family's lives were being documented shortly before she lost her life. A few months before Amber was abducted and killed, the family participated in the production of a TV documentary special from local news station WFAA-TV in Dallas about welfare reform. They were essentially documenting Donna's struggles to live and get off welfare after leaving Richard.

In documenting Donna, they also captured a lot of video footage of Amber. That's actually where the clip of her talking about her principal's award came from. They capture Donna going to local charities to get free winter clothes for her kids, as well as a very touching moment where Donna was able to finish her layaway payments to get Amber a new Pocahontas outfit, doll accessories, and bed sheets for her 9th birthday.

This television special was set to air just a few days after Amber went missing. But then, of course, the unthinkable happened. On Saturday, January 13th, 1996, 9-year-old Amber and her 5-year-old brother Ricky were at their maternal grandparents' house with their mother Donna. It was an unusually warm winter day, so the kids ask if they can ride their bikes outside. Donna agrees under the condition that they only ride around the block and don't go any further.

so at three ten p m amber and ricky set out on their bikes but soon after they saw something that caught their eye in a nearby parking lot just two-tenths of a mile from where their grandparents house was they saw a ramp

This ramp was actually a loading ramp behind an abandoned Winn-Dixie grocery store. So, like kids do, they rode their bikes to the ramp so they could play. After a few minutes, Ricky decides to go back to his grandparents' house. It doesn't seem like anything in particular prompts Ricky to do this, other than just not wanting to be in trouble for leaving the block.

When Ricky gets back to the house, they ask where Amber is. Ricky explains that they did leave the block and Amber was still at the parking lot of the abandoned grocery store. So they tell Ricky to go right back outside and get his sister.

But when Ricky gets there, Amber's pink bike is in the parking lot, but Amber is gone. By the time they all get back to the parking lot to look for her, the police were already at the scene, and they explained that they were investigating the abduction of a little girl. Everything happened so fast. While Ricky was going back to his grandparents' house at 3.18pm, just 8 minutes after they left, a 911 call was made by a man named Jim Kevel.

Jim was 78 years old at the time, a U.S. veteran and a former sheriff's deputy. He was working in his backyard that day and saw Amber and Ricky playing through his chain-link fence just across the way. Once Ricky left, he noticed a black truck drive towards Amber from behind. He sees a white or Hispanic male in his 20s or 30s exit the truck, grab Amber from underneath her arms, and lift her off her bike. Amber immediately starts kicking and screaming.

But the man overpowers her and throws her into his truck through the driver's side door and drives away. So Jim runs right into his house and calls 911. When Donna told the producers of the show what happened to Amber, they pretty much just continued filming. And eventually they created something entirely different. A documentary titled After Amber.

It's about an hour-long television special that walks the viewer through the aftermath of Amber's murder. It's a very touching piece that I think gives a unique insight into Amber's life and her death. It's still available on YouTube if anyone wants to watch it.

As always, it will be linked in my resources section on the Voices for Justice podcast website. I think it's also worth noting that out of respect for Amber, they actually postponed the original television special about families living on welfare in Texas indefinitely.

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When I went back through the newspaper archives, I came across what felt like an endless amount of stories of people helping. One article describes how every single member of the PTA at Amber School advocated for resources to help in the search.

The vice president of the PTA, Marie Villareal, got 22 florists to donate pink ribbon to be tied to trees around the area and to be given out to kids. She also got local pizza places to donate food for the volunteers, and had local ham radio operators spreading the word about Amber.

One neighbor, Chris Babello, heard Donna screaming when she found out Amber was abducted and he rushed to the scene. He asked police officers who they were looking for, and he got into his truck and searched all night. He even followed a black truck matching the description to another city. Unfortunately, that man wasn't Amber's abductor.

Determined to continue to help, Chris got together 30 people, bought powerful flashlights, and spent that night and the next several nights looking for Amber. The search for Amber also included over 50 police officers and FBI agents. Her case immediately garnered a lot of national media attention. It's hard to know for sure what drew people to Amber's case, but I have to imagine the amount of video footage they had helped a lot.

It's one thing to see a picture of a missing child, but to see them opening their Christmas gifts, riding the pink bike she was taken from, celebrating her birthday, all of these things really seem to make the world just fall in love with Amber and want to help.

Now, something interesting I found in my research was that Amber's father, Richard, was really open about the fact that the family did feel kind of exploited. But he said that he understood that the media was using them for stories, and he was using them right back.

Despite their turbulent past, Richard did join his son Ricky, Donna, and her parents at their home in Arlington when Amber was abducted. They essentially opened the home up to police and the media and did non-stop interviews to help spread the word about Amber. Despite what appeared to be an enormous effort made by the media, the community, and law enforcement, they unfortunately were not able to recover Amber alive.

At 11.30 p.m. on January 17, 1996, just four days after Amber was abducted, her body was found about four miles from where she was taken. A man named Stuart Coker was walking his family's North Folk Terrier named Yoda in the northwest corner of his apartment complex near a creek. There had recently been a large rainstorm and the creek was overflowing.

His dog pulled him towards the water, and he saw Amber's body floating face down near a culvert in the water. Stuart Coker runs back to his apartment screaming, quote, I found her, I found her, I found her in the creek, end quote. He was dry heaving and eventually threw up.

He then asked his neighbor to help confirm what he'd seen. After this, he calls the police. They instruct Stewart not to go near the body, but unfortunately, because of all the commotion, many people gathered around Amber's body at the creek, and the media aired the story that a body matching Amber's description had been found before law enforcement could even speak with her family. 90 minutes later, when law enforcement notified Amber's family, they refused to believe it,

They wanted 100% confirmation that it was Amber. Here is a clip from after Amber. The film crew was with the family all night while they waited for the news. I immediately knew something was wrong.

And they started getting the yellow tape out and put it around my mom's home. I just went crazy then. I said, no, you're not going to tell me something that I don't want to hear. The chaplain arrived here about 1:00 in the morning and did speak with the family for some time. He said, we don't know if it's Amber or not. We don't know. I work with the investigators. The investigators work with me. We try to make sure that we're getting good information to the victims. And we just sit around. We waited. We listened to the news.

just kept hoping and praying that it wasn't Amber. You know everybody knew something and nobody knew nothing. You know as people come up and say, "Oh I know how you feel right there." That's what I used to think too, but you don't know how you'd feel unless it happens to you. Nothing on the record, nothing official yet. I know they were dying for information and there wasn't anything that I could give to them.

until we got the final word. That weight was the worst weight I ever had in my life. Now tonight, police believe, well are not confirming, but witnesses say... You know, we waited hours and hours and that was so hard. But I know in a little way I knew that it was Amber. Came out of a creek bed that lies a little bit down low. When they finally told me it was her,

Of course I didn't believe it. When she was abducted, I thought, "Oh, God, you know, I'm never going to be able to touch her again, hold her again, you know, talk to her ever, ever again." And I wanted to see her before the autopsy, before they even touched her. They didn't want me to see her the way she was because she was damaged so much. Her body was cut so much, and she just didn't look like Amber.

when she was found she was nude except for one sock on her left foot the official cause of death was cut wounds to the throat they are unsure if the killer used a knife or something more blunt like a screwdriver it was apparently pretty bad amber had also been sexually assaulted

There were no visible defense wounds found. Police believe that Amber was most likely held for two days before she was killed, and they believe that she was most likely put into the creek just hours before she was found. They were actually able to track down two maintenance workers who were later cleared, but they were near the creek just hours before Amber was found and didn't see her.

They also believe that her remains were most likely put into the creek further upstream, and due to the storm, her body was pushed downstream. They have identified a few potential areas where she could have been placed in the stream, but they don't know for sure.

One report states that law enforcement examined the scene for six hours before moving Amber's body. It appeared that most of the potential suspect DNA was likely washed away, with one investigator stating that thousands of gallons of water washed over her body.

But just last year, in 2021, after being pretty vague about any suspect DNA, law enforcement announced for the first time that they do have a sample. I will talk more about that towards the end of the episode, because in 1996, this sample didn't do much for them.

Amber's funeral was held three days later at the First United Methodist Church. She was then laid to rest at the Moore Memorial Gardens. It's hard to say for sure how many people attended her funeral, but from the video clips I saw in the After Amber documentary, it didn't look like there was an empty seat left in the church, and there were more flowers than I've probably ever seen in my life.

When the news broke that Amber's body was found, the community once again rallied around her family. There were so many people at Amber's grandparents' house that wanted to donate money or give a gift, that they had officers escort each person to and from the door. In one interview, police officer Mike Sheehan, who was escorting some of these people to and from the door, broke down. He said that he'd never seen anything like it in his life.

He knew these people and this community, and he says that so many of the people who gave to Amber's family didn't really have anything to give.

Donna would end up donating hundreds of stuffed animals to the non-profit organization The Warm Place. They offer grief support for children and their families who have experienced the death of a loved one. And they helped Donna and Ricky a lot. They're actually still around today. You can visit thewarmplace.org to learn more or make a donation. I will definitely be making a donation in Amber's honor, and I would love it if you joined me.

After two weeks of living in her parents' house, Donna and Ricky finally went home without Amber. In the After Amber documentary, you can just see the difference in Donna before and after Amber went missing. It's honestly heart-wrenching, but I do think that it's really powerful.

Now, let's talk about the investigation into Amber's abduction and murder. Stick with me because it's a tough one. As of 2021, they've only gotten about 7,000 leads. And as of recording this episode, Jim Kevil, the man who made the original 911 phone call, is the only witness to Amber's abduction. And he's since passed away. However, law enforcement does believe that there could have been other witnesses that just haven't come forward.

Near the abandoned Winn-Dixie grocery store was a laundromat that had some decent traffic that day. Like we saw in the disappearance of Dulce Olives, the area where Amber was taken had a large population of undocumented immigrants. So, over the years, law enforcement has basically begged for witnesses to come forward, stating that their immigration status will not be questioned, and stating outright that they will not deport anyone who comes forward with information.

They reiterated this again just last year in the 2021 press conference recognizing the 25-year anniversary of Amber's abduction and murder. They also believe that because Amber was kept alive for two days before being killed, that most likely the perpetrator had an accomplice or told someone what happened.

When I was researching Amber's case, I dug deep into these older newspaper articles, and the main conversation in the 90s around the investigation was looking into local sex offenders. When Amber was killed, there were 204 sex offenders living in Arlington, Texas, with 49 of them living in the same zip code where Amber was killed.

The concern was that there appeared to be a high concentration of offenders in the area. Amber's death absolutely terrified and outraged the community. Article after article was coming out about sex offenders in the area, and there was a killer on the loose. Berry Elementary, the school Amber attended, reported record numbers of parents escorting their children to school instead of letting them walk.

In countless articles, journalists would interview members of the community who demanded Amber's killer meet the same fate Amber did or worse. Of course, Amber's story would later become notorious because of the creation of the Amber Alert, and I will get to that.

But I don't think a lot of people know that fighting for stronger sentences for sex crimes against children was what Donna, Richard, and the entire community was fighting for at this time. Essentially, they wanted them to receive life sentences with no chance of parole. They also pushed for a national sex offender registry. After ruling out that this obviously wasn't a robbery or motivated by money at all, considering there was no ransom, the Arlington Police Department did focus on sex offenders in the area.

However, in 1996, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, who did amazing coverage on this case, by the way, published an article titled, quote, Most sex offenders don't fit killer profile. In this article, journalist Meade Nix speaks with assistant city manager Ricky Childress, who oversaw police operations at this time. He explained that, quote, the people who would commit these types of crimes are a small, violent group of people.

Of the 49 registered in East Arlington, probably 90-95% are not serious suspects." Now, this is so hard because police have already stated that they do believe that the man who abducted and killed Amber was not passing through and was most likely an Arlington resident. So this really narrowed down the pool of persons of interest. It is hard to tell for sure what the police have or don't have.

But, from the articles I read, it seems like they were really just grasping at straws, investigating every single lead they could. They did ask Jim Kevel, the man who witnessed Amber's abduction to undergo hypnosis, but he refused, stating, quote, I don't believe you ought to fool with your brain, end quote. They even followed an anonymous tip from a man who said he had a vision that Amber was in a park.

In 1996, Detective Randy Lockhart told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "...to be honest with you, those are being looked into just like any other tip. Because on the phone, it's really hard to tell who's a psychic and who the bad guy is." Now, Detective Randy Lockhart joined the Arlington PD in 1984. He worked a lot of different beats, but specifically sexual crimes against children—

so he was assigned to Amber's case early on. He has since retired, and in September 2021, he gave a pretty candid interview to the Cleburne Times Review. He criticized other departments who were unwilling to share information while Amber was missing.

saying he believes it could have led to Amber being recovered alive. He also revealed that he was quite suspicious of a man Donna was dating during the investigation. The man later had a seizure, crashed his vehicle, and passed away. But Lockhart admits that he spent a lot of time thinking he could have been involved in Amber's death.

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After a few months of frustration, in March 1996, the Amber Hagerman Task Force was announced. This team was made up of 45 Arlington investigators, 30 FBI agents, and many other agencies from around the country. This task force would work on Amber's case for just over a year.

They traveled around the country interviewing potential suspects and meeting with other departments. Of course, they looked into both of Amber's parents and administered polygraph exams. They were entirely cleared. They also held brainstorming sessions with other agencies. But eventually, in June 1997, after spending over a million dollars on the investigation, the Arlington Police Department did announce that they were shutting down the task force. Of course, Amber's family was pretty crushed. Pat

Patty Wetterling, mother of Jacob Wetterling, an 11-year-old boy who was abducted at gunpoint in St. Joseph, Minnesota in 1989, spoke out against them shutting down the task force, citing that Jacob's had been open for eight years. Ultimately, they lost the fight and the task force was shut down. A U-Haul carried away about 100 boxes filled with files to be stored at another facility in the city. There are currently no named persons of interest or suspects in Amber's case.

Outside of the official investigative efforts put forth in Amber's case, Donna and Richard worked very hard to keep Amber's name in the media, and they pushed for legislation to create harsher laws for sex crimes against children. In March 1996, Donna and Richard went to the White House to watch President Bill Clinton sign the Amber Hagerman Protection Act.

an act that pushed for anyone convicted of two sexual offenses against children to receive life in prison. In April 1996, Donna made a public plea to Amber's killer. She was inspired by the mother of a victim who wrote a letter to her son's killer that prompted him to turn himself in. It's a heart-wrenching letter. In it, Donna writes, "...my little girl did nothing to you. Why did you terrify her? Why did you take her clothing from her?"

Why did you touch her where you were not supposed to? Why did you hurt her? And most of all, why did you kill her? End quote. Donna would write at least one more letter, but her cries for answers unfortunately did not lead to the killer turning himself in. Donna continues giving interviews and doing press conferences about Amber to this day.

Of course, a huge part of Amber's story is how she inspired the Amber Alert system. For those of you who may not know, the Amber Alert is America's missing broadcast emergency response. These are the alerts that you get on your phone, see on freeway signs, the radio, TV, etc. It varies from state to state, but it's basically an alert system to make sure as many people as possible know when a child is abducted.

But let me tell you why I didn't lead with this. Over the years, Donna has made many statements about how proud she is that Amber's legacy lives on to help other children. But she also expressed frustration that Amber sometimes gets lost in her own story. She becomes a footnote of sorts in how the Amber Alert was created.

At the 2021 press conference for the 25th anniversary of Amber's murder, Donna stated, quote, Amber would be very proud of the program, but I also want people to remember that Amber sacrificed her life for it, and I don't want anyone to forget her, end quote.

So that's why I didn't lead with the Amber Alert system. Although it is truly incredible what has come from Amber's tragic death, Amber still needs our help. And in an episode about her, I just think that should be the focus. But I do want to take a little time to not only honor Amber, but the woman behind the idea. Diana Simone's story gets kind of lost in Amber's, which is totally understandable. But she also deserves some recognition.

In 1996, Diana was working as a massage therapist in Fort Worth. After Amber's body was found, she was speaking with her client, Reverend Tom Stoker, and she broke down crying over what happened. She didn't understand why there wasn't some type of alert system for abducted children like there were for things like weather emergencies. Diana suggested that these alerts could be sent out to cell phones, but the Reverend suggested radio broadcasts.

Apparently, Diana stops this massage mid-service and calls her local radio station, KDMX 102.9 FM, sobbing, suggesting Amber's plan. This would be an alert system to notify people in the area when a child goes missing.

Host Kim Ashley asked Diana to call the station's manager, Jennifer Grimm. Jennifer Grimm asked Diana to write a letter to the station, and the rest is history. In 2003, George W. Bush signed the Amber Alert legislation into law while Donna and Ricky watched. I feel like Diana got kind of lost in the shuffle of the creation of the Amber Alert. It wasn't until 2002 that she was identified as the original creator of the Amber Plan or Amber Alert as we now know it.

She didn't even come forward for any type of recognition.

It was actually the Reverend Tom Stoker that sent a copy of Diana's original letter to the station years later, and the station verified the letter and the media began talking about it. Diana never wanted the credit. She said she didn't need it. Knowing the system was working was enough for her. It literally gives me goosebumps. Obviously, Diana Simone is a real-life hero. She and, of course, Amber and her legacy have brought home over 1,000

thousand kids using the Amber Alert system as of late 2021. Now, this is just a very brief overview of how the Amber Alert system was created and its impact. If you want to learn more about how the Amber Alert was created, the impact it's had, and some of the issues it's currently facing, because that is definitely a whole thing in itself, I will be posting a deeper dive over on my Patreon later this month as a part of my ongoing educational series over there.

Honestly, it's a pretty cool story. It's truly an example of not just listening to or watching tragic stories like Amber's, but going above and beyond to really help. In January of 2021, the Arlington Police Department held a press conference in the parking lot where Amber was taken for the 25th anniversary. Donna continues to fight for Amber. Hi, I just wanted to let everyone know about my daughter, Amber. She was just nine years old.

She loved school. She loved riding her bicycle. She loved being a little mommy to her little brother, Ricky. I miss her every day, and she's just so full of life, and I want to know why. Why her? She was only a little girl. And to Amber's killer, I'm asking you today to please turn yourself in. Give Amber justice.

Amber needs justice, deeply, deeply needs justice. And to anyone who has seen or heard anything about Amber's case, please come forward. Thank you.

We also get a little more clarification about the DNA collected from the scene way back in 1996. And I have to give credit to the Arlington PD, because they maintained this sample for 25 years, waiting for technology to advance. So the question, if you didn't hear, was more about the evidence. Well, I will tell you that the condition that we found Amber, it was difficult to collect some evidence. And it made it very difficult for us to

I will tell you that we do have some evidence, and I really don't want to disclose all the evidence at this time. The reason is that we want to make sure that the killer knows what happened, and he knows that if we have that evidence, we can specifically ask him and it can identify him and corroborate his story. Technology from DNA has progressed since the 80s and the 90s, and we're very excited because we continually...

try to be aggressive and trying to meet new technology head on with this case. And we're excited because this year there is new technology when it comes to DNA. And we're excited about this year being able to submit that and hope that we can get a better DNA profile on the killer. As of recording this episode, the Arlington Police Department has not released any updates about that testing.

Unfortunately, this is pretty much where Amber's case sits today. When you google Amber Hagerman, most of the titles that pop up say something to the effect of The Girl Who Inspired the Amber Alert, and they contain a very brief overview of Amber's case, along with the effects of the Amber Alert.

I really had to dig deep into the archives to find some of those details about Amber's case. So although Amber's case may feel huge or infamous, I have to say I learned a lot about her case when I dug into it. My hopes and dreams for this episode is that we can help shift back the focus to helping find Amber's killer while also celebrating how her legacy has helped so many children. Amber should never be a footnote in her own story, and she still needs our help.

Which brings me right to our call to action. Like I mentioned, authorities and Amber's family are still fighting for answers and begging for people to continue to share her story. At one time, there was a $75,000 reward in Amber's case, but that has since dwindled to $10,000. It honestly breaks my heart that this quote, infamous case seems to be falling from the spotlight.

Infamous, unknown, or in between, these unsolved cases need our help. They need our shares. So let's help Amber as she has helped so many children suffer a better fate than hers. Please share Amber's story. If you've shared it before, share it again. Share her mother's pleas. Share law enforcement's pleas. Just share something.

Amber Hagerman was only 9 years old when she was abducted on January 13th, 1996 in East Arlington, Texas. Amber was a white female who was 4 foot 7 inches tall and weighed approximately 74 pounds. She had beautiful blue eyes and dark brown hair. Her body was found four days later at the Forest Hill Apartments, now called the Hudson Apartments. The man that took and presumably killed Amber was a white or Hispanic male in his 20s or 30s.

Under 6 feet tall, with dark brown hair and a medium build. He was driving a black, full-sized pickup truck, possibly a Ford. The truck could have been from the 1980s or 1990s. It was in good condition at the time, with no chrome detailing and it was not a four-wheel drive. It also had a back window that did not open. Anyone with information is urged to call the Arlington Detectives at 817-575-8823.

But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time. Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney. For more information about the podcast, to suggest a case, to see resources used for this episode, and to find out more about how to help the cases I discuss, visit voicesforjusticepodcast.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to rate and review the show in your podcast player.

It really does help more people find the podcast and these cases in need of justice.

Hey guys, welcome to the Voices for Justice secret aftershow. This was a hard one. I think just watching so much footage of Amber, I mean, it honestly just hurt my heart. I don't know what else to say. It was really, really tough. But I am thankful for those resources. I imagine her family is really thankful that those videos exist. And again, like I said in the episode, I do think it contributed a lot to how popular her story got.

Now, I did want to talk about some things that just didn't make the episode.

When I make these cases, when I make these episodes, I really want to focus on the victim. So if I go into onto too many tangents or I go in too many directions, I just feel like the episode gets it gets a little lost. It gets a little confusing. So, again, that's kind of what this after show is for is to talk about kind of my feelings. And I mean, oftentimes I'm just like, man, that was so hard. But there are some things in Amber's case that I think are worth mentioning. I just didn't know exactly where to put them in the episode.

First, I want to talk about the $10,000 reward. Now, this is just such a sweet, I mean, it's a sad origin, but a sweet story. So it's, I believe, Shep's Dairy. They might have gone through a name change. It was kind of hard to track down. But essentially, they're the ones who still are offering this $10,000 reward. It's my understanding that it's been there since 1996, and they're the only people who are still offering it.

Now, the origin story behind that is really powerful, honestly. It appears that one of the workers of the retail front of this farm was shot and killed a long time ago, and they ended up putting up a reward for information leading to the arrest. And because of that reward, they got the arrest for the crime.

person and got them justice. So I guess ever since, whenever this farm, this dairy, Shep's Dairy, whenever they see cases like this, I guess they typically do put up a reward because they've seen kind of the effects. And it's just, it's a really sweet story that just didn't kind of fit in the podcast. But again, I think it's really cool to acknowledge when these things work. They put up a reward and it worked. And that's why they continue to put up rewards to this day.

Now, I do have to say, I have to implore you to watch the After Amber documentary. It is from 1996, so it feels a little dated, but it is on YouTube. It's totally free, and I would just highly encourage you. You really get to know Amber a little bit more. You get to know Donna and her story, and it's just, it's really powerful. Or at least, I think it's powerful. You guys know that I'm a softie. But again, I do recommend watching it. It just...

some of the stuff in there I'd never seen before. And again, this is one of those infamous cases where you feel like you know everything. And when I started researching, I was like, I know nothing about this case. I found so much in those archives that really gave me all those smaller details. You know, the interviews with the witness and with the man who found Amber's body and with everyone involved. It really gave me some unique insight into the case. I scoured those archives for what felt like

hours on end, but it was totally worth it. And that's also where I got, you know, I was seeing all these statements from Donna and how, you know, she was so grateful. And I think everyone's grateful for the Amber Alert, but her concern and her fear was, you know, that Amber was being lost in that story, which is honestly really tragic for how many people Amber has helped and

helped in her death, unfortunately. I do. I agree. I feel like she's a little lost in the shuffle. Again, I encourage you to Google her name and see what comes up. I get it. It's hard, right? Because you want to honor her life for the amazing things that happened that came from it, from the Amber Alert. But at the same time, where's the focus on justice for Amber? So

So I really hope that that's what this episode did. I in no way wanted to diminish the Amber Alert system. I think it's amazing. It has obviously helped so many people, but I did want the focus of this to be Amber and finding Amber's killer and getting her justice. Last but not least, I do want to apologize for my voice in this episode. I feel like it took me so long to record. I am a little bit under the weather. I

I don't think it's anything, you know, I don't think it's COVID. I'm waiting for my test just to be sure. And I'm isolating and all that. But yeah, I am under the weather. So please forgive me if my voice sounds a little funny in this episode. I really wanted to get this out for Amber. I did the research ahead of time. It was good to go. I was just kind of waiting for my voice to recover a little bit. But I think those are all the notes and updates I have for you guys. So as always, thank you for tolerating me.

I love you and I'll talk to you next time.