Some Good News At The End Of A Horrific Ordeal – Amber Alert Saved Hannah Anderson’s Life

BRAZRifCAAAgzD-__1376226580_142.196.156.251After16-year-old Hannah Anderson was kidnapped by the family friend who allegedly set his own house on fire – killing her mother and 8-year-old brother who were inside – Amber Alerts were sent via text. It was the first time law enforcement issued the alerts by phone, and they were not sure how people were going to react.

I really wasn’t sure how I felt about that either – but it worked. The ground they were able to cover by issuing the Amber Alerts by phone and maintaining excessive news coverage saved Hannah Anderson’s life.

A man spotted Anderson and her captor, James DiMaggio, hiking on a trail in the Idaho wilderness. From CNN:

DiMaggio’s car was found after a man on horseback reported he had a brief conversation with two campers in the Idaho wilderness on Wednesday.

The horseback rider was not aware of the manhunt at the time, but he called the Amber Alert tip line after he saw a news account that night and realized the pair matched the description of DiMaggio and Hannah, said Andrea Dearden, spokeswoman for Idaho’s Ada County sheriff’s office.

Cell phone users reported being upset and annoyed by the alerts. I understand that. I also understand that there are some things in life important enough to be tolerated. The two-seconds it takes to glance at a text and absorb information that may save a missing child’s life is one of them.

The texts were sent to users in several Western states. They alerts are accompanied by a loud alarm, which may have been what bothered the users the most. The state needs to think of the least annoying way to send out these cell-phone alerts, so users don’t end up just disabling the function.

I don’t like telemarketers. I don’t like people coming to my door. I understand feeling invaded when something unsolicited appears on your phone. But I can only imagine how I would feel if one of my own kids was missing. I’m sure I would desperately hope that people could overlook how they felt about these important alerts and take a moment to glance at them.

James DiMaggio was shot and killed by an FBI agent. Hannah Anderson is safe and doesn’t “appear to have significant physical injuries.”

(photo: Twitter)

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