Texas – The Texas Department of Public Safety has clarified that a new missing child alert has not been created, but that modifications will be made to the AMBER Alert.
The agency indicated that Alertha Athena was a bill that was approved on June 13 and took effect immediately. This is in honor of the girl Athena Strand, who was kidnapped and murdered in Wise County in 2022.
This law allows authorities to immediately place an alert in a localized area to people within a 100-mile radius and adjacent counties where the child went missing without having to confirm an abduction.
This is the high-level requirement needed to issue an AMBER Alert, a measure that originated in Texas and has spread throughout the United States in honor of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was abducted near her home in Arlington, Texas, in January 1996 and later found brutally murdered. The killer has never been found.
The authorities will then activate an AMBER Alert with these new modifications. It is to let all Texans know what is happening and if they see anything they can call 911.
The HB-5202 will enter into force and will allow the list of those convicted of this type of crime to be known.
