Amber Alerts rare, but used for 'most serious cases'
Mar. 3—The Amber Alert highway signs and messages sent directly to cellphones across the Granite State led to the successful recovery of two young girls Friday morning.
The alert helped police capture Dustin Mark Duren, 37, who took his daughters, 4-year-old Elowyn Duren and 1-year-old Vaelyn Duren, from their Berlin home after he allegedly shot and killed their mother, Caitlyn Naffziger, 31. Duren has been charged with second-degree murder.
Such alerts are rare, and used as a last resort.
"There is a very strict set of criteria, so that these alerts are reserved for the most serious cases," said Janell Rasmussen, administrator of the Amber Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program, which is a U.S. Department of Justice initiative.
A child abducted must be 17 or younger and believed to be in "danger of serious bodily harm or death," according to the New Hampshire Department of Safety. An Amber Alert, like the one Friday, is activated through the statewide Emergency Alert System.
"We know that when a child is abducted that time is of the essence, so getting that information about that missing or abducted child out to the public is critically important," Rasmussen said.
An alert also requires enough information about the situation to assist in the recovery of a child or children and that was the case on Friday, Rasmussen said. The alerts are designed to generate calls to law enforcement.
"That information was broadcast and someone who recognized the vehicle was able to contact law enforcement and report that information," she said. "The two children were safely recovered."
The alert on Friday went off before dawn after police discovered Naffziger's body inside an apartment at 1063 Main St. in Berlin around 10:30 p.m. Thursday.
As of Dec. 31, 2023, 1,186 children have been recovered nationally due to Amber Alerts.
In the past decade, New Hampshire has only seen five Amber Alerts, according to statistics from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
In 2022, two Somersworth children were found safe after their mother was arrested. They were found in a hotel in South Portland, Maine.
In 2021, a 26-year-old mother and her 4-year-old son were reported missing "under suspicious circumstances" but were both found safe in Manchester.
On Friday, message boards on state highways asked drivers to be on the lookout for Duren's white 2017 Subaru Impreza, which was discovered along with Duren and the children in a parking lot in Keene.
The two girls are now in the care of the state Division for Children, Youth and Families.
Alerts are useful
The alerts are useful because people could notice something at the grocery or see a vehicle on the highway, which could be beneficial to law enforcement, Rasmussen said.
"As many people that we can have out in the public providing information back to law enforcement the better in these cases," she said. "Every tip matters. We really encourage the public to pay attention when this information comes out because we need their help."
The program started in 1996 and is named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and murdered. Members of the public and media came together to launch the program locally, which is now nationwide and beyond.
"It just grew and grew because everybody wanted to come together and help, especially when a child is missing," Rasmussen said.
The technology has grown over the years from local media, highway signs and now directly to cellphones.
"Everybody we know has their cellphones with them all the time," she said.
The first alert on a cellphone led to an immediate discovery with a car parked outside someone's home in Minnesota.
The federal Department of Justice oversees training in all 50 states and border countries.
A big part of the network is coordinators in every state.
"Often when a child is abducted they will be taken across borders," Rasmussen said. "We encourage Amber Alert coordinators to build those relationships with those border states."
This happened in 2017 when a mother took her 2-year-old son from the Mall of New Hampshire during a state-supervised visit there. Less than an hour after an Amber Alert was issued, the two were located in Tewksbury, Mass.
The activation Friday shows that the system works, Rasmussen said.
"These kids are safe because of that Amber Alert activation," she said. "Everything between law enforcement, broadcasters and the public all went very well."
