Baltimore County Kidnapping Case Inspired Facebook to Promote Amber Alerts

When Facebook started including AMBER Alerts on people’s news feeds this week, the social media company cited the case of a Baltimore County girl who went missing last year as its inspiration.

An 11-year-old Dundalk girl and her father, who was suspected of murder, were reported missing from Baltimore County the morning of March 6; the following night, both were taken into custody thanks to innkeeper Carol Gause in South Carolina.

Gause shared her account of what happened on Facebook:

“One evening in early March started out just like so many others. When I had a moment to myself and opened up Facebook, I was surprised by something my friend Linda had posted. It was an AMBER Alert. I had seen them before, but this one was different because I recognized the two faces in the post!”

Gause verified the man pictured in the alert had booked the room. It was Timothy Virts, charged with first-degree murder, and his daughter. She called the police, and with the assistance of the SWAT team, Virts was taken into custody and his 11-year-old daughter returned to Maryland.

Related:

• Caitlyn and Timothy Virts Found at Motel: Police
• Police Thank Hotel Clerk, ‘Keyboard Crime Fighters,’ FBI in Virts Investigation

“It’s amazing word-of-mouth efforts like this that inspired us to develop a more systematic way to help find missing children on Facebook,” Emily Vacher, safety and trust manager at Facebook, wrote in Tuesday’s announcement of the social media site’s AMBER Alert program.

Here’s how it works: If law enforcement issues an AMBER Alert, Facebook users in geographically targeted areas will see a post with the most current information about the case.

“...some people may see a few each year and many people will likely get no alerts at all,” according to Facebook, which reports law enforcement will determine the geographic target.

“...I never want these alerts to become routine,” Vacher, who is a former FBI agent, told Dallas Morning News. Rather, she said she wants people to think: “Oh my God, I’m in a position where I may be able to help.”

The alerts will appear in the news feed but will not trigger any notifications to a person’s phone, according to Facebook.

Many people already get AMBER Alerts on their mobile devices because cellular companies began issuing AMBER Alerts to those with wireless emergency alert-automated phones as of January 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

What makes Facebook special, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children told NPR, is the “sharing factor,” since the Facebook platform allows for spreading the word quickly by pushing “share.”

To get an AMBER Alert issued in the first place, however, it takes more than the push of a button. Law enforcement must ensure the case meets these guidelines, created by the Department of Justice: there has been an abduction; the child is at risk of serious injury/death; there is enough information to help identify the child, captor or captor’s vehicle; and the child is 16 years old or younger.

Approximately 200 AMBER Alerts are issued each year, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Facebook’s Jan. 13 announcement coincided with anniversary of the day that Amber Hagerman, for whom AMBER alerts were named, was kidnapped from a shopping center in Texas in 1996. She was found days later in a ditch, according to Dallas Morning News.

Screenshot from Facebook.

Related:

• Virts Case: Daughter Returns to Maryland, Police Arrange Father’s Return
• Police Issue Amber Alert for Missing Baltimore County Girl