WASHINGTON — When a child goes missing, frantic parents have a hard time understanding why an Amber Alert isn’t immediately issued. But police and experts at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) explain that there are three conditions needed for the nationwide alert to be used.
Robert Lowery, who oversees the Missing Children Division at NCMEC explains that police have to first confirm there was an abduction and, secondly, that the child involved is in imminent danger of serious injury or death.
The third condition, Lowery explains, is that “there has to be enough information to share with the public to assist with the recovery of the child, like an automobile description or license plate number.”
That produces what police call a “lookout” for a given vehicle.
In the case of toddlers Jacob, 2, and Sarah Hoggle, 3, meeting that last requirement was impossible. Police explain that by the time the children were reported missing, the cars that their mother, Catherine Hoggle, 27, had access to were already accounted for. There was no way to produce a lookout, because there was no car to search for.
“These are extremely unique circumstances” says Lowery. “The children went missing at separate times.”
In fact, Montgomery County Police say there was an 18-hour gap between the time that Jacob went missing and when the disappearance of both children was reported to police. Frustrated family members have engaged in their own searches while police have asked for the public’s assistance. Local pilots have even donated their time to conduct air searches.
Montgomery County police have had to work backward, hoping that a local business may have video footage of Hoggle with her children in one of the two cars she was known to drive. In the meantime, citing the length of time that’s elapsed since the children first disappeared, Montgomery County police continue their search, but are also building what they say is a homicide case against Hoggle. She remains in custody and is charged in connection with the children’s disappearance.
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WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report. Follow @WTOP on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook.
