AMBER alerts issued for missing siblings in Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol issued an AMBER alert for two missing children who were last seen in the Tulsa area earlier this week.

8-year-old Aiyana Burcher and 20-month-old Axton Burcher were last seen on July 3 with their mother, 28-year-old April Dunn.

The children are believed to be in a gold 2006 Honda Odyssey with the Oklahoma license plate ODN904. The vehicle has no rear window and a large crack in the windshield.

The missing children may be with their father, 27-year-old Devyn Burcher, who was recently released from prison in an ankle bracelet.

Devyn Burcher reportedly removed the ankle bracelet and left his apartment before his disappearance, officials said.

Aiyana Burcher is 70 cm tall and weighs about 18 kg. She has brown hair and brown eyes. Her little brother, Axton Burcher, is about 70 cm tall and weighs about 13 kg. He has brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information about the Amber Alert is asked to call 911.

What is an Amber Alert?

By 2023, 1,200 children will have been found through the AMBER alert system and 180 children will have been rescued as a result of the emergency alerts.

“Any child listed on an AMBER Alert has been reported missing to law enforcement. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to immediately mobilize the community to help locate and safely recover a missing child,” Alan S. Nanavaty, executive director of special programs at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, said in a previous interview with Newsweek.

Nanavaty said that on average, fewer than 200 AMBER alerts are issued each year. The alerts are distributed via radio, television, road signs, cell phones and other data-enabled devices. The AMBER alert system is used in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Indian Territory, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Newsweek created a map using 2022 data showing which states had the most Amber Alerts in 2022. According to the data, there were 31 Amber Alerts in Texas in 2022.

The first AMBER alert was issued in 1996. The alert, which stands for America’s Missing Broadcast Emergency Response, has led to the rescue of at least 1,074 abducted children across the country.

However, over the years not all missing children have been found and there are still 37 active alerts.

“Of course, we want every case of a missing child to be solved and the child to be found alive,” said Nanavaty Newsweek.

The reports are just one tool to find missing children. Last year alone, 20,000 missing children were reported to her organization, Nanavaty said. Around 90 percent of these children were found.

“Since we have been tracking AMBER alerts since early 2005, 99 percent of the children have been recovered,” Nanavaty said. “That’s neither good nor bad. It is what it is, and law enforcement continues to work on the cases.”

In the past, reports were spread through the police and television. According to Nanavaty, a case remains under the supervision of a case manager at NCMEC. There are managers for different periods of time in which a child is missing.