Missing person report for Florida: “Armed and dangerous” mother kidnaps 3-year-old

The search is ongoing for three-year-old Shea Eminhizer, who was last seen in South Miami on June 24.

Authorities believe Eminhizer may be with Christine Betancourt, who is believed to be the child’s mother and who, according to a police dispatcher, “is considered armed and dangerous.”

The context

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued a missing person’s alert Saturday saying Eminhizer was missing from the 6500 block of Southwest 78th Terrace in South Miami. According to FDLE, she may be traveling with Betancourt in a gray 2021 Volvo XC90 with Florida license plate IEX 419. The vehicle has very dark window tints and the alert states that anyone who sees it should not approach and should contact authorities immediately.

Florida’s Missing Child Alert System was established in 2003 to give police the ability to “quickly disseminate information when a child is missing and believed to be in danger of death, but there is no evidence that the child has been abducted,” according to the FDLE.

If authorities believe the child has been abducted, the alert may evolve into an AMBER Alert.

There are currently six active missing persons reports in the state for children, including Shea Eminhizer, and seven active AMBER alerts dating back to 2000. The most recent report is from 2020 and involves a seven-day-old baby who went missing in Miami.

Eminhizer’s father and neighbors told WSVN 7News that Betancourt is the girl’s mother. Police told NBC6 that the father has custody.

According to public court records, Betancourt filed for divorce from Jeremy Eminhizer in 2021. The divorce has not yet been granted.

What we know

In the FDLE missing person report, Eminhizer was described as a three-foot-tall, white-Hispanic girl with blonde hair and brown eyes. Betancourt was described as a 41-year-old, white-Hispanic woman, 5 feet 5 inches tall, with black hair and brown eyes.

Newsweek has reached out to a representative of the South Miami Police Department via email for comment.

What’s next

Authorities are asking anyone with information on the whereabouts of Shea Eminhizer or Christine Betancourt to contact the FDLE’s Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse at 1-888-FL MISSING (1-888-356-4774), the South Miami Police Department at 305-663-6301 or call 911.

One user commented on an FDLE Facebook post about the missing Eminhizer: “Hope the child is found unharmed. The ‘Do Not Approach’ campaign worries me.”

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