AMBER alert issued: Three-year-old from Arkansas may be wandering in the dark

The Texarkana Police Department requested the activation of an Arkansas AMBER Alert for three-year-old Kaiden Barnes.

According to the alert, Kaiden is believed to have “ran away.” According to Arkansas State Police, his mother said Kaiden was big enough to open the door and possibly walk away on his own.

According to police, he was last seen at the Links Apartments at 333 Links Drive in Texarkana, Arkansas, in Miller County. Kaiden disappeared at 1 a.m. on Friday, June 14.

Kaiden is described as a man with black hair, short dreadlocks and brown eyes. He is three feet tall and weighs 30 pounds.

He was last seen wearing a blue shirt and black pants.

In addition to the Texarkana, Arkansas police, the Miller County Dive Team, Texas Game Wardens, Bowie County Canine Unit and others are on site assisting in the search.

Anyone with information on Kaiden’s whereabouts can call the Texarkana, Arkansas Police Department at 903-798-3376 or Sergeant Cockrell at 903-798-3130.

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.

“Every child who appears in 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,” said Alan S. Nanavaty, executive director of special programs at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 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 has 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.

Recently Active Amber Alerts

A four-year-old Louisiana girl was found dead Thursday, just hours after she and her sister were abducted from their home, where their mother was also found dead.

Erin Brunett and six-year-old Jalie Brunett were arrested sometime before 8 a.m. in Tangipahoa, Louisiana, and an AMBER alert was issued.

According to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, the girls’ 35-year-old mother, Callie Brunett, was missing for more than 24 hours before she was found “brutally” murdered in her home on North Cooper Road, KSLA reported.

Erin’s body was reportedly found along with the uninjured Jalie more than 100 miles away in Jackson, Mississippi.

A Wisconsin toddler is still missing, more than three months after an Amber Alert was issued for the child.

Elijah Vue was last seen in Two Rivers on February 20 while visiting his mother’s boyfriend, 39-year-old Jesse Vang. When Vang woke up from a three-hour nap around 11 a.m., the three-year-old child was gone.

“He was last seen wearing gray sweatpants, a long-sleeved dark shirt, and red and green dinosaur-print loafers,” the Amber Alert said.

Vang and 31-year-old Katrina Baur, Vue’s mother, are being held in the Manitowoc County Jail on child neglect charges.

Also currently being sought is 15-year-old Sebastian Rogers of Tennessee. He disappeared from his mother and stepfather’s home in Sumner County, Tennessee on February 26.

It is said that Rogers “suffers from a medical condition that may affect his ability to return safely without assistance.”