The Tragedy That Inspired AMBER Alerts

Criminalia

Shondaland Audio and iHeartPodcasts

True Crime, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

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Summary

Amber Hagerman had long brown hair and freckles. She liked playing with her Barbie dolls, and was a Girl Scout. But on the afternoon of January 13, 1996, everything changed. Amber, age 9, was abducted while riding her pink bicycle in an abandoned Winn-Dixie parking lot in Arlington, Texas; only two-tenths of a mile from her grandparents' house. It only took eight minutes for Amber to disappear. This episode is about the legacy of third-grader Amber Hagerman, who inspired America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, popularly known as AMBER alerts.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm ready to fight. Oh, this is fighting worse. Okay, I'll put the hammer back. Hi, I'm
0:05.3	George M. Johnson, a bestselling author with the second most banned book in America. Now more than ever,
0:11.3	we need to use our voices to fight back. Part of the power of black queer creativity is the fact
0:16.7	that we got us, you know? We are the greatest culture makers in world history.
0:24.0	Listen to Fighting Words on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
0:33.3	Hey, what's up, y'all? This is Eric Andre.
0:35.3	I made a podcast called bombing about absolutely tanking on stage.
0:40.2	I tell gnarly stories and I talk to friends about their worst moments of bombing in all sorts of ways.
0:45.9	Bombing on stage, bombing in public, bombing in life.
0:48.4	Like the time I stole a girl's phone during a set and she dumped on stage and threw a big haymaker punch to my nose.
0:54.7	Listen to bombing with Eric Andre and Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the IHart
0:58.3	Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:03.0	The legendary escapologist Harry Houdini was obsessed with the afterlife.
1:07.6	I see a little boy. He is in a happy place.
1:12.5	Join me, Tim Harford, for a Cautionary Tales trilogy on the world's most famous magician
1:17.5	and his campaign to ban mediums, a mission that would cost him friends and leave him
1:22.5	fearing for his life.
1:24.4	They're going to kill me.
1:26.5	Listen to Cautionary Tales on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:33.1	Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with IHeartRadio. We're going to start with a little peek behind the scenes of criminalia.
2:02.0	If you're a longtime listener, you may have noticed that there are some stories we keep off limits.
2:07.7	For example, we don't typically talk about crimes against kids.
	...

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