Still Searching For Justice Two Decades Later
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ARLINGTON (CBS11) - Donna Norris-Williiams' best friend rode her bike with her little brother on a Saturday afternoon. It was 3:20 p.m. Norris-Williams would never see her best friend alive again.
Today, almost two decades after her disappearance, a nation knows the name of that friend. Her name is Amber Hagerman. She's Norris-Williams' little girl.
"Her killer is still out there, and Amber needs justice," Norris-Williams said Tuesday.
Nine-year-old Amber was found in a drainage ditch four days after her abduction from a neighborhood shopping center parking lot on January 13, 1996.
Arlington police detectives had one adult witness. A man told authorities a man driving a black truck grabbed the child, then drove away.
"There's no doubt in my mind that this case will get solved," retired Arlington Police Detective Mark Simpson said Tuesday, after announcing a revived reward offer of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the child's killer.
Yet, after forming then dissolving a special investigative task force, checking 8,000 tips, the Amber Hagerman murder case remains unsolved. The little girl's death initiated the formation of a public alert system, warning citizens of child abductions.
The Amber Alert System is credited with finding and saving over 700 abducted and/or missing children in the U.S. within the past two decades. "She sacrificed her life for the Amber Alert," mother Norris-Williams said Tuesday. "I want everyone to remember Amber. Her killer is still out there, and Amber desperately needs justice."
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