1 of 2 2 of 2
"Amber Alerts" about missing kids used to go out over the radio and TV. Now they also pop up on your phone, and make an annoying sound unless you have it disabled. But you SHOULDN'T disable it, because those things actually work.
In the last 20 years, almost a THOUSAND KIDS have been found because of Amber Alerts in the U.S. alone. It's in all 50 states now, and over 20 other countries use it too.
The first time it worked was in Texas back in 1998. An eight-week-old girl from Arlington named Rae-Leigh Bradbury got kidnapped by her babysitter, and was missing for two days.
Then an Amber Alert went out, and the cops found her about 90 minutes later after a random person spotted the woman's car.
Now Rae-Leigh is BACK in the news again, because she recently turned 18 . . . went to prom this past Saturday . . . graduates high school next month . . . then she's heading off to COLLEGE.
It's been long enough that her mom Patricia can joke about it now. She told a reporter that she's sad her daughter's leaving again, but obviously under much better circumstances.
(NBCDFW)