AMBER Alert issued for missing child in North Carolina

An AMBER Alert has been issued for a missing child in Durham, North Carolina, who police said they believe has been abducted by his biological mother.

Nine-year-old Geon King-Parriett was last seen at approximately 6:03 p.m. on Thursday, Durham Police Department said in a statement shared with Newsweek. The DPD described the child as a Black male, approximately 4 feet, 10 inches tall and weighing 100 pounds.

King-Parriett has brown hair and brown eyes, the police said. He was last seen wearing an all black outfit which included a black hoodie and black sweatpants.

His mother, Mariah King, is described as a 33-year-old Black female. She is 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. She also has brown hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing gray sweat pants and a black crop top, and was wearing her hair up.

According to a report from local news station WRAL, the pair walked away from 202 S Benjamine Street on Thursday.

Social media users have been commenting on the Durham Police Department’s Facebook post, expressing criticism over how the AMBER alert was issued.

One user wrote, “Whoever sent out the Amber alerts needs to be fired. Both of them contained ZERO useful information, and the second alert wasn’t even correct.”

Another user wrote, “Whoever did the amber alert needs to rethink how they send an amber alert it gave no description or anything at all.”

Newsweek emailed the Durham Police Department for comment on the criticism regarding the AMBER alert, and a representative advised Newsweek that The North Carolina Center for Missing Persons issues the Amber Alerts that are sent out to wireless phones.

Newsweek has reached out to The North Carolina Center for Missing Persons for comment.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact the Durham Police Department at 919-475-2511 or to call 911.

What is an AMBER Alert?

The term AMBER Alert refers to the emergency response system that shares information about child abduction in order to mobilize the public into locating the child.

The “AMBER” stands for “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.”

The emergency message means that a child has been abducted and is in imminent danger.

It was named after Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in Texas in 1996.

The alert system functions by using media broadcasts, highway signs and other communication channels to share descriptions of the child, suspect and any vehicles involved.

As of 2023, 1,200 children were found through the AMBER Alert system and 180 children were rescued because of the emergency alerts.

Recent AMBER Alerts

A Wisconsin toddler remains missing months after an AMBER Alert was issued. The child’s mother and her boyfriend are currently facing child neglect charges.

3-year-old Elijah Vue was last seen on February 20 in Two Rivers while he was staying with his mother’s boyfriend, Jesse Vang. Vang took a nap and woke up three hours later to find the child gone.

The AMBER Alert said that “He was last seen wearing gray sweat pants, long sleeve dark colored shirt and red and green dinosaur slip on shoes.”

In June, an AMBER Alert Review was requested following the murder of a child in Louisiana.

Rep. Dixon McMakin said that the AMBER Alert system was “not as efficient or effective as it should be,” after it took “hours to issue” in the wake of the disappearance of two girls, Erin and Jalie Brunett on June 13.

Four-year-old Erin Brunett was found dead hours later. Her mother was also killed.

Update, 7/26/24, 10:45 a.m. ET: This piece was updated with additional comment from the Durham Police Department.

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