Unseen - You Know Her Name: The Disturbing Case of The Hagerman Family | UNSEEN

Episode Date: March 7, 2023

You know her name. --  You’re on your way home and suddenly, your phone buzzes. Everyone around you looks down at their screen, and you know it is now everywhere: on your social media feed, on TV, even on traffic boards. You don’t pay much attention to all of it but still skim through the description while walking, just in case. When you finally look up from your screen, a weirdly familiar car catches your eye and you call 911. A kidnapped child has been saved thanks to the alert on your phone. This story is not uncommon, and it all started in Texas, in 1996 with the unsolved murder of 9 year old Amber Hagerman. Footage From: True Crime Daily, After Amber (WFAA), News Nation, Inside Edition, WFAA-TV, CBSDFW, WFMY News 2, WPLG Local 10, Daily Blast Live.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The last thing I told Amber was stay with you, little brother, and you'll come right back. This is nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, living a happy life with her mother Donna and her little brother, Ricky. A camera crew is following the family on Little Amber's ninth birthday. The moments are captured for a documentary that will never be released. But the most disturbing thing about this footage is it was filmed just weeks before her abduction. These will become the last images of Amber Hagerman. the little girl whose named the world has come to know every time we hear an Amber alert. Hey, here she is.

Got her, we got her. Nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, abducted in broad daylight as she was riding her bike. Her tragic story captured the nation's attention and changed the lives of thousands of children. But even if her case remained unsolved for 25 years, her mother vowed that Amber's death would not be in vain. desperately needs justice. I'm not going to give up on her. Never. It's January 13, 1996.

In the city of Arlington, Texas, Amber is over at her grandparents' house with Donna, her mother, and her little brother, Ricky. At 3.10 p.m., Amber grabs her bike and heads out on Highland Drive, with her brother in tow.

Before she leaves, she's told to go no further than the street block. The last thing I told Amber was, stay with you, a little brother, and you'll come right back. She was riding her bicycle.

She turns around. She said, okay, Mommy, I love you. Three minutes later, at 3.13 p.m., Ricky sees that his sister is going further than she's supposed to. He then decides to turn around and head home, leaving Amber by herself. When Ricky arrives alone, his mother, Donna, begins to worry. She and her father go out right away, looking desperately for little Amber. When last Ricky saw her, she was no further than the corner store, two blocks away.

I went screaming, hoping that she would hear me, that she would come home. She was gone. Amber is nowhere to be found, but one man saw exactly what happened and called 911. Farley to 911, would he report him? Yeah, I saw a nice pickup, he grabbed the little girl and he took off part down with her. She honored. I'd see that little girl over there playing up and down there, and he'd run up behind her and grabbed her. He turned around and come right back to here for his truck.

was where the door was opened and put her in the truck. Right away, the police sent a unit on site where Amber was abducted, while a search is launched around the neighborhood. Tonight, we had some information to be on the lookout for a black pickup truck. Officers were following every black pickup truck that moved in the city. But every second is crucial, as the driver could be getting further and further away from the crime scene. At the same time, Donna contacts friends and family to pass out flyers with Amber's picture on it.

As neighbors become aware of the kidnapping, the search party grows in size, and more and more volunteers join in. So many people just wanting to help start showing up at the house that they begin to fear. Maybe the man who took Amber could have walked in and no one would know. As the hours passed, Donna is terrified at the possibility that Amber may never be found. If you haven't found them, within 24 hours, they're more likely dead. I just stood outside, just constantly waiting and waiting and waiting. The police told me I had to go inside because all the media and everybody's starting to come.

But Donna and her family see the media coverage as an opportunity to get the public involved. If everyone sees Amber's picture, there would be more chances of someone coming forward with information. We're back. Thank you. Don't harm my little girl. Research in the immediate area does go on, although police say the reality is, if this alleged kidnapper was in that pickup truck, he could have driven off and be long gone by now. January 14th, one day after Amber's abduction, police are following hundreds of leads, but no progress is made. Can you describe his guy to me that you saw? What kind of truck is it?

Donna is losing hope. She feels powerless to help her daughter, but she knows she can't give up. Police have a unit assigned to Amber's case and work tirelessly around the clock to find her. But as the days pass, the media coverage decreases, and less and less volunteers come in for the search. More than 72 hours after the abduction, people are starting to think that the kidnapper has taken Amber far away in another state. And the questions on everyone's mind remain. Who could have done this? And why Amber?

Just seven weeks before the abduction, Amber is being filmed by a documentary crew following her mother's every step. You're doing these stamps and you have to do the perfect. In just a few days, it will be Amber's ninth birthday, but for now, she's focused on school. I had to get A on a row, A B on a row, and I had to do good things in the class and help. So you make good grades? How many students? 12. The smart little girl also does her best to help her mother around the house.

The mother and daughter share a special bond, one the camera crew captures on many occasions. Look, my mom, this for you. Thank you, that's pretty. Dear mom, this is for you that I made at school. I love you a lot. Love Amber. The camera crew is filming Donna for a documentary on welfare reform, but in a twisted turn of fate, these became the last images of Amber. The footage of her ninth birthday is now heartbreaking to watch.

Nothing could prepare them for what the future holds in just seven weeks. We interrupt this program to bring you the following News 8 special reports. We have late developments into the Channel 8 Newsroom, and it is a rather ominous development in the case of 9, We ruled Amber Hagerman. January 17th, 1996, at 1141 p.m., Arlington's dispatch receives the call everyone's been dreading. Amber's body has been found in a creek, only four miles from where she was kidnapped. Apparently he was walking her dog and he looked over the fence and had saw something white, looked again and noticed that it was a body. I didn't want to believe it.

So I'm my little girl. I want to see my little girl. Oh, go, go. Donna is destroyed. When she rushes to see her daughter's body, Amber is in such bad shape that the police try to prevent Donna from seeing her. They told me one thing I can't do was pick her up and hold her like a mom with her child. I wanted to hold her.

But, you know, I got to hold her little hands and told her, you know, Mommy's here now. It's okay. Police today released new information they hope will provide a psychological profile of the person who killed the Arlington nine-year-old. As the death of Amber Hagerman is broadcasted to the world, it sparks outrage in the community, with no lead on a suspect and no arrest being made.

The monster who killed Amber is still out there, free to act again. Every parent now fears for their own child's safety. What are we going to do to protect our children? I'm terrified to let my children outside. We're frightened. We're really scared. The loss of Amber has broken Donna's family into pieces,

and she does her best to keep a healthy home for little Ricky. The poor boy who lost his sister begins to act out, and though he doesn't quite understand what happened, he blames himself. What if he had just stayed with his sister? Would she still be here? As the police investigation moves forward, they release the killer's profile, a white or Hispanic male in his 20s,

with dark brown or black hair, under six feet in height. The Amber Hagerman Task Force also gathers as much information that could lead to an arrest as they can. can. While most of the forensics' evidence was washed away by the rain the night she was found, here's what we know. The suspect drove out of the Wind Dixie parking lot in his black shortbed pickup truck and took a left on East Abrams Street at around 3.15 p.m., driving away from the nearby highway. He left no fingerprints on the bike as he grabbed Amber under her arms. The witness, Jimmy Kevall, saw the scene from his backyard on Ruth Street. Police believe other witnesses

might have seen this from the laundromat across the street. We were concerned that there could be people that were there at the laundromat. If there is a witness or witnesses, we would just ask that anybody with information come forward. Four days later, the body was found by a man named Stuart Cogger, who was walking his dog near the creek. The creek itself is well hidden, and it is likely, police say, that the killer knew the area well. This could be the guy next door. It is our belief that he has intimate knowledge of where she was taken. either lived or worked in that area and where she was found

because it was not an easy place to put a child. But what's more shocking is that the creek where Amber's body is found is only four miles away from where she was abducted. If the man who took her came back this close to the scene of the crime, is it possible that he lived close by?

Could he have used another car to drive back with her body and avoid detection? How did he go around in an area surrounded with houses in winter where there's no foliage for without being noticed. We have every reason to believe that this individual may have committed this crime before. Somewhere out there, someone knows this individual, and they have not come forward after six months.

I can't grasp that. We believe that the suspect kept Amber Hagerman alive for up to 48 hours after she was abducted. Donna can only imagine what that monster did to her little girl while she was still alive. She feels powerless, wishing she could have been there. wishing she could have been there to protect her. In the days and weeks that follow her death, Donna agrees to let the documentary crew film the events to tell her daughter's story. But the heartbreaking images show best how broken Donna really is.

A lot of times I just want to be with her. But I have my son and I'm looking at his precious little face and I couldn't do that to him. Then I think back how much of fighter she was and I don't want to let her down. I want her to see that Mama can keep going and be strong and take care of her brother. Donna is understandably angry, as no arrests have been made. But the one thing that could help police solve this case is information from the public. And as the days pass, police get fewer and fewer leads. I just can't stay at home and do nothing.

I have to do something. Donna wants justice, but with no one to direct her anger towards, she needs to find a way to make sure her daughter didn't die in vain, Using her voice to bring about change, she goes on television, hoping her daughter's story will be enough to convince lawmakers to increase the sentencing for these horrible acts. What do you want the laws to say? We want first-time offenders life in prison without parole.

Something needs to be changed, and it needs to be now. There's no way that my daughter's death is going to be in vain. The subcommittee on crime will come to order. She also testifies in the hopes to help pass a bill to create a nationwide system that will track sex offense. When this man took my daughter, he took my dreams, my best friend. I know it's not easy. I would never ever want another mother to go through what I have had gone through

or another child be taken away. So as a mother, I am asking you to change the laws, protect all the children. But one thought keeps haunting Donna, something that should have been crucial in finding Amber quickly. Why did it take so long for the public to know that? for the public to know about the abduction, valuable time that could have saved the little girl. Donna isn't the only one worried about this issue. Amber's story reached the right person at the right time and sparks an idea. A woman named Diana Simone, who has no knowledge in broadcasting, contacts her local radio station in the hopes that her idea can help save the next child.

Today we're unveiling the Amber Plan. The idea is adopted and becomes the first ever Emergency Broadcast System, alerting listeners of child abductions. The system is called Amber Alert, in memory of Donna's daughter. Amber Alerts play a critical role in finding missing children across the country. You see it pop up on your phone. You hear the noise, a few seconds of panic. Amber Alerts are broadcast on news programs,

billboards, mobile phones, and now on social media. It would take almost 10 years before every state. adopted it. The year is 2019, 23 years after Amber's abduction. And still, no arrest has been made in relation to Amber's case, but Donna has never given up the search for her daughter's killer. It's May 18th, just 15 miles away from where Amber was abducted. Salem Sabatka and her mother are walking down 6th Avenue in Fort Worth, Texas.

At 6.38 p.m., a residence door camera captures this video of Sabatka being torn from her mother's arms. Right away, the neighbor calls the police and shares this video, which allows them to identify the car brand. They got enough from the back of the car to really identify the type vehicle it was. Police launch a manhunt with multiple departments sharing the video and the picture of the car. 7 o'clock p.m., police find another security camera which captures a clearer image of the car driving off. Soon after, an Amber Alert is issued, Salem Sabatka, taken by force. The alert triggers a massive hunt by ordinary folks. One of them, a pastor named Jeff King,

goes around the city looking for the identified car. Later that same night, Jeff finds the car in a hotel parking lot. Police rushed to the scene. 2.22 a.m. This body cam captures the moment police make their intervention. Open it! Kill, kill, kill. Kill, kill.

Get on the ground. Get on the ground. One bed, man. With a pig to ship. Got her, we got her, we got her. We got her. We got her. Oh, yeah.

Hey buddy. We need an EMT, get Colm Mitzar. Yes, no, no, no, no, no, don't worry about your clothes. Don't worry about you close. We got a towel? Yeah, yeah. We got a towel? Can we cover her up?

Yeah. With something? Here you go, baby. Can we get her out? Come here. Come here. Let's go. Let's go.

Come on, sweetheart. I'm on, sweetheart. You're okay? You're safe. You're gonna be okay. I'm here to report that Salem has been found safe. Salem's Abadka is one and more than a thousand children who were rescued safely from an abduction because of the Amber Alert.

This is a time when social media truly was a force for goods. They become more than just the eyes and ears. They become the search party. They become the rescuers. Although Amber's case remains unsolved, Donna can't can't help but feel her daughter's presence whenever a child is found alive. When I hear the Amber Alert and I hear the child is back, we're not into their parents. You know, I look up to heaven and say, oh, you did it again, baby girl.

Almost 99% of all Amber Alert cases get resolved. The Amber Alert, I'm very, very proud of it because it is saving our children's lives. It's helped bringing our children back to Mommy and Daddy. It's another legacy from my daughter that she didn't die in vain. She is still taking care of our little children as she did when she was here. And I'm very, very proud of my daughter. Amber's legacy lives on with every child rescued. And even though she's no longer with them, her mother Donna and her brother Ricky continue

to make Amber proud with every step they take in life. Richard Hagerman. Richard would like to be it. Even after all these years, Donna continues on her quest to bring justice to Amber, and she's not alone. The Arlington Police Department has followed more than 7,000 leads to this day. They did reveal that for all of this time, they have had some small piece of evidence that they have held very close to the chest. They do have a small amount of DNA, and they hope with new technology.

They get a DNA profile and catch the killer. Detectives come and go. Some have passed away. Some have retired. But someone will always be here to carry Amber's banner. And we absolutely believe that this case will be. yourself. Amber desperately needs justice. I'm not going to give up on her. Never. If you have any information about the 1996 abduction case of Amber Hagerman, please call the Arlington detectives at 817-575-8823.