[palmscenter]

A child was abducted, and in some cases - as happened just a few days ago - the noncustodial parent threatens to kill the child. And does. The fact that the abduction involves a custody dispute is only one of the factors that goes into the decision to send an alert.

Many abductions are vehicle thefts where the thief takes off without noticing or caring that there is a child in the car.

In one recent case, the thief threw the baby out the window into a ditch. Citizens who received the Amber alert found the child.

[sidewndr46]

Almost everyone owns a phone. Amber alerts go to all phones by default. It is therefore statistically unremarkable that "Citizens who received the Amber alert found the child". It's akin to the observation that they were all born after the Civil War. It has no relevance.