Did your phone go off in the middle of the night? Here’s why, and what happened in SC
Early Sunday morning cellphones across the Palmetto State made alarming sounds because the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division issued an Amber Alert.
At about 5:30 a.m., SLED activated the Amber Alert in an effort to find a missing 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office said.
Earlier in the morning, 28-year-old Salem, S.C. resident Zackery Steven Cosgrove stole a 2019 Nissan Rogue from a Poplar Drive home, according to the sheriff’s office. The girl was inside the vehicle, the sheriff’s office said.
Cosgrove and the child were seen in the vehicle traveling north on S.C. 11, driving out of Oconee County, according to SLED.
Less than an hour after the Amber Alert was activated, both Cosgrove and the girl were located in Edgefield County, the sheriff’s office said. That’s more than 100 miles south of Salem.
The child was safe and Cosgrove was taken into custody, according to the sheriff’s office.
Cosgrove was booked in the Oconee County Detention Center on kidnapping and grand larceny, where he remains after he was denied bond, the sheriff’s office said.
At 6:15 a.m., the Amber Alert was canceled.
What’s an Amber Alert
An Amber Alert is an emergency response system initiative of the U.S. Department of Justice that sends an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases when there is enough information to make the alert effective. The bulletin is usually sent through media broadcasts or electronic road signs.
According to the Department of Justice, 1,221 children have been rescued specifically because of an Amber Alert. Another 195 children were rescued because of wireless emergency alerts, the Department of Justice said.
The system began in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed up with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children. The system was named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then brutally murdered.
Media use the Emergency Alert System to air a description of the abducted child, suspected abductor and any vehicle that may have been used in the abduction. The goal of an Amber Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and safe recovery of the child.
BEHIND THE STORY
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This story was originally published January 19, 2025 at 9:23 AM.
