EVERETT, Wash. — As new details emerge about the case of 4-year-old Ariel Garcia, an Everett boy who was found dead one day after he was reported missing, many people are asking why an AMBER Alert was not issued for his disappearance.
Garcia was reported missing by his family members to the Everett Police Department on Wednesday. Police said he was last seen that morning and had left an Everett apartment with a family member under suspicious circumstances.
Garcia was found dead in Pierce County on Thursday. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner determined Garcia's death was caused by “homicidal violence" on Saturday.
Garcia's mother, 27-year-old Janet Garcia, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and first-degree assault of a child. She was charged with making a false report.
In the wake of Ariel Garcia's death, many people are asking why an America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) Alert was not issued. Washington State Patrol (WSP) said his case did not meet the alert standards.
Just after midnight Thursday, the WSP issued an Endangered Missing Person Alert after being contacted by the Everett Police Department. Police asked for an AMBER Alert to be issued at the time.
“At that point, there was no sense that this was an abduction, and abduction is one of the thresholds,” said Chris Loftis, the communications director for the Washington State Patrol.
Loftis said AMBER Alerts are part of a federal program with specific criteria that must be met in order to issue an alert:
- a child must be under 18 and known to have been abducted
- the child is in danger of imminent death or serious injury
- law enforcement must be investigating
- there must be descriptive information to share with the public
“It's not uncommon for us, as soon as an AMBER Alert goes out, to just be flooded with information from people,” Loftis said.
Loftis said Ariel Garcia did not qualify for the AMBER Alert because it was not considered an abduction. But, he said, the 4-year-old qualifed for an Endangered Missing Person Alert.
“It's someone who, for whatever reason, whether it's cognitive, mentally, or physically, there's some situation where they're just not able to take care of themselves," Loftis said. "They're not able to assist in their own recovery."
Endangered Missing Person Alerts do not generally qualify for Wireless Emergency Alerts, which is when your phone notifies you of a missing person in your area.
But Loftis said just after 5 p.m. on Thursday, Everett police requested more help and the State Patrol approved an alert to go out to people's phones.
“Everett Police asked us, ‘Can we, even though it didn't meet the threshold for an AMBER Alert, could we still use that technology?'" Loftis said. "And we did."
Just around 6 p.m. is when phones across the area alerted people about Ariel Garcia being missing and endangered, but within just minutes of that alert being sent out, his body was found.
“Unfortunately, the situation had already evolved, and the tragedy had already occurred and the boy's body was found shortly thereafter,” Loftis said. “And what a heartbreak for everybody involved.”
Loftis said the WSP has issued seven AMBER Alerts since January 2023. All seven of those kids were safely recovered.
In that same time frame, there have been 44 Endangered Missing Person Alerts. Forty of those people were recovered and only one person, Ariel Garcia, was found dead.
Everett Police said more information about Ariel Garcia could be released in the coming days.