First missing child ever found by Amber Alert

Since it began in 2014, this blog has shared and archived over 1,000 crumbs of comfort. And today's crumb is extra special. We all know what Amber Alerts are. News about missing kids used to go out over radio and TV. Now they pop up on our phone, unless we disable them. But please don't do that! In the last two decades, almost 1,000 American kids have been found by Amber Alert. It's in all 50 states, and other nations use it too. But who was the first child ever rescued by an Amber Alert? Here she is today.

It happened in 1998 in Texas. Rae-Leigh Bradbury, shown above, was only eight weeks old when she was kidnapped by her babysitter and went missing for two days. You can imagine how frightened her parents were. Then an Amber Alert went out on radio and TV. Someone heard the alert and spotted the babysitter's car, and 90 minutes later Rae-Leigh was home again, safe and sound. Now she's 18 and heading off to college. Her mom, Patricia, is sad to see her daughter leaving, but this time under much better circumstances.