Amber Alert, CART team face reviews in kidnapping case

When South Salt Lake police sought to issue an Amber Alert for little Hser Nay Moo, the Utah Attorney General's Office had reservations.

"I initially told the chief he shouldn't issue it," said Paul Murphy, the Amber Alert coordinator. "The media coverage was heavy and people seemed to know it was going on. I was concerned about having the criteria met. I was pushing him to articulate the criteria had been met."

Police pushed back by saying they believed Moo had been taken and was believed to be within a mile-and-a-half of her home.

"They were right," Murphy told the Deseret Morning News on Wednesday. "That's why I think Utah was correct in putting the decision in the hands of law enforcement officials who are actually working the scene."

The decisions in issuing an Amber Alert and activating the attorney general's Child Abduction Response Team (CART) will be reviewed in the coming days, in the face of some criticism over the alert and the volunteer search effort. Such reviews focus on what can be improved the next time a child goes missing.

"It worked great," said Lt. Jessica Farnsworth, who leads the CART team. "The outcome (Moo's death) was terrible."

When the Amber Alert was activated at approximately 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, radio and TV stations broke into programming, notices were posted on Web sites, freeway signs lit up and text messages were sent to cell phones with information about Moo.

To issue an Amber Alert, the abduction must meet certain criteria:

• The child is under 17.

• Law enforcement believes the victim is in imminent danger, facing bodily injury or death.

• There is information that could help the public in the safe recovery of the victim or arrest of a suspect.

• Law enforcement believes the child has been abducted.

It is a law enforcement agency that issues an Amber Alert. South Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Snyder believes the alert was issued at the right time.

"We went through a process of elimination. We had what we had to start with. We didn't know if we had an abduction. Certainly there were some hunches," he said Wednesday.

Snyder said ultimately, Murphy told him: "This is your decision, whatever you do, I support it."