Community Questions Delay in Amber Alert for Navajo Girl

By FELICIA FONSECA AND MARY HUDETZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
SHIPROCK, N.M. — May 5, 2016, 7:40 PM ET

Several hours after a stranger abducted an 11-year-old Navajo girl as she played near her home, few outside the reservation knew she was missing.

Cellphone alarms jolted New Mexico residents at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, giving the first warning beyond the Navajo Nation to keep watch for Ashlynne Mike and the man who lured her into his van. He took the girl and her brother Monday afternoon soon after they got off the school bus in a desolate stretch of the reservation.

The Amber Alert's delay has drawn sharp criticism from those who believe more could have been done to find Ashlynne alive, while others say issuing it earlier would have made little difference. Officials and community members say it took too long for information to get from the tribe to the outside authorities who could help, wasting precious search time.

"My phone buzzed and I realized that this has gotten really serious. Why did it take so long for the Navajo Nation to issue an Amber Alert?" said Rick Nez, president of the tribe's San Juan Chapter, where Ashlynne lived.

The country's largest American Indian reservation does not have a system to issue its own child abduction alerts, ...

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