A bus driver found a 2-year-old wandering alone on a street in Milwaukee at 6 a.m., said the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) news release.
On Aug. 4, Diana Serrano slowed down when she saw something unusual, and came to a stop when the driver in front of her stopped.
The other driver got out of his car picked the girl up and handed her to Serrano, she was only wearing a t-shirt and her underwear.
“He told me he had to get to work and couldn’t wait around,” said Serrano.
The 2-year-old cried as Serrano carried her on to the bus and told the MCTS to call the police.
While waiting for the police to arrive, Serrano tried to comfort the little girl by showing her puppy photos on her smartphone.
“One of my daughters recently got a cute puppy and I knew showing the girl some pictures would keep her mind off of the scary situation,” said Serrano.
Around 10 minutes later, the little girl’s mom was walking down the street looking for her missing daughter and came on the bus to pick up her daughter.
The officers arrived not long after the mother picked up her daughter, they questioned Serrano about the situation.
The investigation determined that the 2-year-old sneaked out of her home while everyone was still sleeping.
MCTS drivers found eight missing children in two years.
In another case, two MCTS security officers found a 10-year-old boy looking lost on the street on June 22.
As concerned mothers and professional security officers, Venea Reed and Anecia Caldwell inquired about the boy’s situation.
“He said he was trying to get home but got turned around and was lost,” said Caldwell.
They contacted his mother, telling her what had happened and that they were going to personally get her son home.
Not All Lost Children Will Be Found
According to the 2017 FBI Missing person and Unidentified Person Statistics report, 651,226 people were added to the missing list and 32,121 of the added were under the age of 18.Although the numbers are large, each missing report counts as one entry. If the same child gets reported missing multiple times, then multiple entries are made. Any entries that are cleared or canceled are also subtracted from the total.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) stated on its website that 10,093 children were missing and possibly exploited in a child trafficking ring in 2017.
- 91 percent endangered runaways
- 5 percent family abductions
- 3 percent critically missing young adults, ages 18 to 20
- 1 percent nonfamily abductions
- Less than 1 percent lost, injured, or otherwise missing children
The Amber Alert seeks to spread the information of missing children throughout the state as quickly as possible.
In order to use the alert the child must meet the following criteria: 1. Child must be 17 years of age or younger 2. Child must be in danger of serious bodily harm or death. 3. Initiating agency must have enough descriptive information about the child, the suspect(s) and/or the suspect vehicle(s) to believe an immediate broadcast alert will help locate the child.
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