Seven Mid-Missouri counties receive Wisconsin Amber Alert
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
An Amber Alert was issued in several Mid-Missouri counties around 4 p.m. Wednesday for a 16-year-old Wisconsin teenager who may have been abducted.
The Amber Alert says that Sophia Franklin, 16, of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, was last seen at her residence at 9 p.m. Feb. 2 and could have been abducted the next morning. She is 5 feet, 6 inches tall, 186 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. The alert states she is three months pregnant.
The suspect is Gary Francis Day, 40, 5-foot-7, 165 pounds. He drives a black Buick Lacrosse with a Pennsylvania license plate No. KGW5186. The alert says that he is known to use multiple license plates, including an Arkansas plate No. BBR20L. The alert also says that Day is balding with blonde hair.
There is a no-contact order for the two. They may be traveling through Missouri “to an unknown destination in Arkansas,” the alert says. The alerts were expanded Wednesday to cellphones in Boone, Cooper, Howard, Moniteau, Morgan, Pettis and Saline counties.
— Missouri State Highway Patrol Alerts (@MSHPAlerts) February 12, 2025
MSHP issued an endangered person advisory on Feb. 7 but the patrol sent out an alert Wed. to cell phones in Boone, Cooper, Howard, Moniteau, Morgan, Pettis and Saline counties.
AMBER alerts are issued when a child is abducted or believed to be in danger and the goal is to have the community asset in the search and safe recovery.
While Franklin's disappearance began in Wisconsin, AMBER alerts are still issued in other states once law enforcement believe the abducted child is there, which is known as a multi-state AMBER alert activation.
Criteria is followed for an AMBER alert to be issued which includes:
- There is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred.
- The law enforcement agency believes that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.
- There is enough descriptive information about the victim and the abduction for law enforcement to issue an AMBER Alert to assist in the recovery of the child.
- The abduction is of a child aged 17 years old or younger.
- The child's name and other critical data elements, including the Child Abduction flag, have been entered into the National Crime Information Center system.
According to the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, as of Dec. 31, 2024, 1, 231 children have been recovered due to Amber alerts and 198 are due to Wireless Emergency Alerts.
From Dec. 1, 2023-Nov. 20, 2024, the Missouri State Highway Patrol issued 10 AMBER Alerts for 12 children.
Two alerts were for more than one child and all 12 were located safe. Seven children were located in Missouri and five children wrestled located in other states, according to MSHP.
The National Amber Alert Plan was created in 1996 after Amber Hagerman, 9, was kidnapped and murdered while riding her bike in Arlington, Texas. Missouri's Ambre alert plan was formed in 2003 after Senate Bill 20 was passed.
