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Reporter's Notebook: Amber Alert Worked

The case of missing Putnam County teen Morgan Leppert generated a lot of attention. Her picture and MySpace page were flashed on websites and TV screens across the country.

In fact, I spent Friday evening as a panel member on CNN's Nancy Grace, along with Putnam County Sheriff Dean Kelly.

The attention worked. A driver in El Paso, Texas noticed the 15-year-old San Mateo girl panhandling off Interstate 10 in West Texas.

"It bothered him so much he actually went back to take a second look to make sure before calling the El Paso police department," Major Keith Riddick said Monday morning.

"I was pretty sure I recongized them from the tv show this morning," Stacy Fuller told CNN after spotting Morgan and her 22-year-old boyfriend Toby Lowry Saturday afternoon. "I pulled up a little and got the Sheriff's number and explained to him what I'd seen  and that I thought it was the couple I'd seen on TV."

While plenty of questions remain unanswered about Morgan's disappearance on April 22 and the link it may have in the murder of 66-year-old Melrose man James Stewart, what is clear is the Amber Alert system worked. And it worked quickly.

It took less than 48 hours for police to catch up with this couple following the Florida Department of Law Enforcement calling for the Amber Alert and shining a national spotlight on the case.

It also serves as a reminder. Whenever we see the Missing Child Alerts flash on those big electronic billboards over the highway, take notice. 

Try to remember vehicle descriptions and look on websites like wokv.com and other news outlets to look at photographs and of course, if you see something that resembles those descriptions, do what Stacy Fuller in El Paso did.



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