NORTH OGDEN, Utah, June 1, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Police issued a rare shotgun phone alert for a missing child in North Ogden Thursday which likely reached thousands of homes.
North Ogden Police decided to trigger the alert shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday through the Code Red Call Back Message System tied to Weber County’s emergency dispatch center. Missing was 9-year-old Emma Rich, blonde, 4-foot-3, last seen wearing a bright peach colored shirt, light blue shorts, purple crocs, with a pink and white pattern backpack.
The alert when to phones within a two to five mile radius, according to North Ogden police, meaning it likely reached thousands of phones. One former Ogden resident now living in Wisconsin reported receiving the bulletin through her cell phone.
Likely little media coverage ensued because the case was resolved quickly.
So for those who got the call, or the voice mail, and wonder how things turned out — Emma was found.
Within minutes of the placing of the Code Red phone alert. “She’s found, happy and healthy,” North Ogden Police Sgt. Brandon Morreali said Thursday night.
He said it’s likely only the second time in his nine years with the department the phone alert bulletin has been used. “We had an autistic little girl wandering who knows where, so it was just the exercise of an abundance of caution.”
