2 kids went missing after their mother was found dead. Why did CHP never issue an Amber Alert?

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It’s been more than three weeks since authorities found Angelica Marie Bravo dead in a Sacramento home and detectives determined her two youngest children, Athena Lee, 4, and Mateo Lee, 2, were missing and believed to be in a vehicle driven by their father, Camron Lee.

Detectives are still looking for the children, and their father identified as a “person-of-interest” in their disappearance also remains missing. Last week, authorities found the vehicle believed to be driven by Camron Lee abandoned in a Mexican beach town about 70 miles south of U.S. border.

Officer Anthony Gamble, a Sacramento Police Department spokesman, said they continue to work with federal, state and local law enforcement officials.

“We don’t know where the kids are,” Gamble said Wednesday. “We’re hopeful they’re in the Southern California region.”

But the California Highway Patrol never activated an Amber Alert, a statewide alert that is triggered to help find missing children and others at risk. Sacramento police said the case of the two missing children didn’t meet the requirements for an Amber Alert.

On July 9, the Sacramento Police Department asked the CHP to activate an Amber Alert for the missing children, Jaime Coffee, a CHP spokesperson, told The Sacramento Bee.

But an Amber Alert was no longer an option for the Sacramento missing persons case after federal authorities confirmed the vehicle believed to carrying the missing children and driven by their father was spotted heading south into Mexico.

“While preparing to activate the alert system, it was confirmed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the suspect vehicle had entered Mexico the prior day,” Coffee said in an email. “The CHP can activate an AMBER Alert in California, however, once it goes to Mexico, our AMBER Alert is no longer an available option.”

Coffee said the CHP told Sacramento police to contact the CHP if they had any indication that Camron Lee or the children had returned to the United States, and an Amber Alert would then be issued.

Two days later, the CHP issued an Endangered Missing Advisory for the missing children after Sacramento police provided a specific investigative update in the case, Coffee said. The CHP’s Mexico Liaison Unit in Border Division has been provided details of the missing persons case, who in turn passed on the information to the Mexican authorities.

Requirements for an Amber Alert

For the CHP to activate an Amber Alert (the acronym AMBER stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response), the following criteria must be met:

▪ Confirmation that an abduction has occurred or a child was taken by anyone, including, but not limited to, a custodial parent or guardian.

▪ The victim is 17 years of age or younger, or an individual with a proven mental or physical disability.

▪ The victim is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.

▪ There is information available that, if disseminated to the public, could assist in the safe recovery of the victim.

The Amber Alert system releases information to news media outlets to quickly notify the public of an abducted or taken child. California’s alert system is modeled after the nationwide AMBER Plan, which was developed in 1996 after nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted and brutally murdered near her home in Arlington, Texas.

In 2002, Assembly Bill 415 was signed into law and mandated that Amber Alert plans be implemented statewide. The law assigned the CHP as the statewide coordinator for all Amber Alerts. Since then, more than 330 Amber Alerts have led to the safe recovery of nearly 400 missing persons.

Amber Alerts are the most serious alerts the CHP can issue involving children. A majority of Amber Alerts involve a parent, guardian or close family relative, according to the CHP.

More than 24 hours went by

In the case of missing Sacramento children, Athena and Mateo Lee, slightly more than 24 hours passed before law enforcement officials alerted the public about their disappearance.

Authorities found Bravo dead on the evening of July 8 in a home in the 3700 block of Didcot Circle in the Oak Knoll neighborhood in North Sacramento. She once shared the home with Camron Lee, she and the children had since moved out to a south Sacramento apartment.

Investigators still don’t know how the 28-year-old mother died. Sacramento County Coroner Rosa Vega told The Sacramento Bee last week that they were still awaiting a toxicology report among other findings, and the “results could take months.”

Camron Lee has not been identified as a suspect in the woman’s death. The Police Department spokesman said the missing remains considered only as a “person-of-interest.”

“We still don’t have a cause of death,” Gamble said Wednesday. “We don’t know how this death will be labeled.”

As detectives investigated Bravo’s death in those first 24 hours, they were unable to find Athena and her younger brother Mateo. They also couldn’t find their father.

On the evening of July 9, the Sacramento Police Department announced the woman’s two children were missing and believed they were with their father, Camron Lee, in a gray Honda Passport.

Police officials that evening urged the public to help find this vehicle and the missing children. But the CHP did not activate an Amber Alert for Athena and Mateo.

Gamble said the Police Department initially requested the Amber Alert and was waiting for a response from the CHP. In the meantime, U.S. Customs and Border Protection notified police that surveillance video captured the gray Honda Passport driving south into Mexico. After that, CHP told the Police Department that missing persons case did not meet the Amber Alert requirements.

Instead of the Amber Alert, Gamble went in front of news cameras the following morning asking news outlets to share information about the search for the missing children with affiliates in Southern California.

The following afternoon, the Police Department announced that detectives believed it’s possible the missing children were dropped off somewhere in Southern California.

Advisory three days after mother found dead

Gamble said the detectives learned that Camron Lee has some possible ties to Southern California, which allowed the CHP to instead issue an Endangered Missing Advisory for Athena and Mateo. The CHP issued the advisory for the missing children shortly before 5 p.m. July 11, nearly three days after their mother was found dead.

An Endangered Missing Advisory is a law enforcement alert that asks the public to help find a missing person who may be in danger. The advisory is similar to an Amber Alert but is used for people who don’t meet Amber Alert criteria, according to the CHP. The advisory can be used for missing children or other endangered people, such as those who are mentally or physically disabled, or who are victims of crime or foul play.

To activate an Endangered Missing Advisory, the following criteria must be met:

▪ The person is missing under suspicious circumstances.

▪ The person is believed to be in danger due to their age, health, disability, or environment.

▪ There is information that could help the public find the person and safely recover them.

This week, Gamble said the detectives remain hopeful Athena and Mateo were left with someone before the Honda Passport was spotted heading into Mexico. The vehicle was found abandoned on July 16 in Ensenada, a beach town along the Pacific coast of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

The police spokesman said detectives this week were heading south to inspect the abandoned vehicle and look for any evidence that might help them find the missing children.

Gamble also said the Police Department continues to communicate with FBI, the California Department of Justice, the CHP in Southern California and local law enforcement agencies in that region as their search for Athena and Mateo continues.