Police say they’re still investigating the circumstances leading them to issue Maine’s first Amber Alert in nearly seven years.
Augusta police have provided few details about the safe return of 3-year-old Lenore Wilson after she was reported missing Tuesday morning. It’s also unclear whether any charges will be brought in connection with the incident.
The last time the Maine State Police broadcast an Amber Alert was Nov. 2009. A Sanford girl, Haley Trayham, was taken by her father, but later found unharmed in New Hampshire. Tuesday, police triggered an alert to help locate a missing child in Augusta.
The alert was broadcast statewide through Maine Public Radio’s Emergency Alert System. And for the first time, it was transmitted directly to Mainers’ cellphones.
The Amber Alert was canceled after Lenore, or Lenny, was returned early Tuesday evening. But little is still known about her disappearance, who found her or even whether police consider the case an attempted abduction or something else.
“The investigation is continuing. We have the child now, so we’re basically working backwards from here. We know what happened while the child was away, who the child was with. We’re still talking to even more witnesses,” says Augusta Deputy Police Chief Jared Mills, who would not identify the man who returned the girl to the police station, apparently unharmed.
Mills says the man knew the girl and “the people involved,” and had stepped in to make sure she was brought to the police. He says police were also attempting to contact a New York woman named Fatima Gissentaner, who the Amber Alert indicated the child was with when she disappeared.
At one point, police said the woman told them Gissentaner planned to bring the child to the station. When she didn’t, they began the process of initiating the Amber Alert.
“We get many requests in the course of the year and the vast majority of them do not meet the criteria,” says Maine State Police spokesman Stephen McCausland.
McCausland says his department will only issue an Amber Alert if local police can make the case that they believe a child has been abducted. According to guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Justice, the requirement is meant to ensure the alerts aren’t abused, or that the public doesn’t tune them out.
Maine’s own Amber Alert plan includes a requirement that someone witness the abduction. But police do have some discretion. If they believe the child is danger, they can make their case.
“Obviously the circumstances of what happened in Augusta did, and that’s why an Amber Alert was issued,” McCausland says.
In this case police say emergency personnel responded to a medical emergency at an Augusta apartment building Tuesday morning and brought the girl’s mother to the hospital. The girl was not there, leading police to conduct interviews of other tenants.
Mills wouldn’t not identify the mother, but says a detective made contact with Gissentaner, who occasionally took care of the girl.
When she didn’t return the girl, police broadcast a photo of her and her boyfriend, in the Amber Alert. Mills would not say whether Gissentaner or the boyfriend had threatened the girl, but says that the conflicting information gleaned from interviews led police to feel the girl was in danger.
“Not knowing for sure, one way or the other, we erred on the side of caution that the child was in danger and took the appropriate action,” Mills says.
Mills says police still want to talk to Gissentaner, who they believe may have left the state, but it’s unclear whether they plan to pursue criminal charges.
Police must submit reports supporting the activation of an Amber Alert within 30 days of issuing one, according to the state’s plan.
