Why wasn’t an Amber Alert, aka Levi’s Call, issued in Kamarie Holland homicide case?
As mourners gathered Wednesday in Phenix City for the funeral of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland, nine days after she was reported to be missing across the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, a persistent question remained:
Why wasn’t an Amber Alert issued in this case, which became a homicide investigation when Kamarie was found dead that night in Phenix City?
Although the Columbus Police Department asked for the alert, known as a Levi’s Call in Georgia, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation denied the request because it didn’t meet the criteria, according to the GBI.
Amber stands for America’s Missing Broadcast Emergency Response. The national alert system started in 1996, when broadcasters in the Dallas-Fort Worth area partnered with local police to develop an early warning mechanism to help find abducted children. It’s named in honor of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman of Arlington, Texas, who was murdered after being kidnapped while riding a bike.
Georgia’s version is Levi’s Call, named for 11-year-old Levi Frady of Forsyth County, also murdered after being kidnapped while riding a bike.
Kamarie’s mother told investigators she went to bed around midnight, when her daughter was asleep, and woke up around 5:50 a.m. Dec. 13 to find Kamarie gone from their Bowman Street home, where the front door was ajar, Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor said during a Dec. 14 news conference. She called Columbus police at 6:15 a.m. to report her child missing, he said.
At 8:36 a.m., the Columbus Police Department’s emailed a news release about the case. At 11:09 a.m., CPD posted on Twitter a “Critical Missing Person” alert asking the public for assistance in finding Kamarie. The post said she was last seen that day in the area of Bowman Street. Along with a photo of her, the description said she was a white female, 3-foot-5 and 45 pounds, with brown eyes and sandy blonde hair.
“She was last seen wearing a pink and white shirt, maroon pants with flowers and hearts,” the post says.
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Fred Wimberly, the special agent in charge of the GBI’s Region 2 Field Office in Midland, told the Ledger-Enquirer in an emailed interview that CPD investigator Derrick Moore made the Levi’s Call request to help find Kamarie around 10 a.m. Dec. 13.
Wimberly denied the request because it didn’t meet all the Levi’s Call criteria, he said.
“CPD did not provide any information to indicate that there was a confirmed abduction of the child,” Wimberly said. “GBI was also not informed of a potential suspect.”
Police spokesman Sgt. Aaron Evrard wouldn’t say whether CPD agreed with the GBI’s decision, but he confirmed the department did ask the GBI to issue a Levi’s Call and that the request was denied because it did not meet the criteria.
“Our reaction to the denial was to continue to investigate,” Evrard told the L-E in an email. He listed the following actions police took to find Kamarie:
- Multiple broadcasts in all three police radio sectors.
- Emailed the media and the department regarding a “critical missing” person.
- Searched the house and the nearby area.
- Called in the Bureau of Investigative Services and off-duty detectives.
- Contacted public services to search storm drains, etc.
- Contacted the sheriff’s office, which checked registered sex offenders in the area.
- Contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which deployed tracking dogs to assist in the search.
- Contacted the “A Child is Missing” organization, which helps distribute missing children notifications.
“We aggressively investigated the case and are continuing to do so,” Evrard said.
What triggers Levi’s Call?
Here’s the Levi’s Call process, based on the GBI’s website and the L-E’s interview with Chris McKeown, an assistant special agent in charge at the GBI’s Georgia Information Sharing and Analysis Center in Decatur:
Local law enforcement agencies contact a GBI regional office and request the activation of a Levi’s Call when they have a reasonable belief that a child has been abducted. The office supervisor determines whether the request meets these criteria for a Levi’s Call:
Evidence is provided to believe that an abduction has occurred.
The person abducted is 17 or younger.
- Imminent danger, serious bodily injury or death for the child is evident.
- The abduction is believed to have been committed by a non-custodial suspect.
- Description of the child and any suspects is sufficient.
- The child’s name and other critical data elements have been enter into the National Crime Information Center system.
If the GBI office supervisor determines the criteria have been met, a Levi’s Call form is sent to the Georgia State Patrol headquarters in Atlanta. The patrol’s communications center sends the Levi’s Call to the appropriate organizations.
The Georgia Emergency Management Agency transmits the bulletin to the Georgia Association of Broadcasters, which forwards it to radio and TV stations. The Emergency Alert System sends notifications to cellphones.
Kamarie was found dead around 11:15 p.m. Dec. 13 in a vacant Phenix City house where suspect Jeremy Tremaine Williams once lived, authorities said. Williams, 37, is charged with capital murder in Kamarie’s homicide. The evidence indicates Kamarie was sexually assaulted and likely died of asphyxiation, Taylor said.
Staff writers Tim Chitwood and Brittany McGee contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 23, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
