Detroiters woke up Tuesday to see the city’s new Emerald Alert system in action for the very first time. Within an hour of its launch, the program proved its value. It helped locate 74-year-old Marjorie Louise Brown Kilpatrick, a Black elder who had gone missing the day before. By late afternoon, it was deployed again, this time to find three missing Black girls—Mariah Johnson, 13, her sister Saniya Johnson, 15, and their friend Aaliyah Hamilton, 16. They too were safely found. For a city where families have long carried the weight of unanswered questions when loved ones disappear, the speed and responsiveness of Tuesday’s alerts carried real significance.
The Emerald Alert system is Detroit’s answer to a longstanding gap. Amber Alerts—used nationwide for missing children—do not apply to every case. Silver Alerts, which exist in some states for missing elders, are not standard in Michigan. For years, families whose loved ones disappeared often felt forced to mount their own searches while waiting for law enforcement to act. Council President Mary Sheffield said she could no longer ignore that gap, especially after the devastating disappearance of 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris in 2024. Harris was never found. A man, Jarvis Butts, was later charged with sexually assaulting and murdering her.
Sheffield said, “Too many families have endured the nightmare of missing a loved one. We know that every single second matters when someone goes missing, yet not every case receives the criteria for an Amber Alert, which is why that gap has always weighed heavily on my own heart.”…