[Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect new information from Alaska State Troopers indicating that no crime had been committed and the child initially reported missing was found safe.]
Authorities canceled an Amber Alert issued for a toddler initially reported missing from Fairbanks after the child was found safe Tuesday.
Alaska State Troopers said in an update Tuesday evening that no crime was committed, and that the initial report and ensuing Amber Alert were connected to a protective order status change that neither law enforcement nor the child’s mother were notified of.
Around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, troopers received a 911 call indicated that a 2-year-old girl “had been abducted from her house by the child’s biological father,” the agency said. At the time of the call, a domestic violence protective order was in place that prohibited contact between the girl and her father, troopers said.
Troopers then started to search the Fairbanks area for the girl and her father and issued an Amber Alert around 3:30 p.m. with details about their identity and appearance. Troopers also shared information about the vehicle her father was driving.
A Fairbanks resident spotted the vehicle in the parking lot of a shopping center around 3:45 p.m., and responding law enforcement officers found the girl, who was unharmed, and her father, troopers said.
“Further investigation revealed that a judge dissolved the domestic violence protective order earlier in the day, and neither law enforcement nor the child’s mother had been notified of the action,” troopers said in their update Tuesday evening.
“The child’s father was not arrested, as no crime had been committed after the DVPO was dissolved,” troopers said.