Amber Alert Issued for Missing 2-Year-Old Wisconsin Girl

Noelani Robinson (L) and Dariaz Higgins (R). National Center for Missing & Exploited Children/Wisconsin Crime Alert Network

An amber alert has been issued for a 2-year-old girl who went missing in Milwaukee with a man described as armed and dangerous by authorities.

Noelani Robinson went missing at 1:30 p.m. on March 11 after Dariaz L. Higgins failed to return her to her mother as had been planned, according to authorities.

Higgins, 33, who also goes by the aliases of Dariaz Taylor and Dariaz Lewis is believed to have taken the 2-year-old in his black SUV.

Noelani Robinson. Wisconsin Crime Alert Network

Dariaz Higgins. Wisconsin Crime Alert Network

“Unknown clothing description of the child at this time,” said the alert. “Dariaz is armed and dangerous. If anyone sees Dariaz or the child, they should not attempt to make contact and call 911 immediately.”

Higgins is described as a black male with black hair, brown eyes, and tattoos, and is believed to be driving a black 2014 Cadillac SUV with Florida license plate HVCZ95.

Dariaz Higgins. Wisconsin Crime Alert Network

According to WSVN, officials believe that Higgins could be driving to Florida with the missing girl

In the Florida county of Miami-Dade, police have issued a countywide “be on the lookout” alert to officers.

An amber alert indicates a child has been abducted and is facing imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.

Missing, but Found

An overnight police search was sparked in Florida last week when a 10-year-old girl went missing from school.

She was found safe and sound the following day, after a search involving over 20 officers, KXAN reported.

In California, two girls, aged 5 and 8, were found two days after they had gone missing the week earlier on March 1. They were found alive after spending two days and nights in a cold forest, according to reports.

Temperatures in Humboldt, located in the northwestern portion of the state, had dropped into the 30s.

Officials said the girls were found near Richardson State Park, which is more than a mile south of their home.

“They were safe and sound, still ambulatory, in good spirits, no injuries,” Honsal explained.

“We could not have had a better outcome than we’ve had this morning,” he added to ABC. “It’s an absolute miracle.”

Missing Children

There were 464,324 missing children reported in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center in 2017, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Under federal law, when children are reported missing to law enforcement, they must be entered into the database. In 2016, there were 465,676 entries.

“This number represents reports of missing children. That means if a child runs away multiple times in a year, each instance would be entered into NCIC separately and counted in the yearly total. Likewise, if an entry is withdrawn and amended or updated, that would also be reflected in the total,” the center noted.

In 2017, the center said it assisted officers and families with the cases of more than 27,000 missing children. In those cases, 91 percent were endangered runaways, and 5 percent were family abductions.

About one in seven children reported missing to the center in 2017 were likely victims of child sex trafficking.

The number of reported missing children has significantly decreased in recent years, according to a 2017 report by the Department of Justice. The number of children reported missing dropped from 6.5 per 1,000 children in 1999 to 3.1 per 1,000 in 2013.

Missing children typically fall into five categories: kidnapped by a family member, abducted by a nonfamily perpetrator, runaways, those who got lost, stranded, or injured, or those who went missing due to benign reasons, such as misunderstandings, according to the report researchers.