What is an Ashanti Alert?

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Early Monday morning, the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons issued an Ashanti Alert for a missing Harnett County woman .

But what is an Ashanti Alert?

According to the NC Center for Missing Persons, an Ashanti Alert is meant to help quickly distribute the information about a missing person between the ages of 18 and 64 — those who fall outside the scope of a typical AMBER Alert of Silver Alert.

“This evidence-based alert is for a person missing under circumstances that indicate physical safety may be endangered or the disappearance may not be voluntary, including an evidence based abduction or kidnapping,” the agency says on its website. “Due to the severity of the criteria, an Ashanti Alert must be requested within six hours (reasonable time) of the report. There must be evidence to meet the criteria.”

Who is the Ashanti Alert named after?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Ashanti Alert is named after Ashanti Billie .

Billie was a 19-year-old woman who disappeared from Hampton, VA on September 18, 2017. Her body was found in Charlotte, NC — about 350 miles away — two weeks later.

“The amount of time and distance traveled between Ashanti’s abduction and the discovery of her body, as well as falling outside the scope of other alert programs, raised questions regarding the lack of a state, regional or nationwide missing persons alert system that focused on individuals over the age of 17,” the BJA’s fact sheet on the alert says. “Named in her honor, the Ashanti Alert Act aims to solve this problem.”

When did Ashanti Alerts start?

According to the BJA, the Ashanti Alert Act of 2018 (Pub L. 115-401) was signed into law on Dec. 31, 2018.

Who can activate Ashanti Alerts in North Carolina?

Ashanti Alerts in this state can only be activated by the NC Center for Missing Persons, and they only do so at the request of an investigating law enforcement agency. Once they receive a request from law enforcement, the center then determines, based on the evidence, whether there is sufficient information to justify the activation of an Ashanti Alert.

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