Grieving family members want to know why the Wilkes-Barre Police Department didn't request an Amber Alert be issued for missing teen La’Niyah Clark, and their concerns don't stop there.
The statewide system provides information to the public about abducted children — which investigators said they didn't believe La'Niyah was.
But there is another, more commonly used form of alert that could have been appropriate for La’Niyah's case: Pennsylvania State Police have an option called a Missing Endangered Person Advisory (MEPA) to alert the public when a vulnerable person goes missing.
MEPA criteria include "age or health, a mental or physical disability, or current weather or environmental conditions," which could "place the missing person in peril of serious bodily injury or death," PSP regulations state.
La'Niyah, then 14, was reported missing by her family on Jan. 17. She was deaf and wore two hearing aids.
Wilkes-Barre police didn't request a MEPA either.
"There were no alerts associated with La'Niyah Clark," PSP spokesman Chris Caracino replied in response to questions about whether the agency received an Amber Alert or MEPA request regarding La'Niyah.
Loved ones say the system doesn't go far enough, and an additional type of alert is needed — something state Rep. Robert Leadbeter (R-Columbia) is pursuing through legislation.
La'Niyah's body was discovered in South Wilkes-Barre on Feb. 21. A biological aunt, Bobbiejo Etzel, is expected to face charges in the case, investigators said last week.
'They should have labeled her missing and endangered'
The Amber Alert system "is limited to abducted children, and, therefore, excludes children believed to be runaways or throwaways from home," PSP regulations state.
"She's a minor. She was deaf, and she should have been, if they couldn't do an Amber Alert, they should have labeled her missing and endangered immediately,” adoptive mother Ameerah Woods said during a rally outside WBPD headquarters last week.
Did the Wilkes-Barre Police Department consider seeking a statewide MEPA alert in the search for La’Niyah?
WVIA News emailed a list of questions to Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Michael Boyle and a city spokesperson last week, asking about that and other concerns raised by family members regarding how the investigation was handled.
Relatives have said they did not hear from a detective until five days after La'Nyiah's disappearance and were then told he had been out sick all week.
WVIA's email included specific questions about the family's concerns and general questions about the department's standard operating procedures.
No response to that email and a follow-up had been received by the time of publication.
Runaway allegations and PFA against aunt
Family members have said they believe La’Niyah may have been abducted by Etzel, but a WBPD press release sent out by Boyle 24 days later made no mention of a possible abduction.
Boyle's Feb. 10 release said that "there have been multiple sightings of Clark in the area." Woods says police later told her the alleged sightings were unfounded.
Investigators have said La’Niyah ran away in the past. A statement released Friday, Feb. 27 by Boyle and Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce said La'Niyah "fled from her home to her aunt," Etzel.
"She had prior history of running away, which doesn't matter, because that was in the past, and this was the here and now," Woods said last week.
Family members point out that Etzel was the subject of a Protection From Abuse order, something the release from Boyle and Sanguedolce acknowledged.
"Etzel was, at the time, reported to be the subject of a Protection from Abuse (PFA) order issued by the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas directing her not to have contact" with La’Niyah, the release states.
Etzel, who was apprehended in Maryland, is expected to be charged with corruption of minors and interfering with La’Niyah's custody, the release stated.
Online records show Etzel was returned to Wilkes-Barre on Saturday morning and incarcerated in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.
The criminal case against Etzel has been sealed, meaning a police affidavit with details of the allegations against her — as well as information about her preliminary hearing and bail — are not publicly available.
MEPAs more widely used than Amber Alerts
MEPA alerts have been far more common than Amber Alerts in recent years.
"Pennsylvania had no AMBER Alert activations in 2025. To put this number in context, AMBER Alert statistics show that there were 189 AMBER Alert activations reported across the entire United States in 2024," PSP's Caracino wrote in an email.
There were 129 MEPA activations in Pennsylvania in 2025, Caracino said. That averages out to more than two per week.
Scroll through PSP's X account, where alerts are posted, and you'll find many posts about MEPAs — primarily about them being canceled after a person has been located.
The subjects of MEPA alerts vary widely. A review of cases in recent years shows many older adults — often cases where those people were described as possibly "confused" — but also children, teens and young adults.
One example was Muhammad Sakho, 10, who was last seen near a Southwest Philadelphia elementary school on the morning of Jan. 20. Police deemed Muhammad to be "at special risk of harm or injury."
A MEPA was issued the same day. Muhammad was found unharmed in Delaware County the following day.
'Our current alert systems leave dangerous gaps'
Candice Lowe, a family friend who has been helping La’Niyah's parents and acting as a spokesperson, has launched a Change.org petition calling for a new alert that would focus specifically on missing and endangered children. It had nearly 2,200 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.
"An Amber Alert was not issued because there was no confirmed evidence of abduction at the time. Though she was a minor, deaf and vulnerable — with documented safety concerns including an active Protection From Abuse order, the statutory criteria for an Amber Alert were not met," Lowe wrote, adding that La'Niyah's case "exposes a systemic gap in child protection policy."
"Tragically, La’Niyah was later found deceased, only blocks from where she was last seen. Earlier public alerts could have increased awareness, generated tips, and heightened urgency during the critical early hours of her disappearance," Lowe wrote.
Lowe's petition proposes an alert that would activate when:
- A minor is believed to be at credible risk of harm.
- There are documented safety threats, protective orders or prior criminal concerns.
- The child has a disability or communication barrier, increasing vulnerability.
- Law enforcement determines immediate public awareness could aid recovery.
"The goal is simple: ensure that no child falls through procedural gaps because their case does not meet a narrow definition," Lowe wrote.
Leadbeter seeks 'Aiden's Law'
Leadbeter's proposed House Bill 2102 would create a “Purple Alert” system in Pennsylvania, "designed to rapidly notify the public and law enforcement when an individual with certain cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities goes missing."
The proposal is called "Aiden's Law" after Aiden Ha, a seven-year-old Columbia County boy with autism who went missing last year and was found drowned in the Susquehanna River.
"I participated in the frantic search that the community began when Aiden Ha went missing last fall," Leadbeter said. "The next day, when the tragedy was was discovered that just completely shattered our communities."
In his sponsorship memo, Leadbeter said a Purple Alert system could have immediately disseminated Aiden's photo, description, and last known location statewide, "thereby mobilizing more eyes, more information, and potentially saving a life."
Leadbeter sees parallels in La'Niyah's case.
"Many Pennsylvanians live with autism spectrum disorders, traumatic brain injuries, dementia onset at early ages, or other conditions that affect communication, judgment, and awareness," his memo added. "When such individuals go missing, every minute matters. Traditional alert systems often exclude them because they do not fit neatly into the criteria for missing alerts."
He is not alone in that concern.
State Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Allegheny, who sponsored a similar Senate Bill in 2024, spoke with Harrisburg NPR station WITF about the importance of moving quickly in such cases.
“Time is of the essence when someone with an intellectual disability is lost since the death rate of a person missing more than 72 hours is as high as 88 percent,” Fontana said.
The WITF report noted that other states have introduced purple alerts, including Florida, where 250 people were found out of 255 alerts issued in the program's first year.
CONNECTICUT'S PURPLE ALERTS
A Connecticut state lawmaker who sponsored her state's Purple Alert bill talks about the program with Boston NPR station WBUR.
"That tells the story that we're trying to get across to people right now," Leadbeter said, adding that closer to home, Maryland and Connecticut also have implemented Purple Alert programs.
"When we are literally counting seconds and minutes, not hours and days, with these folks going missing, whether it's West Virginia or Mississippi, Kansas, any of the states that have implemented Purple Alert, far and away, it comes back to demonstrate that it is the right thing to do, and it's the thing that needs done now," Leadbeter said.
Connecticut state Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, a Democrat who sponsored her state's bill, spoke with Boston NPR station WBUR last May about why she felt the Purple Alert program was needed.
Kavros DeGraw responded to interview questions about how Purple Alerts differ from other advisories, such as Amber Alerts, including "how effective it is to have so many different types of alerts going out," and whether the public "would actually pay attention to the information about who is missing."
"In this case, I think it actually improves paying attention to who is missing," Kavros DeGraw told WBUR, adding that having the participation of families and the public also helps law enforcement know how best to approach missing people with special needs.
In the first two weeks of Connecticut's program, 12 alerts were issued, Kavros DeGraw said.
Here in Pennsylvania, Leadbeter said he has heard concerns that a Purple Alert system would "water down" attention to Amber Alerts. He does not believe that would be the case.
"As we've seen now with Ms. Clark up in Luzerne County, indeed it won't water it down, because there are situations that an Amber Alert wouldn't qualify to be activated anyway," Leadbeter said.
Leadbeter's House Bill 2102, which has sponsors from both sides of the aisle, has been referred to the Judiciary Committee, which must approve the proposed legislation before it can be put to a vote on the House floor.
"This is a very commonsense bill. This isn't about political wins. This isn't about talking points," Leadbeter said.
"This is about making sure that first responders have all the tools that they possibly could have at their disposal to ensure that they can return folks like Aiden and Miss Clark home safely, and we're not having to continue to talk about these tragedies over and over again."
Key dates in the La'Nyiah Clark case
● Saturday, Jan. 17: La’Niyah leaves her residence in South Wilkes-Barre in the morning. Adoptive parents Ameerah Woods and Antoine Clark reported her missing later that day after she did not come home.
● Monday, Jan. 19: Woods says she called the Wilkes-Barre Police Department to ask if there was a detective on the case and was told there was not.
● Thursday, Jan. 22: Woods says this is the first time she had contact with a detective. She said the detective she finally heard from told her he had been out sick all week.
● Friday, Jan. 23: WBPD issues a missing person post to Facebook.
● Tuesday, Feb. 10: WBPD Police Chief Michael Boyle issues a statement to the media asking for the public’s assistance in locating La’Niyah. He writes that "there have been multiple sightings of Clark in the area." Woods says police later told her the alleged sightings were unfounded.
● Saturday, Feb. 21: Police respond to 55 Thayer St. for the report of a dead body. They find the remains of a naked female beside a garage owned by adoptive father Clark. Police in a search warrant affidavit state “the physical attributes of the deceased body are consistent" with La’Niyah.
● Tuesday, Feb. 23:
- An autopsy is performed on the body in the morning. Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce says later in the day, no affirmative cause or manner of death has yet been ruled, and "the remains have not 100% been fully identified."
- Investigators block off the area of Charles and New Alexander streets and spend hours searching the lower left unit of an apartment building at 114 New Alexander St.
● Wednesday, Feb. 24:
- Adoptive and biological members of La’Niyah's family gather outside WBPD headquarters alleging city police didn't act quickly enough to find the missing teen, and questioning why an Amber Alert wasn't issued.
- Separately, Sanguedolce says there are no updates in the case, including the results of the autopsy.
● Friday, Feb. 27: Investigators announce they have positively identified remains found in South Wilkes-Barre as La'Niyah and arrested biological aunt Bobbiejo Etzel, 36, in connection with the case. Etzel was arrested in Hagerstown, Maryland and is expected to be charged with corruption of minors and interfering with La’Niyah's custody, a release states.
● Saturday, Feb. 28:
- Etzel is returned to Wilkes-Barre and incarcerated in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, according to online court records.
- Family and friends hold a candlelight vigil in the shadow of a commercial garage off Thayer Street, where La’Niyah's remains were discovered seven days earlier.
