Missing 4-year-old boy found after 2 women go on search following Amber alert
February 16, 2024
A missing 4-year-old California boy, Justin Chan, was successfully reunited with his family after two women located him shortly following an Amber alert.
What happened: On Tuesday, the California Highway Patrol issued the alert at around 7 p.m. local time for an abducted child in Long Beach. They noted that a gray Honda Accord vehicle was stolen with Chan inside when his parent left the car unattended and running during a delivery in the area of 1st Street and Linden Avenue.
Searching for Chan: Two 20-year-old women, Reagan Dunn and Yenni Lu, happened to be in the area and decided to take it upon themselves to search for the vehicle, eventually locating it with the child in the backseat on Pine Avenue.
“We got an Amber Alert on our phone and we decided to start looking,” Dunn told Eyewitness News. “We started driving around, it was 10 minutes. Our route ended, and we decided to keep looking. [Lu] was driving and I glanced over. I was like, ‘Wait, I just saw a gray Honda Accord,’ and I saw 8XP, which was the license plate. She turned around and we parked over there. I called 911. We ran across the street and the license plate matched up.”
The individual who initially stole the car was reportedly gone. The two friends then waited with the confused but unharmed boy until the police arrived at around 8 p.m.
Reunited with his father: The Amber alert was canceled, confirming the child’s safe recovery. Footage of the scene shows law enforcement officers encircling the vehicle and Chan reuniting with his father. An officer placed Chan in his father’s embrace, and the child appeared to tenderly touch his parent’s face, seemingly wiping away tears.
However, the search for the suspect is still ongoing.
Mayor praises the women: Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson praised Dunn and Lu for their courage and quick actions in reuniting the boy with his family.
“I want to give a heartfelt thank you to the [two] remarkable young women who spotted the vehicle from the amber last night in Long Beach,” Richardson wrote on X. “Your courage and quick actions are commendable.”
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