An Iowa record: Four Amber Alerts in three months

CEDAR RAPIDS - Four Amber Alerts in three months are the most over such a time period since Iowa began issuing AMBER Alerts in 2003, according to online records.

Authorities in Central Iowa canceled the most recent AMBER ALERT Wednesday morning after two burned bodies were found in a car in Missouri. Authorities believe the remains are of 9-month-old Logan Habibovic and his father, 33-year-old Elvis Habibovic. Urbandale police issued the alert for the missing father and son around 2 a.m. and canceled it shortly before 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Since March 7 authorities in Iowa have issued four AMBER Alerts for missing or abducted children. The children were located safely in three of those cases.

Since Iowa began using the AMBER Alert system in 2003, the state has issued 25 AMBER Alerts. Before Wednesday missing and abducted kids were located safely every time except for the case of Jetseta Gage of Cedar Rapids. Gage was found dead in a Johnson County mobile home in 2005. Her abductor, Roger Bentley, is currently serving a life sentence for kidnapping and murder.

From 2010 until 2014 authorities in Iowa issued only seven AMBER Alerts. The most ever during an entire calendar year was in 2005 when authorities issued five AMBER Alerts.

Changes to the system were made in 2013 after AMBER Alerts were not issued following several high-profile abductions, including the case of two Evansdale cousins found dead in a rural wooded area in late 2012.

The Iowa AMBER Alert Criteria Group took out the word 'and” from the criteria for issuing an alert. Police now need 'descriptive information about the child, abductor or suspect's vehicle” to issue an alert.

In most cases, domestic issues lead to the activation of the AMBER Alert system, according to online records.