Happy ending.

At about 7:15 p.m. on January 21, Katharine Whitney of Sandy, Utah, left her workplace with six-week-old daughter Elizabeth Kay to attend a baby shower. After placing the infant in a car seat, she realized that she had forgotten the shower gift and hurried inside the building to retrieve it. When she returned less than a minute later, the car--and little Elizabeth--were gone.

Whitney called police, and within minutes an AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert was issued. The alerts are named for Amber Hagerman, a nine-year-old Arlington, Texas, girl who was abducted in 1996 and later found murdered. They promptly inform the public about kidnapped children and their abductors via radio and television bulletins and electronic highway signs. In Utah, the notifications are called Rachael Alerts, after Rachael Marie Runyan, a three-year-old Sunset, Utah, girl who was abducted and murdered in 1982.

Shane Wilkinson, a journeyman electrician and father of two small children, was enjoying dinner and watching television at home with his family in Draper (some five miles south of Sandy) when the AMBER Alert and details of Elizabeth's abduction were broadcast. "I really felt great concern for the Whitney family," he later recalled. "I had the strongest impression to go look for that little girl." Placing his unfinished dinner in the refrigerator, he hopped into his car and began searching the area.

He could not remember the make or model of the stolen vehicle, but he did recall the license number. "I knew as I started driving, looking at vehicles, that I needed a lot more help," he told Salt Lake City's Deseret Morning News, so he pulled to the side of the road and said a prayer, asking God to help him find the missing child.

Continuing the search, he soon had what he describes as a good feeling about turning into the parking lot of a large mixed-use development in Sandy. So he did, and after proceeding a few feet glanced to his left--and saw the license plate of the stolen car.

Not knowing if Elizabeth was inside the apparently abandoned vehicle, or if the thief might return, he called 911 and parked where he could keep the car in sight until police arrived. Officers found Elizabeth unharmed and asleep in her car seat. Her abductor remains at large.

On March 18, Wilkinson received a Rachael Runyan Award, given to Utahns who respond to AMBER Alerts and help recover abducted children. It was presented by Rachael's mother, Elaine Runyan-Simmons, in conjunction with the Utah Broadcasters Association.

The next day's Salt Lake Tribune reported that Wilkinson had initially been "reluctant to be publicly honored but, according to event officials, agreed because of his belief others should take actions similar to his when Amber alerts are issued."