In western Nebraska, two responses to child abductions lead to

In a span of just over two months, two children have been abducted from the small neighboring western Nebraska towns of Scottsbluff and Gering.

In both cases -- the latest Saturday morning -- suspects were arrested, but the handling of the girls' disappearances and the endings were far different.

In February, 15-year-old Heather Guerrero was found dead in a rural abandoned house one day after she disappeared while delivering newspapers in Gering.

A neighbor was quickly arrested and charged with rape and murder, but the teen's family was sharply critical of Gering police for never issuing an Amber Alert, the child abduction alert system Nebraska had adopted the previous fall.

Two months later, when an 8-year-old girl disappeared Friday with a family acquaintance in Scottsbluff, police there triggered the alert system.

Early Saturday, a helicopter crew spotted the suspect's car in the hills south of Gering, and a state trooper soon found the little girl crying near a picnic shelter, Scottsbluff police officer Joe Rohrer said.

The girl had minor injuries and was taken to a hospital for evaluation. The 38-year-old man suspected of abducting her, Henry Delgado of Gering, was arrested.

Delgado allegedly took her after she accompanied him on some errands, Scottsbluff police chief Jim Livingston said. The girl's mother later reported her missing, and the Amber Alert was issued before dawn Saturday.

With the alert, police broadcast the girl's description as well as that of her suspected abductor and a car they were believed to be in.

Police in Gering, a town about five miles from Scottsbluff, have insisted an Amber Alert wouldn't have saved Heather.

They didn't have enough information to issue an alert immediately and no one witnessed an abduction, Gering police chief Melvin Griggs said.

But they did contact police departments throughout Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming to try to find the girl, and they informed the news media.

Livingston, whose department had also helped in the search for Heather, said it's unfair to compare the cases.

"I think it's been discussed," he said.

After Heather was found shot, lawmakers called for the state's Amber Alert committee to review the case.

"In hindsight, certainly it would have been wonderful to have every piece of information then that we know now," Attorney General Jon Bruning said after the committee met last month. But he said, "In no way should people think law enforcement was at fault here. Everyone did everything they could to save her."

Bruning said he is working to make sure all law enforcement agencies in the state are trained to participate in the alert system. Agency are required to have at least one officer attend a two-hour training course with the State Patrol. The Gering officers, trained by a Scottsbluff police lieutenant who had attended the course, were to be trained again by state police this month.

------

On the Net:

Nebraska State Patrol: http://www.nsp.state.ne.us/