What’s the Most Searched True Crime Story in Texas?

There’s nothing like true crime stories to grab our attention.

I will almost always tune into Dateline or any other sort of true crime documentary if I’m scanning through the TV guide looking for something to watch. I’ll also binge the hell out of true crime stories on streaming services.

Much like reading mystery novels, it’s all about playing couch detective for me. And I love it when I solve the case on my own prior to the big reveal.

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So, I was intrigued when I came across a study conducted by Edwards Kirby Attorneys at Law. The team used a list of popular true crime stories that have been featured on websites, TV shows and podcasts along with internet search data from all 50 states, including the District of Columbia, to determine the most searched true crime story in each state.

In Texas, the heartbreaking story of the abduction and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman is the most searched true crime story.

According to All That’s Interesting, Amber was abducted after riding her bike into an abandoned grocery store parking lot in Arlington on January 13, 1996. Jimmie Kevil, the only person to witness the crime, said a man in a black pickup grabbed her from the bike and put her in the cab of the pickup.

Kevil reported the abduction to the police shortly after it happened. Unfortunately, the police would never find her alive.

Her body was discovered in a creek five days later by a person passing by the creek. Amber’s throat had been cut.

The case remains unsolved to this day.

Amber’s story is the inspiration for the AMBER alert system. Following her funeral, a woman by the name of Diane Simone called into a Dallas-Fort Worth radio station with her idea to send out an alert for abducted children, much like a severe weather alert.

Dallas-Fort Worth media would go on to partner with local law enforcement to alert citizens when a child was abducted. The AMBER alert system went nationwide in 1996.