AMBER Alert Cancelled After Mother Found With Two Daughters in Washington State

At 6:50 p.m. on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, the Washington State Patrol cancelled an urgent AMBER Alert after locating 8-year-old Audrey Gleave and 12-year-old Vanessa Gleave safe with their mother, Carolyn Gleave, in a quiet corner of rural Washington. The girls had been reported missing just hours earlier from Montesano, the county seat of Grays Harbor County, where they were last seen boarding a 2014 black Subaru Forester with license plate AZB4600 around 6:00 a.m. that same day. The alert—issued at 2:45 p.m.—sparked a frantic statewide response, with electronic billboards along Interstate 5 flashing their descriptions and warnings that Carolyn Gleave was in a "heightened state of crisis." But by nightfall, the fear gave way to relief—and questions.

What Led to the Abduction?

The girls’ father, whose name remains undisclosed, had been granted primary custody under a court-ordered parenting plan in Lincoln County, where divorce proceedings began in September 2024. Court documents reveal he accused Carolyn Gleave of a deteriorating mental health condition, including bipolar disorder and past substance abuse. He claimed she drained their joint bank account in early November, telling him she was suffering from postpartum depression—even though both children were well past infancy—and had refused counseling. "She stopped sleeping. Stopped eating. Said she didn’t recognize her own daughters," one filing read. Authorities believe this emotional unraveling triggered the decision to take the girls, not out of malice, but in what may have been a desperate attempt to "fix" things alone.

The girls live in Odessa, a tiny town about 75 miles east of Spokane, under their father’s care. Carolyn Gleave, 40, was supposed to return them after a weekend visit on Sunday, November 17. She never showed. By Monday, the father filed a missing persons report. By Tuesday morning, police were tracing her movements from Montesano toward Spokane—or possibly beyond, to Arizona, Utah, or California.

The AMBER Alert That Spread Like Fire

The Washington State Patrol issued the AMBER Alert at 2:45 p.m., triggering notifications to over 1.2 million mobile devices across the state. The alert included precise physical descriptions: Audrey, 4’6", 65 pounds, brown hair, blue eyes; Vanessa, 5’4", 90 pounds, blond hair, hazel eyes; Carolyn, 5’8", 120 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes. The Subaru’s license plate—AZB4600—was broadcast on every major highway. Even the Odessa Police Department, which normally handles local matters, joined forces with state troopers, a sign of how seriously they took the threat.

What made this case unusual was the tone of the alert itself. Unlike most AMBER Alerts—designed for stranger abductions involving imminent danger—the WSP explicitly warned the public that Carolyn Gleave was "in an escalated state of crisis." That phrasing, rare in such alerts, signaled authorities suspected a mental health emergency, not a criminal act. Still, the protocol didn’t change. The system treats all child abductions the same: urgency first, questions later.

Why the Recovery Was So Fast

The girls were found late Tuesday evening, just four hours after the alert went out. The Odessa Police Department confirmed their safety but refused to say where—citing ongoing family court concerns and the need to protect the children’s privacy. No arrest was made. Carolyn Gleave was not taken into custody.

That’s the twist. This wasn’t a kidnapping by a stranger. It was a fractured family, a mother spiraling, and a legal system that didn’t have the tools to intervene before it escalated. Experts say parental abductions like this are far more common than the public realizes. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reports that in over 60% of parental abduction cases, the abducting parent has a documented history of mental illness or substance abuse. Yet, the response system is built for violent crimes—not emotional breakdowns.

"We’re trained to respond to threats, not crises," said a former child welfare investigator in Tacoma who spoke anonymously. "When a parent takes a child because they believe the system failed them, we don’t have a protocol to de-escalate that. We have a protocol to find them. And that’s what happened here. They found them. But the real work starts now."

What Happens Next?

The girls are now back with their father, but the legal battle is far from over. Lincoln County Family Court is expected to hold an emergency hearing within the next 72 hours to reassess custody. The father’s legal team will likely request a full psychological evaluation of Carolyn Gleave and possibly a restraining order. Meanwhile, child protective services are reviewing whether the family had been under prior supervision. Records show no prior involvement with Child Protective Services, despite the father’s repeated warnings in court.

State lawmakers are already taking notice. A bipartisan group in Olympia is drafting legislation to create a "Mental Health Crisis Response Protocol" for parental abduction cases—allowing social workers, not just police, to respond when mental illness is suspected. "We need to stop treating every abduction like a crime and start treating some like a medical emergency," said State Senator Lisa Torres, who has two children with bipolar disorder.

The Bigger Picture

This case exposes a dangerous gap in how the U.S. handles family breakdowns intertwined with mental health. The AMBER Alert system works brilliantly when a child is snatched off the street. But when a mother, drowning in grief and untreated illness, takes her children because she believes she’s saving them? That’s a different kind of emergency. And right now, the system isn’t built for it.

Carolyn Gleave’s actions were legally wrong. But they weren’t born of malice. They were born of pain. And that’s what makes this case so haunting. The girls are safe. But the question remains: who will help the mother before the next crisis?