Clovis native seeking law change after daughter's death

Clovis native Lauren Sackman is determined to make something positive out of the drowning death of her 7-year-old daughter last month in Georgia.

Courtesy photo

Hannah Ross, who was diagnosed with autism at 18 months old, went missing April 29 from her family's Fort Gordon, Ga., home. She was discovered the next day at the bottom of a neighborhood lake.

Hannah Ross, who was diagnosed with autism at 18 months old, went missing April 29 from the family's Fort Gordon, Ga., home. She was discovered the next day at the bottom of a neighborhood lake.

Sackman, a military wife and mother of three, is pushing for federal legislation that would expedite national alerts for missing children who are autistic or disabled.

Sackman said the proposed law would require law enforcement to notify communities of a disabled child's missing status within 10 minutes of the child's disappearance.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children issues an AMBER alert when a child is determined missing, but in the case of autistic or disabled children, Sackman said, it's too little, too late.

An AMBER alert is a nationally recognized urgent bulletin designed to instantly galvanize an entire community to assist in the search for and the safe recovery of a missing child.

"My daughter was missing for 24 hours before they found her," Sackman said. "The AMBER alert didn't go out for 12 hours. If it had gone out in 10 minutes we might have been able to save her."

Sackman, whose 5-year-old son, William, is also autistic, thinks putting tracking devices on autistic children and those with disabilities would help locate them quicker.

As an army spouse, Sackman is also pushing for changes in the way military families are housed. Sackman said the military's Exceptional Family Member Program should provide door and window alarms to families with autistic children.

"If we'd had door alarms, this never would have happened," Sackman said. Sackman said when base housing is privately contracted, it can be difficult for families to obtain permission to install alarm devices.

Sackman said her daughter left the home unnoticed while she was preparing the family's evening meal.

"I helped her put on her pink pajamas," Sackman said. "A few minutes later it got quiet, and I went looking for her and found the garage door was open — and the side door. I knew something was wrong. I ran straight down to the lake because I know she loves water. I ran all around that lake, but I didn't see her."

Sackman said a search ensued that employed more than 500 military and civilian personnel in combing woods and neighborhoods.

Sackman said the lake in which her daughter drowned is located in the middle of a base housing addition and has no fence around it. The diver who found her daughter's body told Sackman the lake is 15 feet deep.

"When we first moved in I wanted to put up a trampoline because Hannah loves the trampoline," Sackman said. "The property manager wouldn't let me because he said it was unsafe, and yet there's an unprotected lake in my backyard."

When Sackman returns to Fort Gordon she said she will start writing and calling lawmakers.

"I'm trying to get the support of radio and newspaper behind me," Sackman said. "This is important and it needs to happen."

Sackman has established a Facebook page for Hannah called "Hannah Ross information page."