A quick search on Wikipedia shows two in the 50's, one of them right here in Kansas City.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_kidnappings

BTW, I have found other sources of children being kidnapped and murdered going back to the 60's, but I'm not going to post them here out of respect for MTG.

Let's just come to the conclusion that your post was...not accurate.

****, man! I just woke up to an Amber Alert here in AZ.

The one here just got cancelled. Turns out it was the mother. She had taken her 4 kids and told a relative she was gonna kill them but then she turned herself in. Crazy bitch.

Good stats don't go back that far, but there certainly were in the 70s and 80s. The difference is that media wasn't near as thorough or as fast back then, so you didn't hear about them as often.

There's data a few posts below that daface posted. You should check it out.

well I was a teenager in seventies and a young man in the 80s. If it happened and it did, police delt with it a lot different.

If you harrassed little kids on there street of school you may have gotten a good beat down with the blackjack. These sickos have no fear now back then matters like child abuse and molesting may have got you personal attention from the beat cops.

Perception vs. reality.

No reality.
Back in the 80s there was a beat cop that worked downtown was well know and even made the kc star newspaper. They called him the walkin Injun. He was 6'5" imposing American Indian. That guy worked that beat his whole career. I was a Land Surveyor just starting out. We did a lot of surveys in Downtown KC. Well lots bums came out and panhandled and harrassed folks. One day was a young lady and a bum was drunk wouldnt take no for an answer kept pawing this girl. My boss who was near headed over and was about to put a beatdown on bum. Out of nowhere comes walkin injun. He told my boss to step back he would handle it. Said he will escort him to halfway house and marched him off. A little latter we setup in an alley to establish the boundary line of the ally. And between the alley was Walkin Injun wailing with the blackjack on said bum. He could be herd tellin him to walk his ass back to the tracks in the River Quay and hop the first train on out here. That dude beat feet out there face and head bloody. Boss talked him after and the cop said he can run the guys in and there back out panhandling. The get all hpped up and begin to get violent. Next think you know a girl is beaten and raped in an alley or parking garage. The one thing they do understand is a beating. They will think twice to come back on my beat. We said we understand and went about our business.

Thats reality!

That was my immediate thought as well.

You are a master of taking an anecdote and projecting it to the universe.

Whatever

I live in Springfield and I didn't receive the Alert on my phone till 7:00.

Yeah the Police Chief in his 1st news conference said there state and fed guidelines they must meet before can issue the alert. They met those guidelines a little before 7 pm and alerts were sent out.

Any news on the "why" part of this? Other than the man being mentally deranged, was it as random as they reported? Wow, just so sad!