Prompted by Wisconsin tragedy, Green Alerts for missing, at-risk veterans could go national

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Prompted by the death of an Air Force veteran from Milwaukee, Wisconsin recently passed a law creating a Green Alert system for missing, at-risk veterans.

Now members of Wisconsin's congressional delegation are attempting to make Green Alerts national.

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, introduced a bill Wednesday, joined by Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, that would create a nationwide Green Alert to locate missing, vulnerable veterans. Green Alert is similar to Amber and Silver alerts for missing children and seniors.

Carmen Adams (from left), her mother Gwen Adams and father Johnnie Adams hold a portrait of her brother Corey Adams, an Afghanistan veteran who suffered from PTSD and disappeared last year. Eighteen days later his body was found in a Milwaukee park. Because of Adams' case, state legislators are working to get a Green Alert for missing and vulnerable veterans just like the Amber and Silver alerts.

The Corey Adams Searchlight Act is named after a Milwaukee man who suffered from post-traumatic stress after returning home from a six-month deployment to Afghanistan in 2009 with the Air Force Reserves. Adams' family noticed a change in their son and brother and took him to the VA for appointments.

On March 20, 2017, Adams disappeared from his parents' Milwaukee home. Alarmed, his family reported him missing to Milwaukee police, but because he was an adult, a search was not launched for several days.

Eighteen days later, Adams' body was found in the Dineen Park lagoon. He was 45. The cause of death was undetermined and his family does not know how or why he ended up there.

At the urging of Adams' family, state Sen. LaTonya Johnson pushed forward a bill creating a Green Alert system in Wisconsin, which passed in March.