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Hser Ner Moo's Amber Alert was well-timed in spite of the horrifying outcome of the search for the slain 7-year-old, an advisory team concluded Wednesday.

The review countered criticism that the alert should not have waited 15 hours after the child was first reported missing last week, said Paul Murphy, spokesman for the Utah Attorney General and member of the Amber Alert Advisory Committee.

Hser Ner Moo disappeared the afternoon of March 31 from her home in South Salt Lake; an autopsy showed she was beaten, raped and strangled before her body was found the next night in the apartment of Eser Met, her accused killer.

The autopsy showed she likely died the afternoon she vanished, long before an Amber Alert the next morning rallied hundreds of volunteers to search the South Parc apartment complex. Police issued the alert at 9:40 a.m. - over Murphy's own hesitation, he said - only after they eliminated the possibility that she was with a friend or relative, or that she was alone and injured in some kind of accident.

The advisory committee - made up law enforcement and media representatives, transportation officials and kidnapping victim advocates - said the wait was in accordance with the standards for issuing an Amber Alert, Murphy said.

"Everybody agreed the chief made the right decision at the time he made it. Before, there was not enough information to indicate it was a child abduction," Murphy said. "You don't want to issue an Amber Alert every time a 7-year-old kid is missing. . . . Based on their experience and statistics, they believed this was the only option. The detective looked at me and said, 'This girl has been abducted, she's in this area and we need to issue the Amber Alert.' "

Before the Amber Alert, Hser Ner Moo was listed under an endangered person alert, which "does the same thing as an Amber Alert, with fewer whistles and bells," Murphy said.

Law enforcement received an attempt-to-locate notification by 6:45 p.m. on March 31, but the message mislabeled Hser Ner Moo as an "endangered missing child," Murphy said. Media received the advisory at about 9:45 p.m., and the state's child abduction response team arrived at the scene at about 10:30 p.m.

However, Murphy acknowledged, the public response was "significantly greater" the next morning when road signs began flashing and broadcasters began to interrupt programming for Hser Ner Moo's Amber Alert.

"We're still trying to inform the public about the endangered person advisory," he said. "It hasn't captured the public's attention like the Amber Alert."

The state has issued about 35 endangered person advisories since it adopted the alert two years ago, Murphy said.

The search timeline

MARCH 31

2:15 p.m.: Hser Ner Moo was last seen by a neighbor

6:18 p.m.: A friend of the child's family notified police that she was missing

6:43 p.m.: An attempt-to-locate message was sent to all law enforcement

8:49 p.m.: Automatic phone calls were placed to the neighborhood around the South Parc apartments to notify them of the child's disappearance.

9:45 p.m.: A press release was distributed to news media

9:56 p.m.: The state's child abduction response team was dispatched.

10:30 p.m.: The team arrived at the apartment complex.

APRIL 1

1:55 a.m.: Another round of automatic phone calls went out to Hser Ner Moo's neighbors.

9:40 a.m.: Amber Alert issued via broadcast media

9:56 a.m.: Amber Alert issued to law enforcement

7 p.m.: Hser Ner Moo's body was found in the South Parc apartments