Man and child found dead in Gainesville during search tied to Oklahoma AMBER Alert

Gainesville police are investigating the deaths of a man and a child found Oct. 14 by a department investigator who was searching in connection with an Oklahoma AMBER Alert, according to a police news release. The medical examiner had not yet positively identified either person, the department said.

The Texas Rangers are assisting, according to the release. It did not give a cause or manner of death or say when the two died.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol issued the alert on behalf of Norman police for Andres "Harry" Furley, 4. The alert stated that his father, Caleb Furley, did not show up for an exchange with the boy's mother and was wanted on a parental kidnapping warrant. It did not say where the exchange was supposed to happen.

Police also described an earlier call. Around 3 p.m. Oct. 12, the department got a report of suspicious contact involving a man and a child at a business in the 1500 block of North Grand Avenue. Police said an officer went right away and searched with the help of a drone but did not find them.

After officers learned of the AMBER Alert, an investigator reviewed the business's surveillance video. Police said the footage appeared to show the missing father and child walking away. The investigator then searched the surrounding area and found the bodies, according to the release.

Oklahoma notices say Andres was last seen in Norman at about 7 p.m. Oct. 11, and Norman police took a missing-person report the next day. The patrol put out an Endangered Missing Advisory on Oct. 13, saying an extensive search had not turned up the pair. The AMBER Alert came Oct. 14.

Under Oklahoma's guidelines, the two notices have different thresholds. For an AMBER Alert, police must reasonably believe a child was abducted and is in imminent danger of serious injury or death. The advisory covers endangered children whose cases fall short of that standard.

Texas sets its bar in a different place. For abductions by a parent or legal guardian, the state's published criteria require attempted murder or murder connected to the abduction, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The same DPS page says a 2023 change, made after 7-year-old Athena Strand was kidnapped and killed in Wise County in 2022, lets a local chief law-enforcement officer activate an alert in certain cases before every criterion has been verified.

The alert system started in North Texas, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The department says the program originated in Dallas-Fort Worth after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted and killed in Arlington in 1996. Last year Texas issued more AMBER Alerts than any other state, a bit more than a quarter of the national total, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Oklahoma issued one.

_Editor's note: Everyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law._