Ebony Alert issued for Tiburon girl, 12, reported missing
Updated: May 25
A 12-year-old Tiburon girl has been reported missing, last seen in town about 7 a.m. May 21 and believed to be on foot.
Emerald Symphony Walker is listed as Black with brown eyes and black wavy hair with a blond streak in it. She is 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds and was last seen wearing a black tank top and hoodie, black pants and a black backpack.
Walker was reported missing by her mother about 7 p.m.. The California Highway Patrol activated an Ebony Alert on behalf of the Tiburon Police Department just before 9 p.m., and Tiburon police posted the alert bulletin on its Instagram page. The department also put out a statewide alert to other California police agencies.
Police spokeswoman Laurie Nilsen said May 22 that officers quickly spoke to Walker’s friends the prior night after receiving the report from her mother. She said they then spoke with Walker on the phone, and she reportedly said she was not in Tiburon, had left earlier in the day and would likely come home in the morning.
When Walker remained missing early May 22, Nilsen said, Tiburon police posted the Ebony Alert bulletin on Nextdoor about 10:30 a.m. and followed it about 11:15 a.m. with an emergency alert on Nextdoor and a Nixle alert to registered cell phones and email addresses in the 94920 ZIP code.
Amber Alerts are not issued unless there’s a reasonable belief an abduction has occurred or the child is in imminent danger of serious injury or death, among other criteria.
Nilsen said the officers believed it would not be effective to put out the Nixle alert the night of May 21, given that she was presumed to not be on the peninsula and that most residents would be home at that hour. She said it’s more effective to put out such alerts, as well as those on social media, when people are out of their homes during the day and may spot her.
“I see people conversing on (Nextdoor), and it makes me hopeful that somebody is going to see her soon.”
Nilsen said that officers are actively working to locate Walker through friends and other technologies.
Anyone with information should call 911.
Ebony Alerts were created in California effective Jan. 1 and are similar to others for specific individuals — including Feather Alerts for missing indigenous peoples and Silver Alerts for older adults — who don’t fit the criteria for an Amber Alert. The goal is to bring more attention and resources to missing Black youth ages 12-25. Black children made up some 40% of missing youth in 2022 despite the Black population making up about 12.5% of people living in the U.S.
Reach Belvedere, Strawberry and public-safety reporter Naomi Friedland at 415-944-4627.
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