Amber Alert issued for 10-year-old Wendy missing in Rotterdam; Child now found
Updated at 10:45 to add that the child has been found.
The Rotterdam police issued an Amber Alert for 10-year-old Wendy on Saturday after she failed to reach her parents’ shop on her usual route, authorities said. Police reported that they were treating the case as “serious” and were considering the possibility the girl was abducted.
Police reported at around 10 a.m. that the girl had been found and was being checked by paramedics as a precaution. It was not immediately clear if a criminal investigation was still underway.
Wendy was last seen around 1 p.m. on Saturday, leaving her home on Paul Krugerstraat to walk to her parents’ shop on Hilledijk, police said. She never arrived at the store.
“Our concerns are so great because the girl does not have a phone that we could use to reach her,” Anna Wolff from the Rotterdam police told Hart van Nederland. “The family was home, and she was going to her parents’ store and never arrived. So it is, of course, a strange situation.”
Police searched in Rotterdam and the surrounding areas. “Abduction is one of the scenarios we are seriously considering,” Wolff said. “She was walking a route she takes daily and did not arrive at her destination. It is currently very cold, and the missing child is a 10-year-old girl. Where would she be?”
Wendy comes from a loving family, and both they and the police are extremely concerned, Wolff said. Police urged anyone who sees Wendy to call 112 immediately or provide information via the tip line at 0800-6070.
The girl has a dark complexion, black dreadlocks, is about 1.3 meters tall, is of "normal build," and was wearing a black jacket, purple hoodie, black pants, and black-and-brown boots. Wendy speaks limited Dutch but is fluent in English, police said.
In the Netherlands, authorities only issue Amber Alerts when they believe a missing child is in immediate danger. Since the system began in 2008, it is typically activated at a national level only a few times per year, with regional alerts occurring six to eight times annually.
“The Amber Alert is a powerful tool that engages the entire nation in searching for a missing child in imminent danger,” police said in March 2025 when two siblings disappeared in Dalfsen and were later found. The most recent national alert prior to Wendy’s disappearance was issued in May 2025 for two children, Jeffrey and Emma, who were abducted and killed by their father.
