Rachael Runyan

In 2017, the Rachael Runyan Missing and Exploited Children's Day was signed into legislation in Utah. The purpose of the annual observance is to raise public awareness of missing and exploited children within the state; the annual awareness date is August 26, the date of Rachael's abduction. Runyan's abduction and murder remain unsolved.

The Rachael Runyan Missing and Exploited Children's Day was signed into legislation in Utah in March 2017. The stated aim of this annual observance is to encourage individuals in Utah to prioritize child safety. The bill was inspired by Rachael Runyan, and has been described as a "catalyst for the development of better responses to (child) abduction" within Utah. In instances where an AMBER Alert is implemented and the missing child is subsequently found safe and well, a "Rachael Runyan Award" is presented to the individual who either locates the missing child or initially alerted authorities to his or her abduction.

The Runyan family had moved to Sunset from Tennessee just before Rachael's birth; her mother would later recall she and her husband had believed Sunset—then a community of 6,000 inhabitants—would be a "wonderful and safe place" to raise their children. Rachael was a child beauty queen, having been crowned "Little Miss Sunset" the year before her murder. She has been described by her mother as a well-behaved child who, often being too young to participate in playground games with Justin and other children, was content to simply sit aside and suck her thumb watching the other children play. This habit had led to her mother occasionally teasing Rachael that she would become "bucktoothed" as an adult, to which Rachael would simply giggle. Despite the sense of security Jeff and Elaine Runyan felt within the community of Sunset, both parents repeatedly warned their children of the dangers of trusting anybody they did not know who attempted to lure them from their home or any safe environment.

In 2012, investigators announced that a prison inmate in Pennsylvania who had been a resident of Sunset in 1982 was under active investigation. Although no formal charges have been filed against this individual, he is considered a possible suspect in Rachael's abduction and murder. Another potential is a man with a criminal record who is believed to live in New Mexico. Sunset Police Chief Ken Eborn has said that evidence supports the potential guilt of this suspect exists, but it is insufficient for police to make a formal arrest. Furthermore, Eborn has said he is convinced that witnesses or individuals with knowledge of the man's guilt are reluctant to come forward to authorities—possibly because of death threats he has made against them.

Although Rachael's murder is an unsolved case, Lieutenant Phil Olmstead, who first answered Elaine Runyan's frantic call for assistance following her daughter's abduction, continually assured the Runyan family of the Sunset Police Department's determination to find Rachael's murderer or murderers. The investigation into her murder was officially reopened by the Sunset Police Department in 2007. Police continue working closely with the Utah Attorney General's office in their efforts to apprehend and convict the perpetrator(s). A reward of $58,000 is available should any information leading to the arrest and subsequent conviction of the person or persons responsible be provided to authorities.

DNA testing conducted on items found near Rachael's body in 2007 yielded tentative results, although they have not helped advance the investigation. Rachael's family has never given up hope her killer will be found.

Elaine Runyan-Simmons, mother of Rachael Runyan, reflecting on collective efforts to raise public awareness of child abduction and child safety both in Utah and nationwide, 2005.

One of Utah's most notorious cold cases, Rachael's murder ultimately proved a catalyst to establish the "Rachael Alert" child abduction alert system, which remained in use in the state of Utah until 2003, when the state adopted the national AMBER alert child abduction emergency alert system.

Regarding her ongoing commitment to the perpetuation and expansion of Utah's "Rachael Alert" child abduction alert system (which was subsumed under the nationwide AMBER alert system in 2003), Runyan-Simmons has said that being a voice in this field of advocacy is not a choice she would have made had Rachael not been abducted and murdered: the events of August and September 1982 left her with little choice in this matter. In 2013, Runyan-Simmons stated: "It's a legacy I leave for my daughter. If there was something in place like this [in 1982], maybe we'd still have her."

As a result of this abduction and murder, the state of Utah also formally implemented the "Rachael Alert" child abduction alert system in April 2002. It was designed to alert residents statewide of active child abduction and missing children cases. Once law enforcement personnel verified the authenticity of a child abduction case, a "Rachael Alert" form was faxed to all television and radio networks for immediate and high-priority statewide broadcast. The criteria to be met in these cases Included: the missing child was a minor or mentally handicapped; that they were in imminent danger; that the disappearance was not a runaway situation; and that law enforcement had a complete and accurate physical description of the missing child.

The "Rachael Alert" system was only used in the June 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart and the January 2003 abduction of 3-month-old Nicholas Triplett; both children were ultimately found alive. In the wake of Elizabeth Smart's subsequent safe recovery, 41 states implemented the AMBER Alert child abduction alert system. Utah replaced the "Rachael Alert" system with the AMBER Alert system in April 2003—primarily to conform with nationwide standards. The AMBER Alert system is now tested twice a year in Utah—on January 13 and on the anniversary of Rachael's abduction, August 26.

The abduction and murder of Rachael Runyan was a factor in the 1983 passage of the US Congressional Missing Children's Act, which mandated an allocation of additional resources for the investigation of ongoing missing children cases.

The murder of Rachael Runyan is an unsolved child murder which occurred in Sunset, Utah, on August 26, 1982, when a three-year-old girl was abducted from a playground and murdered by an unknown individual. Her body was found three weeks later in a creek bed in nearby Morgan County.

The family lived in a modest home adjacent to the Doxey Elementary School playground. A park the three children were fond of in which they regularly played, Mitchell Park, was also near their home. In the summer of 1982, Jeff and Elaine Runyan installed a gate in their backyard fence, so the family could easily access this playground.

In the late morning of August 26, 1982, Rachael Runyan and her five-year-old brother Justin asked their mother if they and their younger brother Nathan, aged 18 months, could play in the playground of Doxey Elementary School. Although Elaine Runyan had never allowed her children to play unsupervised anywhere outside the family home, because she was preparing lunch for her children when they made the request, and the school playground was just 15 feet (4.6 m) from her home, well within sight of her kitchen window, she agreed to it. Nonetheless, Runyan looked repeatedly out the kitchen window and conversed with her children as she prepared the meal.

The abduction and murder of Rachael Runyan proved to be a major factor in the October 1982 passage of a federal law allowing the parents of missing children access to a clearinghouse administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which would obtain and file records of the fingerprints and blood types of more than 300,000 Utah children.

Hopes for the identification of the perpetrator rest primarily on notable advances in forensic technology in the years since 1982. As a means to this end, investigators have not ruled out the possibility of exhuming Rachael's body to retrieve further forensic evidence.

Rachael Marie Runyan was born on June 23, 1979, in Weber County, Utah, the second child and only daughter of Jeff and Elaine Runyan. She had an older brother, Justin, and a younger brother, Nathan.

In May 2016, the park where Rachael was abducted was renamed Rachael Runyan Memorial Park. It was formally dedicated to Rachael's memory on August 26; a memorial stone bearing an image of the girl, a brief summary of her story, and the park's name stands within its grounds. The inscription on the stone reads: "In honor of Rachael Marie Runyan, June 23, 1979 - August 26, 1982. Abducted from Doxey Elementary Playground August 26, 1982."