The Brief

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Twenty-five years ago, on September 11, exactly one year before the 9/11 attacks, Leah Hackett told police she tucked her 8-year-old son Zachary Bernhardt into bed, went for a middle-of-the-night swim in the community pool and returned to an empty apartment, sparking Florida’s longest-running Amber Alert.

The backstory:

On September 11, 2000, Zachary’s mother, Leah Hackett, called police at 4:47 a.m. to report that her son had disappeared from the Savannah Trace Apartments.

Hackett told police she went for a walk and took a dip in the community pool while Zachary was in bed and when she returned to their apartment, he was gone.

Twenty-five years later, Zachary is still missing.

"It’s still as devastating as it was the day it happened," said Billie Jo Ji

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