CLEVELAND — The National Crime Information Center received reports for more than 337,000 missing children in 2022, according to the FBI.

In the most serious cases of child abduction, law enforcement officers can activate Amber Alerts to ask the public’s help in bringing an endangered child home.

Most are found within hours, but in the case of Keshaun Williams, 15, loved ones are still praying for his safe return more than three months after the initial Amber Alert.

Hearing about the missing Cleveland teen hit close to home for Denise Galloway.

“Because this could be my grandson,” she said, while canvassing the Slavic Village area near where Williams was last seen.

Volunteers distributed flyers in hopes of driving in some more leads for Cleveland Police Det. Ryan Corrigan.

“You see that it looks run down and a lot of vacant houses, but in between all these houses there’s good citizens and good people that still care and want this boy to come home safe,” he said.

Williams was last seen June 17 at a party. Corrigan said the teen called his aunt late that night and that’s the last outgoing call or text made from his phone.

“He called her crying," Corrigan said. "She said, 'Hey, it’s OK, just come home.' He said he didn’t want to come home yet.”

Corrigan said some of Williams' friends reported seeing him a few days later beaten up in the back of a vehicle at a gas station a few blocks away. That prompted officers to issue an Amber Alert.

For a missing child case to quality as an Amber Alert, there are some strict guidelines. There has to be credible information suggesting the child under 18 was forcibly or intentionally taken or lured away, and the law enforcement agency has to believe the child is in serious danger. There also has to be enough of a description of the child and/or their alleged abductor and their vehicle to share with the public to help find them.

“We don’t want the public to get immune to these things and shut them off on their phones,” Newburgh Heights Police Chief John Majoy said.

Majoy is chairman of the Northeast Ohio Amber Alert Committee and helped streamline the reporting process for the nine participating counties.

“We want agencies to be 100% certain, when they ring the bell, calling all cars, this is an Amber Alert and we need your help,” he said.

He said Williams is the first case taking more than 24 hours to resolve in the area since he took over as committee chair in 2014. During that time, about three dozen abducted children in northeast Ohio were safely brought home through the help of Amber Alerts.

“When a person’s abducted or a child’s life is in danger, minutes are hours, and hours are days and weeks,” Majoy said.

He said there are fewer than 900,000 law enforcement officers across the country, which makes the public the biggest resource in finding an endangered child.

“We can reach 1.2 million people in about 20 minutes,” he said, once an Amber Alert is issued. “Which is an amazing statistic.”

In addition to blasting the information out by phone notifications and on radio and television, police use tools like license plate cameras and also get the details in front of drivers on digital billboards.

“I’ve seen the trauma that families and individuals face and, you know, I just want to help,” Majoy said.

Alona Miles, Williams' grandmother, is thankful for that show of support.

“I feel like someone is holding him against his will, and I pray to God one day they just release him,” she said. “I don’t know why they would take him, but for whatever reason, I hope they let him go.”

A recent donation raised the reward amount to $10,000 for information leading to the safe recovery of Williams. Contact Cleveland Police with any information.