'Nobody knew to help us:' Grandmother of Prince McCree creates petition to help WI kids who don't qualify for Amber Alerts

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- It's been one month since 5-year-old Prince McCree was found dead inside of a Milwaukee dumpster.

And it's been one month of grieving and mourning for the family he leaves behind.

On Wednesday, Nov. 29, his grandmother spoke with media for the first time about her efforts to turn that pain into a way to help others, so that nobody else has to feel what they are going through.

"Nobody knew to help us," Jones said. "I was heartbroken."

She remembers her grandchild as a loving and caring little boy who "always wanted to make everybody happy."

Milwaukee police said McCree went missing from his multi-family home on Oct. 25. He was found a day later, bound and gagged inside of multiple trash bags.

A 27-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy have been charged with murder.

"This is for all the other children that may come up missing and their family needs help, and they cried at night, and they don't know where their child is," Jones said.

The helplessness she and relatives felt is why she decided to create a Change.org petition for what she calls the "Prince Alert."

"I tell everybody it's not for Prince, because Prince is gone. But it's for somebody else's child, somebody else's grandchild," Jones said. 

The petition currently has more than 1,000 signatures. If passed, the Prince Alert would cover all children who fall through the Amber Alert criteria's cracks.

To qualify, the child needs to be aged 17 or younger, in danger of serious bodily harm or death, and officials need to have enough information about the child, suspect, or suspect's vehicle to believe an Amber Alert would help, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice's website.

Jones said her grandson didn't meet those requirements. Instead, Milwaukee police issued a "critically missing alert."

The major difference between the two?

A critical missing alert is not broadcasted to everyone's smartphones, and only appears on the television and radio. 

"I'm trying to get the Prince Alert so that if another child comes up missing, it can go across our phones, because we know everybody got a phone in their hand," Jones said. "I haven't come up with a criterion, because I don't think it should be one. I think that if a child is missing, the world should be notified."

The state DOJ declined to answer why an Amber Alert wasn't issued, instead sending CBS 58 this statement: 

Because this is an ongoing investigation, Wisconsin DOJ is not releasing law enforcement sensitive information.

Milwaukee police said, "he did not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert that is established by the DOJ."

DOJ officials said there have been 60 Amber Alerts issued in Wisconsin since the program was implemented in 2003.

In more than 50% of those cases, officials said the alert itself played a role in the missing child's recovery.

"I don't know how long this might take but I'm willing to go all the way in," Jones said.

To view the petition, click here.