Three-year-old Naomi Primos was safely returned to her mother's home Wednesday, just hours after Indiana State Police issued an Amber Alert.

The Gary girl is among 42 children named in alerts who have been located alive since Indiana's program began in 2002, a Times analysis of Indiana State Police data shows. The children have been found as far away as California or Mexico.

While Gary police Cpl. Gabrielle King credited "good old-fashioned police work" for locating Naomi Primos, she said the Amber Alert system helped disseminate information.

"It's a definite asset to law enforcement," King said. "It gets the word out and gets the word out fast."

Three Indiana children -- a 10-year-old boy from Crothersville, a 4-year-old from Terre Haute and a 16-year-old girl from Cass County -- were found dead after their Amber Alerts were issued, data shows.

At least 27 other children were either returned or located before an alert was activated, state police records show. Another 37 incidents did not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert, a Times analysis shows.

Indiana State Police have issued 31 Amber Alerts since the program's inception in 2002.

The Amber Alert issued for Naomi is only the third alert ever issued for a Northwest Indiana child and the region's first since 2003, according to state records.

Schererville police initiated the area's first Amber Alert on March 16, 2003, after a witness reported a man had a young girl and boy in the trunk of his Toyota. The children were located at their home, and police determined no abduction had occurred.

Lake Station police issued the second local Amber Alert two months later to find a 15-year-old girl who disappeared with Lamar Shaw, then 40, of Gary. The girl was located by police after a traffic stop and was returned to her family.

Shaw was later charged with rape, criminal deviate conduct, sexual misconduct with a minor and confinement. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to felony rape for that case and another rape case. He was sentenced to a combined 30 years in prison, Lake Criminal Court records show.

Criteria for issuing an Amber Alert

1. The person must be younger than 18.

2. The child must be believed to be abducted and in danger of serious bodily harm or death.

3. There must be enough descriptive information, such as description of the suspect, to believe the alert will help.

4. Request must be recommended by the law enforcement agency of jurisdiction.