Amber Alert canceled after 8-year-old Calliope Godwin found safe
Calliope Godwin was found safe and Albuquerque police canceled the Amber Alert about 7 a.m. Monday after she was taken from a southeast Albuquerque apartment complex.
An Amber Alert for 8-year-old Calliope Godwin ended with relief in Bernalillo County after Albuquerque police found her safe and canceled the alert about 7 a.m. Monday. Police had been searching overnight after Calliope was reported taken from the Casa De Sierra Apartments near Central and San Pedro in southeast Albuquerque just after 10 p.m. Sunday.
Authorities said the person who took Calliope was her father, Cavon Godwin, who did not have custody. Police also said he suffers from schizophrenia, and they treated the case as a custody dispute rather than a stranger abduction. The alert described Calliope as wearing purple sweats with a Stitch image, with black hair and brown eyes, and it identified a black Mercedes sedan with a white license plate.
The speed of the response showed how New Mexico’s AMBER Alert system is designed to work. State law assigns the notification plan to New Mexico State Police, and the New Mexico Department of Public Safety says the agency should be notified immediately when an alert is needed. Federal AMBER Alert guidance says the program is meant to minimize potentially deadly delays, with clearly defined criteria so law enforcement can move fast when a child is believed to be in danger.
For parents and caregivers in Albuquerque, the case was a reminder that the first hours after a disappearance are critical. Albuquerque police list their Missing Persons Unit at 505-924-6000, and the department’s general police line is 505-242-COPS, or 505-242-2677, for anyone with information. In this case, the alert moved quickly through local systems and media before the child was found safe.
New Mexico has also used Amber Alerts in other Albuquerque child-custody cases in recent years, including a 10-year-old boy in April 2024 and another alert in December 2025 that ended after two children were found safe. For Bernalillo County families, the latest case underscored both the urgency of the alert system and the narrow window in which public help can make a difference.
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