Did a Wake County alert wake you up Monday night? It may not have been meant for you.
Wake County residents got a late-night surprise Monday when an emergency alert intended for Zebulon residents accidentally went to the entire county, officials said Tuesday.
The alert was sent about 11:30 p.m. to announce the arrest of Dustin Letchworth, 34, who was the subject of a nearly nine-hour manhunt near Zebulon on Monday.
Letchworth allegedly ran from a home before Wake County Sheriff’s Office deputies could arrest him on multiple charges, including attempted first-degree murder and human trafficking, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Officials had previously sent out two emergency alerts to advise residents to stay indoors and not approach Letchworth, who police believe was armed and dangerous, according to a Wake County news release. The first two alerts were sent to only Zebulon-area residents as intended, but the “all clear” message was sent to more recipients than intended, the release said.
What happened?
Normally, emergency alerts are sent to a targeted area using a geofence, but the geofence was not applied to Monday night’s “all clear” alert, officials said. The alert system then automatically sent the alert to the entire county as part of a failsafe mechanism to ensure county residents don’t miss out on “potentially lifesaving information,” according to the release.
Social media posts from Monday night and Tuesday morning criticized the accidental alert, with commenters claiming to be from Durham, Cary and Lee County alleging they had received it.
Some commenters also said they hadn’t received the initial two alerts warning of the manhunt, despite living in or near Zebulon.
A spokesperson for Wake County Emergency Management said Tuesday they didn’t know how many cellphones got the alert.
“Once we send the message to the federal system, it gets pushed to all wireless carriers,” the spokesperson said. “Wireless carriers are required to send it to all phones within the geofence; some carriers sometimes add a little to the geofence to ensure they meet the federal mandate.”
Because of that, people on the fringes of Wake County may have received the alert when it was accidentally sent to all county residents, she said.
Why was there a manhunt?
Letchworth’s charges are tied to a Dec. 30 assault, court records show. Letchworth and Daryl Maurice Holden, 57, of Wendell seriously injured a woman at a Wendell home, attacking her with a blunt metal object and a machete, according to arrest warrants. The pair are also accused of attempting to traffic the woman, the warrants state.
Holden was arrested Monday without issues, while Letchworth ultimately turned himself in to deputies on Judd Street in Zebulon at 11:10 p.m. Monday, the Sheriff’s Office said.
How will officials prevent another incident?
Officials are working with the emergency alert system vendor and FEMA to prevent further incidents, Wake County Director of Fire Services and Emergency Management Darrell Alford said in a news release.
“We recognize how alarming it can be to receive an emergency alert unexpectedly, especially late at night,” Alford said. “While our intention was to reassure the affected community that the suspect was no longer a danger, a system error caused the alert to reach a much broader audience than intended.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2025 at 12:24 PM.
