List of kidnappings

This is a list of kidnappings.

Famous kidnappings

Before 1900

Date Victim(s) Abductor(s) Location Age of victim(s) Outcome Notes
1754 The Johnson family Abenaki New Hampshire Age of the adults unknown, children ranged from 2 to 14. Released The Johnson family lived on a settlement in New Hampshire called No. 4. The members of the family who were kidnapped were Captain James Johnson and his wife Susannah, Susannah's 14-year-old sister, Miriam Willard, and James and Susannah's three children, 6-year-old Sylvanus, 4-year-old Susannah, and 2-year-old Mary "Polly." Susannah was also pregnant with a fourth child, who would be born during captivity. The family was originally kept in an Abenaki village, but most were sold to the French and moved to Montreal after a few months, with the exception of Sylvanus, who was adopted by the Abenaki. James was given two months to pay his family's ransom, but he did not return to Montreal in time and Susannah and her two youngest daughters were imprisoned, along with James when he arrived. Susannah gave birth in prison to her second son and fifth child, as well as her second to be born in captivity, but he died soon after birth.

After a year in prison, the three female Johnsons, and Miriam, who was not imprisoned with them, were all sent to England, leaving behind young Susannah in the care of three French women. James was killed in battle before seeing his wife and children again. Sylvanus was ransomed and sent back to his family at age 11, unable to speak any English. Young Susannah was sent back to her family at age 10 when the French surrendered Montreal to the British. Susannah Willard Johnson eventually remarried and wrote a book, A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Johnson, about her family's kidnapping.

1758 Mary Jemison Seneca warriors Adams County, Pennsylvania 12 Stayed with abductors Jemison, a White child, was taken from her family by Seneca warriors. The only one not massacred in her family Jemison was adopted into the Seneca tribe and lived the remainder of her life with them.
19 May 1836 Cynthia Ann Parker Comanches Fort Parker, Texas, US 9 Stayed with abductors Parker, a Caucasian child, was taken from her family by Comanches raiding their home in Fort Parker, Texas. She lived for 24 years among the Comanche and married a war chief, Peta Nocona. She gave birth to three children, including the last war chief of the Comanche, Quanah Parker.
23 June 1858 Edgardo Mortara Police, ordered by Pope Pius IX Bologna, Italy 6 Stayed with abductors Mortara, a Jewish child, was taken from his family by Pope Pius IX because a housekeeper had secretly baptized him. The child was never returned to his parents notwithstanding the humanitarian pleas of President Ulysses S. Grant, Emperor Franz Josef, and Napoleon III. At age 18 he became an Augustinian priest, taking the name Pius.
16 March 1860 Larcena Pennington and Mercedes Sais Quiroz Apaches Canoa Ranch, Arizona, US 23 (Pennington)
10 (Quiroz)		 Released (Pennington)
Released/rescued (Quiroz)		 Pennington and her student Mercedes Sais Quiroz were abducted by Apaches. Later on in the day Pennington was left for dead in the wilderness. Quiroz was freed in exchange for Apache prisoners.
1 July 1874 Charles Brewster Ross Bill Mosher and Joe Douglas Germantown, Pennsylvania, US 4 Unknown Charley Ross was the first American to be kidnapped for ransom who received wide public attention. He and his brother, Walter, were taken by two men from their house under the pretense of buying fireworks. Walter was sent to a fireworks shop, during which time the men left with his brother. He was quickly found, but did not know where Charley was. The primary suspects were killed before they could be proved to be the kidnappers and Charley was never found.

1900–1949

Date Victim(s) Abductor(s) Location Age of victim(s) Outcome Notes
18 May 1904 Ion Perdicaris and Cromwell Varley Bandits sent by Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli Tangier, Morocco 64 (Perdicaris) Released Perdicaris and his stepson Cromwell Varley were kidnapped by Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli causing US Secretary of State John Hay to declare "This government wants Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead." The two men were released alive when ransom demands were paid.
8 April 1911 Elsie Paroubek Unknown Chicago, Illinois, US 5 Murdered Paroubek was a Czech-American girl who disappeared while walking alone to her aunt's house (around the corner from where Elsie lived) in Chicago. Her body was found a month later in a drainage ditch. Several people, including Elsie's father and the police in charge of the investigation, believed gypsies (who had several camps in the area at the time) were involved.
23 August 1912 Bobby Dunbar Unknown St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, US 4 Unknown Bobby Dunbar was a child who disappeared near Swayze Lake. After an eight-month nationwide search, investigators found a child, claimed by Bobby's parents as their son, in the hands of William Cantwell Walters of Mississippi, who was convicted of kidnapping. Walters told the police the boy was given to him by his mother, and his name was Charles Bruce Anderson. Julia Anderson, Bruce's mother backed him up. In 2004, further investigation by "Dunbar's" granddaughter led to conclusive DNA proof that the child in Walters' custody was not the Dunbars' son and that the Walters had been wrongfully convicted, meaning the boy was, in fact, Charles Bruce Anderson.
15 December 1927 Marion Parker William Hickman Los Angeles, California, US 12 Murdered Parker, the daughter of a Los Angeles banker, was kidnapped and killed by William Hickman. A few days after being paid a small ransom, Hickman was arrested and tried. On 19 October 1928, Hickman was executed for his crime.
1 March 1932 Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. Bruno Richard Hauptmann East Amwell Township, New Jersey, US 1 Murdered Charles was the son of famous American aviator, Charles Lindbergh. Dubbed "The Crime of the Century", on 1 March, the child was 20 months old when he was taken from his crib in his home. After a ransom negotiations were unsuccessful, the child's remains were found by a passing truck driver on 12 May. Hauptmann was convicted of the crime on 13 February 1935, and was sentenced to death, and was electrocuted on 3 April 1936. Congress passed the "Lindbergh Law", formally known as "The Federal Kidnapping Act of 1932", on 13 June 1932. The law was created to allow federal authorities step in and pursue kidnappers once they had crossed state lines with their victim.
15 May 1930 Mary Agnes Moroney Unknown Chicago, Illinois, US 2 Unknown Moroney was taken from her home by a woman who identified herself as "Julia Otis" and claimed to have been sent by a social worker. Her kidnapping is the oldest unsolved case of this nature in the files of the Chicago Missing Persons Bureau.
27 May 1933 Mary McElroy George McGee, Walter McGee, Clarence Click, and Clarence Stevens Kansas City, Missouri, US 25 Released McElroy, the daughter of City Manager Henry McElroy of Kansas City, was kidnapped and held for ransom. She was released unharmed after the ransom was paid and the four kidnappers were later apprehended and given life sentences.
9 November 1933 Brooke Hart Thomas Harold Thurmond and John M. Holmes San Jose, California, US 22 Murdered Hart, the son of a San Jose, California businessman, was kidnapped and murdered thereafter. His kidnappers were lynched by a mob.
25 April 1934 June Robles Unknown Tucson, Arizona, US 6 Released/rescued Robles was abducted and held for ransom. After negotiations between her parents and her captors, Robles was found unharmed on a highway after nineteen days in captivity. Only one arrest was made in connection with her abduction.
12 December 1936 Chiang Kai-shek Zhang Xueliang Xi'an, China 49 Released Chiang Kai-shek, Leader of China, was kidnapped by a warlord in an affair known as the Xi'an Incident.
27 December 1936 Charles Mattson Unknown Tacoma, Washington, US 10 Murdered Mattson was abducted from his home and held for $28,000. He was found dead in January, 1937.
22 September 1937 Yevgeny Miller Nikolai Skoblin and NKVD officers Paris, France 69 Murdered Miller, an anti-bolshevik Russian general was kidnapped by NKVD agents. The NKVD successfully smuggled General Miller back to Moscow, Russia where he was tortured and subsequently shot nineteen months later, in 1939.

1950–1979

Date Victim(s) Abductor(s) Location Age of victim(s) Outcome Notes
1950- South Koreans abducted by North Koreans Agents and soldiers South Korea Approximately 84,532 South Koreans were taken to North Korea during the Korean War. Since the war ended in 1953, about 3,800 people have been abducted.
28 September 1953 Robert "Bobby" Cosgrove Greenlease, Jr. Bonnie Heady and Carl A. Hall Kansas City, Missouri, US 6 Murdered Greenlease was kidnapped and immediately murdered. The murderers demanded and were paid a $600,000 ransom by the boy's father, a wealthy automobile dealer. Notable in the case was that more than half of the ransom money was stolen by a corrupt police officer and never recovered.
4 July 1956 Peter Weinberger Angelo LaMarca Westbury, New York, US 1 month Died LaMarca took the baby from his home for a $2,000 ransom. LaMarca told investigators he went to the first drop site the day after the kidnapping – with the baby in the car – but he was scared away by all of the press and police in the area. He drove away, abandoned the baby alive in some heavy brush just off a highway exit, and went home. A search of the area by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and Nassau County Police Department ensued. An FBI agent spotted a diaper pin – then the decomposed remains of Peter Weinberger. The Weinberger case also resulted in new legislation – signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower — which reduced the FBI's waiting period in kidnapping cases from 7 days to 24 hours. LaMarca was executed in the electric chair on 7 August 1958.
7 July 1960 Graeme Thorne Stephen Leslie Bradley New South Wales, Australia 8 Murdered Graeme's parents, Basil and Freda Thorne, won the £100,000 Opera House Lottery (at that time, the names of winners were published). Five weeks later Stephen Leslie Bradley abducted Graeme and demanded a ransom. Thorne was killed and dumped, the partially decomposed body being discovered on 16 August. The case led to tighter rules about the publication of the names of lottery winners.
25 August 1969 Rosemary Calandriello Robert Zarinsky Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, United States 17 Murdered A girl believed to be kidnapped and murdered by Zarinsky, who was later convicted of her murder, despite her body has never been located.
31 October 1969 Pamela Hobley and Patricia Spencer Unknown Oscoda, Michigan, United States 15, 16 Unknown Two teenage girls believed to have been kidnapped prior to a scheduled party after a football game. Both are presumed dead.
29 December 1969 Muriel McKay Arthur Hosein and Nizamodeen Hosein Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom 55 Unknown (presumed murdered) Trinidadian brothers Arthur & Nizamodeen Hosein attempted to kidnap Anna Murdoch, the then-wife of tycoon Rupert Murdoch for a £1 million ransom, but abducted the wife of Murdoch’s deputy chairman, Alick McKay, instead. During the investigation, many attempts were made to find the victim - family friends even consulted the psychic Gerard Croiset to help - but the body of Mrs McKay was never found. In early 1970 the Hosein brothers were caught and convicted of kidnap and murder, the first case in British history of a murder conviction without a body.
1970s–1980s Japanese abducted by North Koreans Government agents Japan 17 Japanese people are officially recognized as having been abducted but there are up to hundreds of possible cases.
5 October 1970 James Cross and Pierre Laporte Front de libération du Québec militants Quebec, Canada 49 Released (Cross)
Murdered (Laporte)		 Cross was a British diplomat and Laporte was Quebec provincial politician. Their kidnappings set off the 1970 October Crisis. Cross was released in exchange for passage of his abductors to Cuba.
1972–1985 "The Disappeared" IRA and INLA Northern Ireland Murdered Seamus Wright, Kevin McKee, Jean McConville, Joseph Lynskey, Peter Wilson, Eamon Molloy, Columba McVeigh, Brendan McGraw, John McClory, Brian McKinney, Danny McIlhone, Gerard Evans, Charlie Armstrong and Seamus Ruddy were a group of both civilians and Irish republican volunteers who were kidnapped, possibly tortured, and murdered by the IRA and INLA during Northern Ireland's "Troubles" for being alleged spies, informants, thieves, etc. Their bodies were not recovered until 8 of the corpses or remains were eventually located and returned to their families for burial. Another man who disappeared during this time was Robert Nairac, a British SAS officer whose identity was uncovered.
4 December 1972 Steven Stayner Kenneth Parnell and Ervin Edward Murphy Merced, California, US 7 Escaped Stayner was kidnapped on his way home from school. He was raised as Parnell's son for 7 years until Parnell abducted another child, Timmy White, in 1980. The two boys escaped on 1 March 1980. At the time of Steven's return, it was the longest known kidnapping in America that ended in a safe return.
16 January 1973 Anna Christian Waters Unknown Half Moon Bay, California, US 5 Unknown Waters disappeared from her backyard; presumed abducted by her father but never found.
27 January 1973 Dawn Lee Swan Magyar Jerald Wingeart Owosso, Michigan 20 Murdered Magyar was abducted while grocery shopping. Her body was later found. She was raped and shot multiple times and her murder remained unsolved until 2001.
27 December 1973 Thomas Niedermayer Provisional IRA Belfast, Northern Ireland 45 Murdered Niedermayer was a German national and the manager of a Grundig factory in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He died shortly after being abducted by the IRA from his home in Belfast and his remains were eventually found, buried in an embankment near Belfast, on 11 March 1980.
1975 Suzanne Marie Sevakig Franklin Delano Floyd North Carolina 5 Raised by kidnapper, later murdered A woman going by the name of Sharon Marshall was murdered in 1990 in her early 20s. It was discovered following her death that her husband, who was much older, actually raised her from an early age. DNA testing determined they were not biological relatives. He gave inconsistent stories regarding how she came to be in his custody. Floyd is the prime suspect in the death of Marshall. Marshall's true identity remained a mystery until 2014, when DNA testing confirmed that Sharon Marshall was Suzanne Marie Sevakig. Floyd was married to Sevakig's mother when she was sentenced to 30 days in jail for a minor crime. He was left to care for her four children while she was incarcerated. After she was released, she found that the children and Floyd had disappeared. She found two children in the care of the local social services where he left them, but Suzanne and her younger brother were never found and the boy's fate remains unknown. The mother attempted to file kidnapping charges but the local police declined, telling her that the child's stepfather had parental rights over the children.[1]
4 February 1974 Patty Hearst Symbionese Liberation Army Berkeley, California, US 19 Stayed with abductors until arrested Hearst, an heiress to the Hearst Corporation mass media fortune, was kidnapped from her apartment by a left-wing guerilla group. She announced her allegiance to the group in April 1974, and on 15 April 1974 took part in a bank robbery. She is thought to have been a victim of Stockholm Syndrome.[2] Captured by the FBI in September 1975, Hearst was sentenced to 35 years in prison for bank robbery. She served 22 months and was released from prison on 1 February 1979. President Bill Clinton granted her a full pardon on 20 January 2001.
14 January 1975 Lesley Whittle Donald Neilson Highley, England 17 Murdered Whittle was an heiress kidnapped from her home by Neilson, also known as the "Black Panther". Whittle's body was later found on 7 March 1975 hanging from a wire in a drain shaft in Bathpool Park, Staffordshire. Neilson was captured and convicted, and died in December 2011 while serving life in prison.[3]
27 February 1975 Peter Lorenz Movement 2 June West Berlin, Germany 52 Released Lorenz, German conservative politician and candidate for the mayor of West-Berlin, was kidnapped only days before the elections. Lorenz was released unharmed after a week in exchange for five imprisoned leftist extremists, who were flown out to South Yemen. He won the majority of the votes while in captivity.
25 March 1975 Katherine and Sheila Lyon Unknown Wheaton, Maryland Katherine-10, Sheila-12 Unknown The Lyon sisters were at Wheaton Plaza mall together not far from their home when they disappeared without a trace. Their brother and other people they knew had seen them eating at a restaurant in the mall, and one boy said he saw them speaking to an unknown man and talking into a recorder he was carrying. Another man who would later be convicted of rape was seen paying attention the sisters. They were never found.
19 May 1977 Colleen Stan Cameron Hooker Red Bluff, California, US 20 Escaped Stan was kidnapped by Hooker while hitchhiking. She was tortured and sexually abused over 7 years until Hooker's wife, Janice, helped her escape in 1984.
12 June 1977 Oklahoma girl scout murders Unknown Mayes County, Oklahoma, US 8-10 Murdered The Oklahoma Girl Scout murders is an unresolved crime that occurred at Camp Scott. The victims were three Girl Scouts, who were raped and murdered and their bodies left in the woods near their tent at summer camp. Although the case was classified as "solved" when Gene Leroy Hart, a local jail escapee with a history of violence was arrested, and stood trial for the crime, he was acquitted. 30 years later authorities conducted new DNA testing, but the results of these proved inconclusive, as the samples were too old.
5 September 1977 Hanns-Martin Schleyer Brigitte Mohnhaupt and the Red Army Faction Cologne, Germany 62 Murdered Schleyer, a German manager, was kidnapped by the extreme-left militant organisation Red Army Faction, carried out by Mohnhaupt. He was hidden in a high-rise in Erftstadt. After the imprisoned RAF members were found dead in their prison cells in Stammheim Prison, he was killed on 18 October 1977. His body was found in a car in Mulhouse.
16 March 1978 Aldo Moro Red Brigades Rome, Italy 61 Murdered Moro, former Italian Prime Minister, was captured by a Marxist-Leninist urban guerilla organization and killed almost two months later.
25 April 1978 Lee Kim Lai Ong Chin Hock, Yeo Ching Boon and Ong Hwee Kuan Mount Vernon, Singapore 18 Murdered Kim Lai was a police officer who was kidnapped from a sentry post and killed for his gun.
1979-1980 (exact date unknown) Eklutna Annie Robert Hansen Anchorage, Alaska Between 16 and 25 Murdered An unidentified female kidnapped by a serial killer. She was described as either a prostitute or a topless dancer that attempted to escape from a vehicle after she was abducted. The victim was then stabbed in the back and was buried in Eklutna, Alaska and was found on July 21, 1980, between a month and a year after death.
25 May 1979 Etan Patz Unknown New York City, US 6 Unknown (declared legally dead) Etan walked to the school bus stop by himself, but did not arrive at school. The search for him brought attention to child abduction in the United States and he was the first missing person to be pictured on a milk carton. The anniversary of his disappearance is International Missing Children's Day. Pedro Hernandez was charged with Etan's murder, but his 2015 trial ended in a hung jury.

1980–1989

Date Victim(s) Abductor(s) Location Age of victim(s) Outcome Notes
14 February 1980 Timmy White Kenneth Parnell Ukiah, California, US 5 Escaped/rescued White was abducted by Parnell who had previously abducted Steven Stayner 7 years earlier. Stayner helped White escape on 1 March 1980.
13 June 1980 Tiffany Papesh Brandon Flagner Maple Heights, Ohio, United States 8 Murdered A girl kidnapped while shopping alone for a family member. Flagner was convicted of her murder, despite her body was never found and he eventually recanted his confession. His conviction has yet to be overturned.[4][5]
3 December 1980 Patsy Gaisior Robert Ruff, Frank Johnson Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States 31 Murdered The body of the victim was never recovered, yet two suspects were convicted.[6]
1981 Bryon Anthony "Bizzy Bone" McCane II Byron McCane Columbus, Ohio, US 5 Rescued McCane was kidnapped by his stepfather and was led to believe that his grandmother and mother were dead. He didn't reunite with his mother until a neighbor from the reservation in Oklahoma where he was living recognized his picture from a photo shown at the end of the 1983 movie, Adam. McCane later grew up to become a famous rap artist.
Between 1981 and 1983 Newton County John Does Larry Eyler Lake Village, Indiana Between 15 and 23 Murdered Two unidentified teenagers or young adults murdered by a serial killer in the early 1980s.
27 July 1981 Adam Walsh Ottis Toole Hollywood, Florida, US 6 Murdered Walsh was abducted from a Sears department store at the Hollywood Mall and was later found murdered. His father, John Walsh, later became the host of America's Most Wanted.
29 October 1981 Tina Harmon Robert Anthony Buell Lodi, Ohio 12 Murdered Subject was abducted while away from her home in Creston, Ohio. She was found raped and strangled five days later. Her murder remained unsolved until 2011 when DNA from the scene was matched to Robert Buell. It is unknown if Buell was the only person involved in her murder.
17 December 1981 James Lee Dozier Red Brigades Verona, Italy 50 Rescued Dozier was a US general working for NATO in Italy. He and his wife were kidnapped by a Marxist terrorist group and freed by a NOCS commando on 28 January 1982.
18 December 1981 Nina von Gallwitz Unknown Cologne, Germany 8 Released von Gallwitz was kidnapped on her way to school. Her parents paid a ransom of 1.5 million German marks and she was freed on 15 May 1982 at a rest area called Ohligser Heide, after 149 days.
17 July 1982 Krista Harrison Robert Anthony Buell Marshallville, Ohio 11 Murdered Victim abducted with a van at a park near her home. She was found six days later. Buell was convicted in 1984.
c. 23 February 1983 St. Louis Jane Doe Unknown St. Louis, Missouri Between 8 and 11 Murdered The decapitated body of a girl was found on February 28, 1983. The child had been bound, raped and strangled. Her murder remains unsolved and her body has never been identified.
6 July 1983 Tammy Lynn Leppert Unknown Rockledge, Florida, US 18 Unknown Leppert was a former child actress and model who disappeared in unknown circumstances.
1 June 1984 Mark Tildesley Sidney Cooke Wokingham, Berkshire, England 7 Murdered Tildesley disappeared while visiting a funfair in Wokingham, Berkshire, during the evening. He was lured away from the fair and his bicycle was found chained to railings nearby.[7] In 1990 it emerged that Mark had been abducted, drugged, tortured, raped and murdered by a London-based paedophile gang on the night he disappeared.[7][8]
19 July 1984 Edith Rosenkranz Glenn I Wright and Dennis Moss Washington, D.C., US Released Edith, wife of Dr. George Rosenkranz, a wealthy Mexico City businessman, was kidnapped at gunpoint from the Washington-Sheraton Hotel during an American Contract Bridge League national tournament. She was returned unharmed two days later after her husband paid a ransom of USD $1,000,000. The ransom money was later recovered and the two kidnappers were later convicted and sentenced, as was a third defendant, Orland D. Tolden.[9]
29 August 1984 Elisabeth Fritzl Josef Fritzl Amstetten, Austria 18 Released Elisabeth was held captive in a concealed corridor part of the basement area of the large family house by her father, Josef Fritzl, who physically assaulted, sexually abused, and raped her numerous times during her imprisonment. The abuse resulted in the birth of seven children and one miscarriage; one child died shortly after birth, three children joined their mother in captivity, and three were raised by Josef and his wife Rosemarie and reported to authorities as foundlings. Elisabeth and her three captive children were released by Josef in 2008 when one child became seriously ill. Fritzl was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009 for charges of murder by negligence of his infant son/grandson, as well as the enslavement, incest, rape, coercion and false imprisonment of Elisabeth.
19 January 1985 Toni Jean Gibbs Faryion Wardrip Wichita, Texas 23 Murdered Gibbs was a nurse that was abducted after completing her shift at a hospital. She was kidnapped and her abandoned car was found soon after. Gibbs' body was found a month later. Faryion Wardrip was convicted of her murder in 1999.
7 February 1985 Enrique Camarena Unknown La Angostura, Mexico 37 Murdered Camarena, a Mexican American DEA official, was abducted by drug lords and tortured. He was found dead on 5 March 1985.
20 September 1985 Ellen Blau Faryion Wardrip Wichita Falls, Texas, United States 21 Murdered Blau was abducted after working as a waitress. Faryion Wardrip was convicted of her murder in 1999.
9 October 1985 Sarah Pryor Unknown Wayland, Massachusetts, US 9 Murdered Pryor disappeared while walking through her neighbourhood. Her fate was unknown until 1998 when DNA tests proved that skull fragments discovered in a wood belonged to her. Her killer was never identified.[10][11]
9 November 1985 Alexander Olive Ulysses Roberson South Lake Tahoe, California, United States 4 Murdered The subject's body was never found but his father was convicted of his abduction and murder.
6 April 1986 Anthonette Cayedito Unknown Gallup, New Mexico, United States 9 Unknown Cayedito was kidnapped from her home. She was profiled on Unsolved Mysteries a few years after her disappearance. It is believed that she phoned 911 a year after her kidnapping in a desperate attempt to be rescued. She may have also been seen by a waitress in Las Vegas a few years later. The girl has never been located.
24 May 1986 Michelle Dorr Hadden Clark Silver Spring, Maryland, United States 6 Murdered A girl kidnapped while playing outside her home.
30 September 1986 Mordechai Vanunu Mossad Rome, Italy 31 Released Vanunu, an Israeli nuclear whistleblower, was lured to Italy from London,[12] where he was abducted by Mossad and brought back to Israel, where he was convicted of treason and espionage. He served 18 years in prison, eleven of which were in solitary confinement.
4 August 1987 Carlina White Annugetta "Ann" Pettway New York City, US 19 days Escaped White was taken from Harlem Hospital Center as an infant and raised by Pettway. She was reunited with her family in January 2011, 23 years later, in the longest known non-parental abduction.
9 September 1987 Gerrit Jan Heijn Ferdi Elsas Bloemendaal, Netherlands 56 Murdered Heijn was a Dutch businessman; the top executive of Ahold, Holland's largest retailer. He was killed shortly after his abduction. Elsas pretended the victim was still alive and received a ransom. He was caught after spending one of the banknotes of the ransom, whose numbers had been recorded. He was released in 2001 after serving a prison sentence but was killed in a road accident.
20 September 1988 Tara Calico Unknown Belen, New Mexico, US 19 Unknown Calico disappeared near her home after taking her usual bike ride. Several witnesses claimed she was being followed by a 1953-54 Ford Pickup and was never heard from again. No sign of Tara was found until On 15 June 1989 when a woman found a Polaroid photo of an unidentified young girl and boy, both bound and gagged, in the parking lot of a convenience store in Port St. Joe, Florida. The girl in the Polaroid is believed to be Tara, but this has not been confirmed. Two other Polaroid photographs, possibly of Tara, have surfaced over the years, but have yet to be released to the public. It is unclear whether Tara Calico is still alive.
19 November 1988 Michaela Garecht Unknown Hayward, California, US 9 Unknown Garecht was abducted by a Caucasian male thought to be about 18–24 years old. Michaela rode to a small neighborhood market on her scooter with her best friend to get treats. When Garecht tried to grab her scooter a man forced her into his car. Neither Michaela or the abductor have been seen or heard from since.
13 December 1988 Joaquin Esteves Orlando Cruz Vasquez San Jose, California, United States 64 Murdered A suspect was convicted of the victim's murder, yet no body was ever recovered.[13]
14 January 1989 Paul Vanden Boeynants Patrick Haemers and a gang Belgium 69 Released Vanden Boeynants, a Belgian politician, was released one month after his abduction when a ransom was paid.
22 October 1989 Jacob Wetterling Danny Heinrich St. Joseph, Minnesota, US 11 Murdered Wetterling was kidnapped on his way home by a masked gunman.
27 October 1989 Amy Mihaljevic Unknown Bay Village, Ohio 10 Murdered Victim was lured by an unidentified assailant through telephone to run an errand for her mother. The girl had been seen meeting the subject at a plaza and was never seen alive again. Her body was found in 1990. The case remains unsolved.

1990–1999

Date Victim(s) Abductor(s) Location Age of victim(s) Outcome Notes
2 April 1990 Humberto Álvarez Machaín Bounty hunters Mexico Released Alvarez-Machain, a suspect in the murder of Enrique Camarena, was kidnapped, allegedly by Americans to bring him to trial in the United States.
20 May 1990 Susan Poupart Unknown Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin 29 Murdered Victim was abducted and murdered. Three are considered primary suspects, yet the murder remains unsolved.
13 November 1990 Sano Fusako Nobuyuki Satō Niigata, Japan 10 Rescued Fusako was abducted after a baseball game and held captive for slightly over nine years. She was found alive on 28 January 2000.
10 June 1991 Jaycee Lee Dugard Phillip Garrido and Nancy Garrido South Lake Tahoe, California, US 11 Rescued Dugard was kidnapped from a bus stop and held captive for 18 years. She was found alive by suspicious parole officers on 26 August 2009. During captivity she gave birth to two children.
29 June 1991 Sheree Beasley Robert Selby Lowe Rosebud, Australia 6 Murdered The child was abducted while riding her bike unsupervised. She was raped and asphyxiated and her body was found several months later. Lowe was convicted of her murder.
11 September 1991 Carrie Lawson Jerry Bland Jasper, Alabama, US 25 Murdered Lawson was a young lawyer kidnapped in an infamously bungled case in FBI history. A ransom demand of $300,000 was made, which was paid by the family. The FBI inserted tracking devices in the money bag and on the delivery person, but both were on the same frequency and the FBI tracked the delivery person, leaving the money drop by mistake. After later getting a break in the case, the FBI went to the home of suspect Jerry Bland, who refused entry, and while retrieving a search warrant left in the car, the suspect retreated inside and shot himself, taking any information on her whereabouts to his grave. Neither she nor her remains were ever found. The ransom money was mostly recovered from the suspect's attic and vehicle.[14]
26 May 1992 Prince Pedro Thiago of Orléans-Braganza Petrópolis, Brazil 13 Rescued Thiago was kidnapped on his way to school. He was rescued by police a week later from the house in a Rio de Janeiro suburb where he was being held.[15]
28 December 1992 Katie Beers John Esposito Long Island, New York, US 9 Released/rescued Two days before her tenth birthday, Beers was lured into the home of John Esposito, a friend of her family. She was held captive inside a concrete bunker underneath Esposito's garage. Esposito falsely claimed that Beers was kidnapped by a third party in an amusement park, but 17 days after the abduction, he took police to where he was holding her.
12 February 1993 James Bulger Robert Thompson and Jon Venables Merseyside, England 2 Murdered Bulger was abducted from a Merseyside shopping centre by a pair of ten-year-old boys. Later on in the day the two boys tortured Bulger to death and left his body on a train line.
18 August 1993 Sara Ann Wood Lewis Lent Frankfort, New York, US 12 Murdered Wood disappeared on a quiet road near her home. Lent, a janitor from Massachusetts, confessed to kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and killing Sara, but he refused to say where he buried her body. Lent had also pleaded guilty to the 1990 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Pittsfield, Massachusetts, native Jimmy Bernardo. Lent abducted Jimmy from the Pittsfield movie theater where Lent worked as a janitor. He was sentenced to life without parole for the Bernardo murder and sentenced to 25-years-to-life for the Wood murder. He is in prison in Massachusetts. Lent is suspected in a number of other child kidnapping cases. Lent recanted his confession and refuses to disclose the location of Sara's body. Lent has said that he can't say where her body is because she is not buried alone.
1 October 1993 Polly Klaas Richard Allen Davis Petaluma, California 12 Murdered Klaas was kidnapped from her home and later strangled. Davis's car got stuck in the mud a few miles from Polly's house. A local police officer pulled him out of the mud but did not query his license number with the police computer system, nor did he hear the BOLO (be on the lookout) broadcast to all CHP radios reporting that Davis was wanted for a parole violation. Davis has been convicted of kidnapping and first-degree murder and sentenced to death. BOLOs are now broadcast to all police radios: state, county, and municipal.
30 June 1994 Crystal Ann Tymich Unknown Los Angeles, California 6 Unknown Tymich was last seen playing near her house, wearing a pink T-shirt, floral shorts, and white Little Mermaid sneakers. She had been picking peaches with her three brothers, but they went inside and she was gone when they came back out to bring her home. None of the neighbors saw anything unusual. Images of Crystal are available here
12 September 1994 Michael Anthony Hughes Franklin Delano Floyd Choctaw, Oklahoma, US 6 Unknown Hughes was abducted from his elementary school by his step-father, Franklin Delano Floyd. Two months later, Floyd was arrested in Kentucky, but the boy was not with him. He has given inconsistent statements regarding the boy's whereabouts, but Hughes was never located. It was later discovered that Hughes' mother, Sharon Marshall, was not only Floyd's wife, but was actually raised by Floyd from an early age and was herself kidnapped by Floyd. She died when Hughes was two years old. Floyd is the prime suspect in her murder as well.
14 August 1994 Jameika Porch Unknown Chattanooga, Tennessee, US 4 Murdered Porch was abducted from her bedroom at her grandmothers home. Her remains were discovered in 2000 and it was determined that she was strangled by ligature shortly after she vanished.
17 August 1994 Mindy Tran Unknown Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada 8 Murdered Tran disappeared from her neighbourhood just after supper. She rode her bike down her quiet street and vanished. Hundreds of people searched for the girl but her body wasn't found until six weeks later when a man with a divining rod led police to a shallow grave near her parents' home. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
9 June 1995 Morgan Nick Unknown Alma, Arkansas, US 6 Unknown Nick was at a baseball game with her mother. She was last seen at her car after catching fireflies with her friends, and she was also seen talking to a man who police believe was her abductor. She has not been found; her mother started a foundation to help families with missing children.
11 September 1995 Jimmy Ryce Juan Carlos Chavez Redland, Florida, US 9 Murdered Jimmy was supposed to be coming home from school but never came back. Juan Carlos Chavez took responsibility and led police to the body he sexually assaulted, decapitated, and dismembered.
16 September 1995 Jessyca Mullenburg Steven Oliver Eau Claire, Wisconsin, US 13 Rescued Oliver had first met Mullenberg when he was an aide at her school and became obsessed with her. He followed Mullenburg and her father as they moved to two locations in Wisconsin and eventually moved across the street from the Mullenbergs in Eau Claire. Oliver told Mullenburg that a publisher was interested in a story that she wrote; she agreed to go with Oliver in his car. Mullenberg dozed off in the car and, when she awoke, her feet and hands were bound. After an eight-hour drive to Kansas City, Mullenberg and Oliver boarded a plane to Houston, where she spent the majority of her three-and-a-half-month captivity in a motel room. Mullenberg says that physical, sexual and mental abuse were common. Within weeks, Oliver had convinced Mullenberg that her parents didn't want to get her back and didn't love her. Mullenberg says she became so completely disconnected from reality that she remembered very little from her past. A chance viewing of America's Most Wanted on television confirmed the manager's suspicions that Oliver was up to something. Immediately after recognizing Oliver's photo on the show, calls were placed to law enforcement and the FBI. Authorities who raced to the hotel knew who Mullenberg was but, after months in captivity, she did not. Only after authorities showed Mullenberg pictures from her past did she come back to reality.
November 16, 1995 Elijah Evans Jacqueline Williams, Fedell Caffey, Lavern Ward Addison, Illinois Fetus Rescued Deborah Evans was 9 months pregnant when she was murdered and had her unborn son cut from her womb. Evans had 3 other children 10-year-old Samantha, 7-year-old Joshua and 18-month-old Jordan. Evens' ex-boyfriend Laverne Ward was the father of both Jordan and the unborn baby. Evans had a restraining order against Ward but allowed the trio into her home. Williams faked a pregnancy to keep her boyfriend Fedell Caffey. Caffey was aware Williams was not pregnant and participated in the abduction and murder. Williams, Ward and Caffey killed Evans and Samantha in their home and abducted Joshua killing him the next day. His body was found in an alley in a nearby town. Williams convinced friends and family that she had given birth to the infant. Jordan was left unharmed in the house with the bodies of his mother and sister. Police were called to the house by Evans' current boyfriend and tracked down the killers and the stolen infant. When police took the baby from Williams she screamed "That is my baby" Williams received 2 life terms, Ward 1 life term and Caffey was given the death penalty
7 December 1995 Barbara Barnes Unknown Steubenville, Ohio 13 Murdered Victim was abducted after walking to school. Her body was found months later. The case remains unsolved.
13 January 1996 Amber Hagerman Unknown Arlington, Texas, US 9 Murdered Hagerman was kidnapped while riding her bike near her grandparents' home. She was found four days later by a hiker and his dog, naked in a creek bed. An autopsy revealed she had been alive two days, was raped and then her throat was slit. Although a $75,000 reward was offered for information leading to Amber's killer, he was never found.[16] The task force investigating Amber's murder was dissolved in June 1997.[17] Her murder inspired the creation of the AMBER Alert system.
17 May 1996 Le-Zhan Williams Latasha Ann Brown Vallejo, California 3 weeks Rescued Baby Le-Zhan's mother, Daphne Boyden, was shot and her house was burned down, with no sign of her son. He was found six years later living as the son of Latasha Brown. His father, rapper Young Lay, was serving a prison sentence when his son was found.
28 May 1996 Sabine Dardenne Marc Dutroux Belgium 12 Rescued Dardenne was kidnapped and raped by Dutroux, a serial killer, while on her way to school. She was rescued after 80 days, on 15 August 1996, with 14-year-old Laetitia Delhez, who had also been kidnapped.
9 August 1996 Laetitia Delhez Marc Dutroux Belgium 14 Rescued Dutroux kidnapped Delhez after another victim, Sabine Dardenne, had requested a companion because she felt so alone. They were rescued on 15 August 1996.
1 October 1996 Jakub Fiszman Rainer Körppen and Sven Körppen Eschborn, Germany 40 Murdered Fiszman, a millionaire, was held for ransom. He was killed by his kidnappers even though the ransom for him was paid. The perpetrators were arrested on 19 October and received long prison sentences.
30 April 1997 Zephany Nurse (Identity withheld by court order) Cape Town, South Africa 2 days Found, February 2015 Zephany was taken shortly after birth and raised by the kidnapper's family as one of their own. She was found when her biological sister started at the same school, and friends noticed and commented on how they looked like sisters.
6 May 1997 Kerry Whelan Bruce Burrell Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 39 Murdered A woman believed to have been murdered by her employer. Her body has never been found, but Burrell was convicted in 2006 during his second trial.
3 June 1997 Shannon Verhage Marvin Gabrion Cedar Springs, Michigan 11 months Unknown Shannon and her mother, Rachel Timmerman, were last seen leaving on a date with an unknown coworker of Timmerman. The coworker was later linked to a man named Marvin Gabrion, who Rachel was preparing to testify against him for raping her the previous year. Rachel's body was later found floating in Oxford lake. Gabrion is on death row for the murder. Shannon has never been found.
30 September 1997 Walter Kwok Cheung Chi Keung Hong Kong 47 Released Kwok was kidnapped by the notorious gangster "Big Spender" Cheung Chi Keung[18] and was released seven days later without police intervention. Following his arrest in Guangzhou in 1998, Cheung confessed that he had put Kwok in a wooden container blindfolded for four days and fed him regular meals of roast pork with rice, until the ransom of some HK$600 million was paid.[19]
15 December 1997 Delimar Vera Cuevas Carolyn Correa Frankford, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US 10 days Rescued Cuevas was a baby when she was thought to have been killed in a fire. Six years later, her mother discovered her at a birthday party. After DNA tests confirmed that the child was indeed her own, the kidnapper went on the run leaving behind three more children.[20]
2 March 1998 Natascha Kampusch Wolfgang Přiklopil Vienna, Austria 10 Escaped Kampusch was abducted on her way to school and held in a secret cellar by her kidnapper for more than eight years. She escaped aged 18 on 23 August 2006.
12 April 1999 Leszli Kálli Guerrillas Colombia Released Kálli was abducted by virtue of the hijacking of the plane she was on. She was held for slightly more than a year by Colombian leftist guerrillas with her father and the other passengers. She published a novel about her experiences.
3 May 1999 Hans van de Kimmenade Four unknown men Helmond, Netherlands 18 Released A group of at least four armed (allegedly Arabian) men kidnapped van de Kimmenade, son of wealthy industrialists, from his estate. After the case received much media attention, Van de Kimmenade was dropped off at a waterschap within 48 hours. No reason was given for his release. After months of research, the case appeared unsolvable.
17 May 1999 Andria Nichole Brewer Karl Roberts Arkansas, US 12 Murdered Roberts, 35, was convicted in May 2000 by a Polk County Circuit Court jury of capital murder in the 17 May 1999, rape and strangling of Brewer, his niece.
7 July 1999 Rolandito Salas Jusino Unknown Toa Alta, Puerto Rico 4 Unknown Jusino was playing, allegedly unsupervised, in a community park next to his house's backyard.[21] He was never found.
12 October 1999 Pamela Butler Keith Nelson Kansas City, US 10 Murdered Butler was rollerblading in front of her house when she was kidnapped by Nelson. He took her across the state line from Kansas into Grain Valley, Missouri, to a church. There he took her into a wooded area, where he raped and strangled Butler with some speaker wire. Nelson was arrested two days later near the Kansas River, and Butler's body was recovered the following day. Nelson was found guilty and sentenced to death by lethal injection in a federal facility.

2000–2009

Date Victim(s) Abductor(s) Location Age of victim(s) Outcome Notes
1 July 2000 Sarah Payne Roy Whiting West Sussex, England 8 Murdered Payne was kidnapped and murdered soon afterwards by Whiting. The subsequent investigation became a high-profile murder case in the United Kingdom. Following his conviction, Whiting was imprisoned for life and is currently being held in the maximum security Wakefield prison, West Yorkshire.
6 April 2001 Anne Sluti Anthony Steven "Tony Zappa" Wright Kearney, Nebraska, US 17 Released/rescued Sluti was kidnapped from a mall parking lot in April 2001, taken out of state, and raped for six days before Wright surrendered to police.
1 February 2002 Danielle van Dam David Westerfield Sabre Springs, San Diego, California, US 7 Murdered Van Dam was abducted from her bed the night of 1–2 February; her body was found three weeks later in a remote area. Westerfield, a neighbor, was convicted of kidnapping and first degree murder, and sentenced to death for the crime. He is currently incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.
23 February 2002 Íngrid Betancourt Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Colombia 40 Rescued Betancourt, a presidential candidate, was kidnapped and held captive until 2008.
5 June 2002 Elizabeth Smart Brian David Mitchell Salt Lake City, Utah, US 14 Rescued Smart was kidnapped from her bedroom on and was found alive nine months later in a suburb of Salt Lake City on 12 March 2003.
15 July 2002 Samantha Runnion Alejandro Avila Stanton, California, US 5 Murdered Runnion was kidnapped from the front yard of her home. Her body was found one day later in Cleveland National Forest. Avila is currently incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison in California.
22 July 2002 Erica Pratt Edward Johnson and James Burns Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US 7 Escaped Pratt was forced into a car from a street. She escaped by gnawing through duct tape used to keep her bound and by smashing a window.
12 August 2002 Arjan Erkel Three gunmen Makhachkala, Russia 32 Released Erkel was a medical aid worker for Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) when he was kidnapped. Twenty months later he was released after the Dutch government paid a ransom of €1,000,000.
22 August 2002 Michelle Knight Ariel Castro Cleveland, Ohio, US 21 Rescued Knight was last seen when she left her cousin's house. Knight, along with Amanda Berry, a child of Amanda Berry born in captivity, and Gina DeJesus were found alive and in reasonable health within 3 miles of the site of their disappearances on 6 May 2013.
6 October 2002 Shawn Hornbeck Michael J. Devlin Richwoods, Missouri, US 11 Rescued Hornbeck was kidnapped while riding his bicycle near his home. He was sexually assaulted and tortured by his kidnapper, Michael Devlin, eventually promising the man to not run away in exchange for Devlin keeping him alive. Shawn was given a large amount of freedom, telling neighbors he was being home-schooled. After four years, Devlin was losing sexual interest in him, and so kidnapped another boy, William "Ben" Ownby with Shawn in the car to keep him quiet. The police investigated Devlin and spoke to Shawn, but the teenager gave his name as Shawn Wilcox and claimed to be only staying with Devlin while his dad was on a business trip. The next day, the police spoke to Devlin again, telling him they were going to check Devlin's pick-up's tires against tracks found at the scene of Ben's kidnapping. Devlin then admitted that he had both Shawn and Ben in his apartment, alive. When Shawn was asked his name again without Devlin in the room, he told the police he was Shawn Hornbeck.
11 November 2002 Samantha Nicole Burns Unknown Huntington, West Virginia, US 19 Unknown Burns, a student of Marshall Community and Technical College Physical Therapy Program was abducted at the Marshall University Court Yard Apartments. She was last heard from by her mother at 9:45pm and her car was discovered burning around the Cabell/Wayne County lines at 3:30am on 12 November 2002. She has not been seen or heard from since, is presumed dead and no remains have been recovered. South Carolina Death Row inmates Chadwick E. Fulks and Branden L. Basham claim responsibility for the disappearance of Burns. At that time they were escapees of another correctional facility. They have yet to provide enough credible details that lead to Burns's whereabouts.
21 April 2003 Amanda Berry Ariel Castro Cleveland, Ohio, US 16 Escaped Berry was abducted one day before her 17th birthday. During captivity, Berry gave birth to a daughter. Just over 10 years later, on 6 May 2013, Berry escaped along with Michelle Knight, Gina DeJesus and Berry's daughter. They were in reasonable health and within 3 miles of the site of their disappearances.
7 December 2003 Daniel Morcombe Brett Peter Cowan Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia 13 Murdered Morcombe was abducted while waiting to catch a bus under an overpass. Previously convicted pedophile, Brett Peter Cowan was charged in August 2011 for Daniel's abduction and murder before a search site was established in remote bushlands near the Glass House Mountains for his body. Skeletal remains were eventually found and DNA tests confirmed that the bones belonged to Daniel.[22] Cowan was sentenced to life imprisonment on 14 March 2014.[23]
4 February 2004 Carlie Brucia Joseph P. Smith Sarasota, Florida 11 Murdered Victim was abducted and murdered after being taken from a car wash, which had been filmed by security cameras.
2 April 2004 Gina DeJesus Ariel Castro Cleveland, Ohio, US 14 Rescued Just over 9 years after DeJesus' abduction, on 6 May 2013, she was rescued along with Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, and a child of Amanda Berry's born in captivity. They were in reasonable health and within 3 miles of the site of their disappearances.
24 June 2004 Ashley Taylor Rodney Taylor Cleveland, Ohio, US 5 Rescued Abducted by Father; Amber Alert
9 July 2004 Leigh Matthews Donovan Moodley Morningside, Johannesburg 21 Murdered The day after her 21st Birthday Donovan Moodly kidnapped Leigh from the Bond University campus. After collecting the negotiated ransom, Donovan shot and killed Leigh in fear that releasing her might lead to his capture.
19 October 2004 Margaret Hassan Unknown Baghdad, Iraq 59 Murdered Hassan was kidnapped and later killed on 8 November by terrorists. Her remains were never recovered.
2004 Wu Ruofu Unknown Beijing, China 42 Rescued Wu Ruofu was kidnapped by a gang targeting wealthy businessmen. Wu was rescued after 23 hours in captivity, just before he was to be executed. Three of the abductors were sentenced to death a year later. A movie was released in 2015 based on the case, titled Saving Mr. Wu.[24]
24 February 2005 Jessica Lunsford John Couey Homosassa, Florida, US 9 Murdered Lunsford was abducted from her home in the early morning. Believed held captive over the weekend, she was raped and later murdered by 46-year-old Couey who lived nearby. The media covered the investigation and trial of her killer extensively. On 24 August 2007, a judge in Inverness, Florida sentenced Couey, a convicted sex offender, to death for kidnapping, sexually battering, and First degree murder of Jessica.
18 May 2005 Rahul Unknown Alappuzha, Kerala, India 7 Unknown The local police and the CBI have not found any tangible evidence for his whereabouts.
12 September 2005 Claudia Melchers Unknown Amsterdam, Netherlands 36 Released A group of armed men broke into her house, tying up her husband and children before taking Claudia with them. The motive is unknown, although it is suspected that it was done to demand a large ransom, as her father Hans Melchers is one of the richest citizens of the Netherlands.
5 September 2005 Taylor Behl Benjamin Fawley Richmond, Virginia, US 17 Murdered *Behl, a Virginia Commonwealth University freshman was found dead on 5 October 2005, in Mathews County, Virginia, after having gone missing a month earlier.
19 October 2005 Cristina Rios Valladares Florence Cassez Mexico Released *Cristina Rios Valladares was kidnapped with her two children.[25] They were freed after 52 days. Florence Cassez was convicted and sentenced to serve a 61-year sentence for the abduction.
8 January 2007 William "Ben" Benjamin Ownby Michael J. Devlin St. Louis, Missouri 13 Rescued Ben was getting off the school bus when he was forced into Michael Devlin's pick-up. Also in the truck was 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck, who had been kidnapped by Devlin four years earlier and had been living as his son ever since. The boys lived in Devlin's apartment for a few days, playing computer games and watching TV. A friend of Ben's gave the police a description of Devlin's vehicle, and his boss recognized it, remembering that Devlin was home sick that day. The man called the police, who went to Devlin's apartment and met Shawn, who gave his last name as Wilcox. The officers left, but came back the next day. That time, Devlin eventually admitted to having Ben.
3 May 2007 Madeleine McCann Unknown Praia da Luz, Portugal 3 Unknown McCann, a British girl, disappeared aged almost 4 from her family's holiday apartment. Her parents were out eating at a bar with friends leaving Madeleine and her two younger siblings alone in the apartment. She has yet to be found.
2 December 2007 Sergio Gomez Unknown Michoacán, Mexico 34 Murdered Gomez was a famous Mexican singer who was the founder and lead vocalist of the group K-Paz de la Sierra. He was kidnapped on 2 December 2007 and murdered the next day.
13 January 2008 Mari Luz Cortes Santiago del Valle Huelva, Spain 5 Murdered Mari Luz left her home in the El Torrejón area of Huelva for a short trip to the local sweets kiosk where she disappeared. She was found dead.
19 February 2008 Shannon Matthews Michael Donovan and Karen Matthews Dewsbury, England 9 Rescued Shannon was abducted and held captive for 24 days by Donovan, the uncle of her mother, Karen Matthews', boyfriend. After her rescue by police it was found that Karen had helped plot the kidnapping in an attempt to gain reward money.
9 February 2009 Haleigh Cummings Unknown Satsuma, Florida, US 5 Unknown Cummings was last seen sleeping in her family's trailer. She was discovered missing and the rear door to the trailer was several inches ajar and the screen door had been propped open with a cinderblock. The case remains unsolved.
27 March 2009 Sandra Cantu Melissa Huckaby Tracy, California, US 8 Murdered Several days after Cantu went missing on 6 April, a suitcase was discovered in a pond containing her body. On 10 April 2009, police arrested 28-year-old Melissa Huckaby and charged her with the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Cantu.
24 May 2009 Nevaeh Buchanan Unknown Monroe, Michigan, US 5 Murdered Buchanan was discovered missing from the parking lot of the Charlotte Arms apartment complex. A fishermen discovered Nevaeh's body along the banks of the River Raisin in Raisinville Township on 4 June 2009.
31 December 2009 Masego Kgomo Brian Mangwale Soshanguve, South Africa 10 Murdered Masego was kidnapped for a Muti killing by Brian Mangwala. It is believed that she may have been gang raped before been taken to the sangoma.[26]

2010 and later

Date Victim Abductor Location Age of victim Outcome Notes
30 January 2010 Naga Vaishnavi Unknown Andhra Pradesh, India 10 Murdered Vaishnavi was murdered 3 days after her abduction.
4 June 2010 Kyron Horman Unknown Portland, Oregon, US 7 Unknown Horman disappeared when he did not return home from Skyline Elementary School. Local and state police along with the FBI conducted an exhaustive search for the boy and launched a criminal investigation, but have not uncovered any significant information regarding the boy's whereabouts.
8 June 2010 Khan Kakama Gordon Tumusiime Bugolobi, Kampala, Uganda 1 Murdered Kakama was handed to the kidnappers by Molly Nabasa, his nanny. His parents, Sven and Naome Karekaho, work(ed) for the Uganda Revenue Authority and National Environmental Management Authority, respectively.
12 November 2010 Anni Dewani, Shrien Dewani Zola Robert Tongo, Mziwamadoda Qwabe, Xolile Mngeni Gugulethu, Cape Town, South Africa 28, 31 Murdered, Released During a night trip through the Township of Gugulethu, the taxi was hijacked. Husband, Shrien was dropped of in neighboring township of Khayelitsha while Anni was kept. The vehicle was found the next day with the beaten and bruised body of Anni in the Back seat.[27] Shrien was suspected as having masterminded the kidnapping and murder of his wife.[28]
25 November 2010 (Thanksgiving Day) Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner Skelton John Skelton Morenci, Michigan 5 - 9 Unknown The three boys' mother had custody of them, but they were at their father's house for Thanksgiving the last time they were seen. Their father was convicted of kidnapping them, and still claims that they are alive, though police believe them to be dead. Images of the boys are available here
13 April 2011 Holly Bobo Arrests have been made, no convictions Darden, Tennessee 20 Murdered Holly was witnessed by her brother walking into the woods outside their family home with a man wearing camouflage. Three years later, in 2014, four men were arrested for varying degrees of involvement in the kidnapping and are awaiting trial. A woman has alleged that she has seen a video of Holly Bobo tied up and crying, although this video has not been located. Her body was found in September 2014.[29]
12 May 2011 Timmothy James Pitzen Amy Fry-Pitzen Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin 6 Unknown Timmothy's name is sometimes occasionally spelled Timothy, but it has two "m"s. He was taken out of school by his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, but she did not bring him home. His father, James Pitzen, reported both of them missing that same day. Amy called some family members to tell them she was alright, with Timmothy saying he was hungry in the background. Her body was found, having killed herself, on 14 May. She left a note behind stating Timothy was safe & would never be found.[30] Timmothy was not with her the last time she was seen alive, and his whereabouts are still unknown. Images of Timmothy and more information are available here
11 July 2011 Leiby Kletzky Levi Aro New York City, US 8 Murdered Kletzky was kidnapped on his way home from day camp in his Hasidic Jewish neighborhood. The alleged killer was apprehended 32 hours later; he confessed to killing the boy and dismembering his body, but entered a plea of not guilty in court.
September 2011 Disappearance of Sarah Dominique Broady and Jaiyana Hodges-Broady Unknown Killeen, Texas, US 3 months Rescued The mother and daughter were allegedly kidnapped by the child’s father during an unscheduled visitation. Details of the case have been withheld by the court.
3 October 2011 Lisa Irwin Unknown Kansas City, Missouri, US 10 months Unknown Irwin disappeared from her home in the early hours of the morning. Investigators to this day have never given any indication that Lisa Irwin was kidnapped by an outside intruder.
21 April 2012 Isabel Celis Unknown Tucson, Arizona, United States 6 Murdered Celis was reported missing by her father around 8 a.m. when she was not in her room, and a bedroom window was opened with the screen removed. On Mar. 31, 2017, her remains is found deceased.
1 October 2012 April Jones Mark Bridger Machynlleth, Wales 5 Murdered Jones was lured into a van by Bridger. Bridger killed her soon afterwards but only small fragments of her body have been found.
29 January 2013 Ethan Gilman Jimmy Lee Dykes Midland City, Alabama, US 5 Rescued Dykes, a 65-year-old Vietnam War-era veteran boarded a Dale County school bus, killed the driver, and took Gilman hostage. On the afternoon of 4 February, law enforcement agents entered the bunker, killed Dykes, and rescued Gilman.
12 June 2014 Naphtali Frankel,
Gilad Shar,
Ayal Yiphrach		 Hamas militants suspected Gush Etzion, West Bank Naphtali-16, Gilad-16, Ayal-19 Murdered
20 June 2016 Alayna Ertl Zachary Todd Anderson Watkins, Minnesota 5 Murdered Abducted and her body was located nine hours later in a wilderness park.
9 June 2017 Yingying Zhang Brendt Christensen suspected Urbana, Illinois 26 Unknown (presumed dead) On June 9, 2017, Zhang was running late to an appointment to sign a lease. While waiting at a bus stop, Brendt Christensen approached her in his Saturn Astra. Zhang got into his car, and was never heard from again. Authorities believe that she is no longer alive.

Modern kidnappings of celebrities or their relatives

Kidnappers interested in getting a large ransom or a political effect often target celebrities or their relatives. Here are some of the people affected by these crimes:

Faked kidnappings

Suspected kidnappings

Kidnapping in lieu of extradition

See main article: Extradition and abduction

Mass kidnappings

See also

References

  1. ↑ Birkbeck, Matt. "Finally". Matt Birkbeck Official Site.
  2. ↑ What Underlies Stockholm Syndrome
  3. ↑ Notice of death in prison of Donald Neilson
  4. ↑ "Tiffany Papesh". missingkids.com. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  5. ↑ "Tiffany Jennifer Papesh". The Charley Project. 27 October 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  6. ↑ "Case File 1145DFPA". doenetwork.org. The Doe Network. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Cooke: The predatory paedophile". BBC News. 17 December 1999. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "Paedophile gets life for killing boy, 7, at orgy: Homosexual ring abducted children and drugged them for group sex". The Independent. 23 October 1992. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  9. ↑ AROUND THE NATION; Houston Men Convicted In Abduction at Tourney. The New York Times, 19 December 1984. Retrieved 3 April 2011
  10. ↑ "A reunion party, 30 years after the worst time of her life". The Boston Globe. 29 October 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  11. ↑ "Wayland's Sarah Pryor murder remains unsolved". The Metro West. 6 July 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  12. ↑ Ian Black: Atom secrets man held by Israelis. The Guardian, 10 November 1986
  13. ↑ Shirley, Don (27 March 2003). "Scene of the crime". Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  14. ↑ Kidnapped Woman Still Missing As Suspect Is an Apparent Suicide. The New York Times, 2 October 1991. Retrieved 3 April 2011
  15. ↑ "El Pais". El Pais. 29 May 1992. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  16. ↑ Kopenec, Stefani G. (12 January 1997), "Young girl's kidnapper elusive: A year has passed without leads on 'low-life killer'", Houston Chronicle, retrieved 8 August 2008
  17. ↑ "Police task force dissolved", Houston Chronicle, 24 June 1997, retrieved 8 August 2008
  18. ↑ Two suspects Hong Kong door of the family were extortion was sentenced to 10 years. Chinesecivilization.org, 1 March 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2011
  19. ↑ Erick Ko and AFP, "Tough guy, likeable rogue" Archived 8 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine., The Standard, 13 November 1998
  20. ↑ Nicole Weisensee: Mom finds kidnapped daughter six years later. CNN, 2 March 2004. Retrieved 15 May 2013
  21. ↑ An Act. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (Missingkids.com). Retrieved 3 April 2011
  22. ↑ Walker, Jamie (28 August 2011). "Qld police say remains are those of Daniel Morcombe". The Australian. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  23. ↑ "Daniel Morcombe murder: Killer Brett Peter Cowan sentenced to life in prison with minimum non-parole period of 20 years". ABC News. 2014-03-14.
  24. ↑ "Captive market". Week in China. 6 November 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  25. ↑ Cristina Ríos Valladares: Cristina — Declaración oficial. Florence-cassez.blogspot.com. Retrieved 3 April 2011
  26. ↑ Zelda Venter (13 May 2011). "Body parts ‘ripped out of her’". IOL.co.za. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  27. ↑ Neil Lancefield, PA (15 November 2010). "Police hunt honeymoon carjack killers". The Independent. London. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  28. ↑ Tom Pettifor (8 December 2014). "Why did Shrien Dewani case collapse? 7 reasons why he is free". Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  29. ↑ Bule, Jordan (8 September 2014). "Breaking: TBI says remains found are Holly Bobo". The Jackson Sun.
  30. ↑ http://crimefeed.com/2014/05/aurora-police-release-new-details-timmothy-pitzen-missing-child-case/
  31. ↑ "Gold Coast - a sunny place for the shady". Couriermail.com.au. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  32. ↑ Verenigde Staten. "Fairlie Arrow". Blogger.com. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  33. 1 2 David Connett (22 December 1992). "Aerobics teacher 'invented abduction'". Independent.co.uk. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  34. ↑ Markham, James M. (30 January 1988). "Dutch Actor's Tale Exposes A Nation's Guilt About Jews". New York Times. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
  35. ↑ "Missing Haleigh's dad, his ex-wife arrested in drug sting". CNN. 22 January 2010.
  36. ↑ "A ring that one man claimed belonged to candy heiress Helen Brach is at the Glenview Police Department; some consider it proof of how she was murdered". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  37. ↑ "Police find body of Cédrika Provencher, girl missing since 2007". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  38. ↑ "CNN.com - Police: Missing student's body found - Apr 17, 2004". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  39. ↑ Good, Meaghan Elizabeth. "The Charley Project: Hasanni Jamil Campbell". www.charleyproject.org. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  40. ↑ Matthew Avery Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007), p. 107, pp. 133–134, 136
  41. ↑ Thomas, Vanishing Evangelist, pp. 101, 176.
  42. ↑ Cox, Raymond L. The Verdict is In, ( R.L. Cox and Heritage Committee, California, 1983) pp. 184, 214.
  43. ↑ Epstein, Daniel Mark, Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee Semple McPherson (Orlando: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993), p. 312
  44. ↑ The People vs.Aimee Semple McPherson, et al., Case CR 29181, 10 January 1927, Superior Court of Los Angeles County, County records and Archives
  45. ↑ Shuler, Robert, Fighting Bob Shuler of Los Angeles (Dog Ear Publishing), 2012 p. 178.
  46. ↑ Oren Dorell (21 April 2014). "Terrorists kidnap more than 200 Nigerian girls". USA Today. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
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