VICTIMS OF KIDNAPPINGS
WHO SURVIVED THEIR ORDEALS
Provides additional cases to illustrate the different kinds of abductions described on pp. 281-284 of Chapter 8 in the tenth edition.
The Latest Statistics About Missing Children
The National Center For Missing And Exploited Children (NCMEC) has become the official source for statistics. During 2019, it assisted local police departments as well as families in about 29,000 investigations. Over 90% of the missing children turned out to be runways and less than 1% were abducted by a stranger or an acquaintance, as detailed here.
13 YEAR-OLD KEPT CAPTIVE FOR 3 MONTHS FINALLY BREAKS FREE
A 13 year-old girl is carried off by a 21 year-old man who murders her father and mother in Wisconsin. After three months and an extensive yet unsuccessful manhunt, she escapes his clutches, and is recognized and rescued, as recounted here. Because she got away all by herself, she is entitled to some of the reward money, as cited in this video. She will need time and some space to grieve, and then process and transcend her trauma, a former kidnap victim recommended in this interview.
AFTER NEARLY 20 YEARS, KIDNAPPED WOMAN BOLTS TO GAIN HER FREEDOM
She was abducted at age 12 from her mother’s home by her mother’s boyfriend in 1997. She was subjected to physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Over the years, she gave birth to nine children, starting at age 15. The kidnapper, his victim and their children moved dozens of times within the U.S. and Mexico. Finally, she fled with her children to the U.S. Consular General’s office in Mexico, as described here.
THREE YOUNG WOMEN WHO WERE CONFINED AS “SEX SLAVES “FOR YEARS FINALLY ESCAPE
Provides another example of a recovery of a kidnapping victim, as discussed in Chapter 8.A young women who was abducted when she was a teenage girl breaks free. Soon, two other captives who also were repeatedly raped for years are rescued from the same household.
Read the transcript of her 911 call as she escaped here. After some initial upbeat coverage (view it here) questions arose about whether the police should have discovered the captives sooner, as discussed here. How these three young women were held captive is described here.
A young woman who was held for months by a demented man and his wife offers these 3 victims some advice, based on her first hand experiences, here.
A woman who endured sexual and physical abuse explains why, in her opinion, the three young women did not escape earlier, in this column.
One of the three victims took the opportunity to speak out at the kidnapper/rapist’s sentencing hearing. She characterized her captivity as “11 years in hell.” Read about her comments and also learn more of the awful details about her suffering here. Additional interviews with the former “sex slaves” can be found here.
The abductor killed himself while behind bars. His lawyer says he began to leave the door to his home unlocked, to enable the captives to escape. The abductor also viewed himself as a victim, confiding that he way molested when he was a boy, according to this article.
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KIDNAPPED TEEN IS RESCUED AND ABDUCTOR IS SHOT DEAD
A 16 year old girl was returned to her father after a 40 year old man killed her mother and brother and fled with her to the wilderness. An FBI team shot him and rescued her, as this article explains. More information about the victim-offender relationship soon was made public: the kidnapper was a trusted longtime friend of the family who was considered to be an “uncle” by the son and daughter and served as the best man at the parent’s wedding. Read the disturbing details here. Then read about the two murder victims, her mother and younger brother, and view a surprising interview with her here.
A cable network made a movie about her abduction that hinted that a romantic relationship between the captor and his captive took place (an implication that was flatly dismissed by the local sheriff). She was outraged, as recounted here.
Also outraged was the sister of the dead abductor, who filed a suit against members of the FBI SWAT team who killed him unnecessarily, she claimed.
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HOSTAGE NEGOTIATION SQUADS TRY TO BRING BACK VICTIMS UNHARMED
What is the best way to handle a stand-off between the police and a hostage-taker? A SWAT team might be sent in to rescue the victim, but another possibly more effective strategy is to wear the kidnapper down through negotiation and persuasion. See how it works here. How the NYPD unit operates is described here.
A BANK ROBBER KILLS ONE HOSTAGE AND WOUNDS ANOTHER
Originally, the mentally disturbed robber took three people captive, but the police hostage negotiation team got him to release one woman. When negotiations fell apart, the police shot him dead after he shot his two hostages, as described here.
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NYPD USES AMBER ALERT FOR THE FIRST TIME
Provides an additional example to illustrate the effectiveness of the Amber Alert system, discussed on pp. 285-287 in Chapter 8 of the tenth edition.
The NYPD protects over 8 million New Yorkers, but has never activated the rather complicated Amber Alert system until the summer of 2013. The “first notification ever” went out to cell phone users in the middle of the night, but it resulted in the safe recovery of a baby boy who was abducted from a foster care agency by his mentally ill mother. Read about the steps in the process, and the reactions to the early morning wake-up call, here.
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AMBER ALERT WAS ISSUED BY THE NYPD, BUT KIDNAPPING TURNED OUT TO BE A HOAX
A video disseminated by the police in order to galvanize the public to help locate the victim showed some men forcing a teenager into a car. But shortly afterward the “victim” surfaced and admitted the violent “abduction” was staged because she did not want to go back to her former country along with her over-protective mother, authorities reported.
WOMAN ORDERS PIZZA VIA ONLINE SERVICE IN ORDER TO GET RESCUED
A woman was being held hostage by her angry boyfriend. But he allowed her to order a pizza. She wrote in the comments section that she and her children were captives. The pizzeria notified the local sheriff’s office and deputies arrived to free her and capture the hostage-taker, as described here.
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DISCUSSION OF THE “STOCKHOLME SYNDROME”
Expands upon the coverage of this concept that appears on p. 27 of Chapter One in the 8th edition and on p. 26 of the 9th edition.
When hostages are rescued, the question often arises: Why didn’t they take advantage of opportunities to escape? There is a victim-blaming tinge to this inquiry. The application of the controversial concept of the Stockholme Syndrome” is often offered as an explanation. See the discussion of these issues applied to several of the real-life cases recoungted in “Crime Victims” in several videos produced by a cable news network here, here, and here.
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