Famous kidnappings

•  Peter Weinberger, July 4, 1956, one month old, taken from his home in Westbury, NY Long Island. Angelo LaMarca took the baby for a $2,000 randsome. 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 FBI agents and Nassau County Police Department ensued. An FBI agent spotted a diaper pin—then the decomposed remains of Peter Weinberger. The heart-rending search was over. The Weinberger case also resulted in new legislation—signed by President Eisenhower—that reduced the FBI's waiting period in kidnapping cases from 7 days to 24 hours.

• Sabrina Aisenberg, (1997) Was 5 months old when she was kidnapped from her crib. She has never been found. Her parents believed someone kidnapped her to raise her as their own.

• Humberto Alvarez-Machain, (1990) suspect in the murder of Enrique Camarena, kidnapped, allegedly by Americans, to bring him to trial in the United States.

• Taylor Behl, (13 October 1987 – 6 September 2005), a 17-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University freshman found dead on 5 October 2005, in Mathews County, Virginia, after having gone missing on 5 September 2005

• Ingrid Betancourt, (2002), Colombian presidential candidate, by the FARC movement. She was freed 2008.

• Paul Vanden Boeynants, (1989), Belgian politician, kidnapped for one month, and released when a ransom was paid.

• Joseph Bonanno, (1964). The crime family leader was kidnapped by his own enforcer, along with his lawyer. Forced to make economic and retirement agreements with other mafia bosses, he and his lawyer were let go alive.

• James Brandon, was kidnapped in Iraq (2004), and released a few days later.

• Enrique Camarena, (1985), Mexican American DEA official, found dead.

• Anthonette Cayedito was a 9 year old Navajo girl kidnapped from her home in April of 1986 from Gallup, New Mexico. She was profiled on Unsolved Mysteries a few years after the girl 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 waitress stated that a girl that looked like Anthonette's age progression entered the restaurant with a male and a female rather unkempt and kept dropping her silverware on the floor and squeezing the waitress' hand really hard when she placed it back on the table. The girl also left a note written on a napkin underneath the plate that read "Help me. Call the police." The girl was never located.

• Danielle Erica Cramer, a missing 15-year-old girl, disappeared on 14 June 2006, in Bloomfield, Connecticut, was found locked in a small hidden room situated under a staircase on 6 June 2007.

• Amber Hagerman was kidnapped and in Texas while riding her bike near her grandparents home in Arlington Texas. 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.

• James Cross, British diplomat, and Pierre Laporte, Quebec provincial politician. Their kidnappings by the Front de libération du Québec set off the 1970 October Crisis. Cross was released; Laporte was murdered.

• Delimar Vera Cuevas was a ten-day-old baby in 1997 when she was kidnapped by a woman who set her house on fire to take her away. Six years later, her mother was very surprised to discover her at a birthday party.

• Sabine Dardenne (b. 28 October 1983) is a Belgian woman who was kidnapped and raped at age 12 by serial killer Marc Dutroux on 28 May 1996 while on her way to school. Rescued after 80 days, on 15 August 1996, together with also kidnapped 14-year-old Laetitia Delhez.

• Laetitia Delhez (b. 25 November 1981) is a Belgian woman who was kidnapped and raped at age fourteen by serial killer Marc Dutroux on 9 August 1996 in Bertrix. Sabine Dardenne had requested a companion because she felt so alone. She was rescued on 15 August 1996.

• James Lee Dozier, (1981), a US general working for NATO in Italy. He and his wife were kidnapped by the Red Brigades on 17 December 1981, and freed by a NOCS commando on 28 January 1982.

• Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped on June 10, 1991, at the age of 11. She was found alive 18 years later, in August 2009. She has two children with the man who kidnapped her. She had her first when she was just fourteen years old. Her children believed Jaycee was their sister.

• Bobby Dunbar was a child who disappeared near Swayze Lake in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, on 23 August 1912. After an eight-month nationwide search, investigators found a child, claimed by Lessie and Percy Dunbar as their son, in the hands of William Cantwell Walters of Mississippi, who was convicted of kidnapping. In 2004, further investigation by Dunbar's granddaughter led to conclusive DNA proof that the child in Walters' custody was not the Dunbar's son and that Walters had been wrongfully convicted.

• Arjan Erkel, a then-32-year-old medical aid worker for Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) was kidnapped in Chechnya on 12 August 2002. Twenty months later he was released after the Dutch government paid a ransom of €1,000,000.

• Sano Fusako, a girl kidnapped in Niigata, Japan, on 13 November 1990 at age 10 and held captive for nine years, two months. She was found alive on 28 January 2000.

• Nina von Gallwitz, (1981), an eight-year-old German girl, was kidnapped on her way to school in Cologne on 18 December 1981, her parents paid a ransom of 1.5 million German mark. Nina was freed on 15 May 1982, at the rest area ‘Ohligser Heide’ after 149 days.

• Sergio Gomez, was kidnapped on December 2, 2007, by two businessmen and murdered the next day

• William Byrne^{[disambiguation needed]}, was taken from his school and left stranded in unfamiliar territory.

• Robert (Bobby) Cosgrove Greenlease Jr. - the six-year-old boy was kidnapped and immediately murdered 28 September 1953 in Kansas City, Missouri by Bonnie Heady and Carl A. Hall. They then demanded and were paid a $600,000 ransom from 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.

• Brooke Hart, the son of a San Jose, California, businessman, was kidnapped and murdered. His kidnappers were lynched by a mob, the last public lynching in California (1933).

• Gerrit Jan Heijn, (1987), Dutch captain of industry and top executive of Ahold, Holland's largest retailer, brother of Albert Heijn; was kidnapped and killed in 1987 by Ferry E. The kidnapper pretended that his victim was still alive and asked for and received ransom; he was caught after spending one of the banknotes of the ransom, of which the numbers had been recorded. He served a prison sentence and is now free. It was observed with scorn that after his release he received over €300,000 back-payment of disability benefits for the time he was in prison (rules have since been changed, such payments are no longer possible).

• Shawn Hornbeck, was abducted in 2002 at the age of 11 and found alive at the age of 15 on 12 January 2007, after being held captive for more than 4 years. 13-year-old Ben Ownby was also found with him after having been missing for 5 days.

• Mary Jemison a 12-year-old white child taken in 1758 from her family by Seneca warriors. The only one not massacred in her family, Mary was adopted into the Seneca tribe and lived her whole life with the natives.

• Rolandito Salas Jusino 1999, playing, allegedly unsupervised, in a community park next to his house's backyard in the city of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. He was never found.

• Leszli Kálli, a Colombian-born author who was kidnapped on 12 April 1999, by virtue of the hijacking of the plane she was on. She was held for slightly more than a year by Colombian leftist guerrillas together with her father and the other passengers. She eventually published a novel about her experiences.

• Natascha Kampusch was abducted at age 10 in Austria in 1998 and held captive for the subsequent eight years until her escape in 2006.

• Hans van de Kimmenade 1999, a group of at least four armed (allegedly Arabian) men kidnapped this 17-year-old son of wealthy industrials from his estate in Helmond (the Netherlands). After the case got so 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.

• Polly Klaas was kidnapped and murdered by Richard Allen Davis in Petaluma, California, in October 1993. Davis's car got stuck in the mud a few miles from Polly's house. A helpful 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.

• Walter Kwok was kidnapped by the notorious gangster "Big Spender" Cheung Chi Keung, 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.^[1]

• Lee Kim Lai, (25 April 1978), 18-year-old Singapore police officer who was kidnapped from a sentry post and killed for his gun.

• Carrie Lawson, a young lawyer in Jasper, Alabama was kidnapped September 11, 1991 in possibly the most 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 and took the 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 & vehicle.[1]

• Peter Lorenz, German conservative politician and candidate for the mayor of West-Berlin, kidnapped in February 1975, only days before the elections. Possibly the first abduction of a politician ever in modern times. 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 being abducted.

• Madeleine McCann, a British girl kidnapped in May 2007 aged 3 from a holiday apartment in Praia de Luz, Portugal. Her parents were out eating at a bar with friends leaving Madeleine and her two younger siblings alone in the apartment. She has not been found.

• Mary McElroy, the daughter of City Manager Henry McElroy of Kansas City, was kidnapped in 1934 and held for ransom. She was released unharmed after the ransom was paid and the four kidnappers were later apprehended and given life sentences.

• Claudia Melchers, in The Netherlands (2005). A group of armed men broke into her house, tied up her husband and children before taking Claudia with them. Motive is unknown, although it is suspected that it was done to receive a large payment, seeing as her father - Hans Melchers - is one of the richest citizens of The Netherlands.

• Aldo Moro, (1978), former Italian Prime Minister, he was killed almost two months later.

• Edgardo Mortara a six-year-old Jewish child taken from his family by Pope Pius IX in 1858 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 decided to remain Catholic, becoming an Augustinian priest and taking the name Pius.

• Ben Needham was a 21-month-old British child who disappeared from the Greek island of Kos on 24 July 1991. It is presumed (?) he was abducted and sold for illegal adoption.

• Morgan Nick was a 6 year old girl who disappeared while she was at a baseball game with her mother in Alma, Arkansas. 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, but her mother started a foundation to help families with missing children.

• North Korean abductions of Japanese (1970s – 1980s)

• North Korean abductions of South Koreans (began in 1950)

• Prince Pedro Thiago of Orléans-Braganza was kidnapped on 26 May 1992 while on his way to college. Rescued by police a week later.

• Walter Palmers, (1977), Austrian industrialist.

• Cynthia Ann Parker a nine-year old white child taken in 1836 from her family by Comanches raiding their home at Fort Parker, Texas, in which she would live 24 years among the Comanche and marry war chief Peta Nocona and give birth to three children, including the last war chief of the Comanche, Quanah Parker.

• Marion Parker - On 14 December 1927, William Hickman kidnapped and murdered 12-year-old Marion Parker, the daughter of a Los Angeles banker. A few days after being paid a small ransom, Hickman was arrested and tried. On 19 October 1928, became the first American kidnapper to be executed for his crime.

• Larcena Pennington and 21-year-old Mercedes Sais Quiroz, by Apaches (1860) .

• Ion Perdicaris and his stepson Cromwell Varley were kidnapped by Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli in Morocco in 1904, causing US Secretary of State John Hay to declare "This government wants Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead."

• Rahul, a seven-year-old boy, disappeared on 18 May 2005 in Alappuzha, Kerala, India. The local police and the CBI have not found any tangible evidence.

• June Robles, a six-year-old resident of Tucson, Arizona. After ransom 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.

• Edith Rosenkranz, wife of Dr. George Rosenkranz, a wealthy Mexico City businessman (founder of the Syntex Corporation, a developer of the birth control pill) was kidnapped at gunpoint on July 19, 1984 from the Washington-Sheraton Hotel in Washington, D.C. during an American Contract Bridge League national tournament. She was returned unharmed 2 days later, after her husband paid a $1 million ransom. The ransom money was recovered and the two kidnappers, Glenn I Wright and Dennis Moss, were later convicted and sentenced, as was a third defendant, Orland D. Tolden.[2]

• Charley Ross, 1874, the first American to be kidnapped for ransom that received wide public attention.

• Hanns-Martin Schleyer, (1977), a German manager, was kidnapped by the extreme-left militant organisation Red Army Faction on 5 September 1977. He was taken from Brussels and 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.

• Chiang Kai Shek, Leader of China, Dec 12, 1936, was kidnapped by a warlord, in an affair known as the Xi'an Incident.

• Shergar, (1981), Epsom Derby-winning racehorse

• Dru Sjodin, American college student, found dead on 17 April 2004.

• Anne Sluti, American teenager from Nebraska kidnapped, from a mall parking lot in April 2001, by Anthony Steven "Tony Zappa" Wright, taken out of state and raped for 6 days, before being rescued.

• Elizabeth Smart, was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City bedroom on 5 June 2002 and was found alive nine months later in a suburb of Salt Lake City on 12 March 2003.

• Colleen Stan was kidnapped by Cameron Hooker and held for seven years as a sex slave.

• Steven Stayner, was kidnapped on his way home from school in 1972 in Merced, California and found alive in 1980. He died in 1989 in a motorcycle accident.

• Graeme Thorne - Australia's first kidnap victim, aged 8. His parents Basil and Freda Thorne won the £100,000 Opera House Lottery (at that time, the names of winners were published). Five weeks later, on 7 July 1960, 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.

• Mindy Tran was eight years old when she disappeared from her neighbourhood in August 1994, just after supper. She rode her bike down her quiet Kelowna, B.C. 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.

• Marcuse and Jeremiah Treanor were kidnapped from their mother's home 3 March 1980 at the age of 7½ years old. Jeremiah was discovered three years later in a Child Prostitution sting by Scotland Yard. His brother had been murdered only a week before rescue. Twelve young boys in all were recovered, though unfortunately 38 kidnappings were linked to the group. This case was credited with being the impetus for the first child crimes unit in Scotland Yard. In trial, it was discovered that the Russian Mafia was linked to the ring. The three children who testified in the trial were put into witness protection.

• Cristina Rios Valladeres and her 2 children were kidnapped in 2005 and freed after 52 days. Florence Cassez is currently serving a 61-year sentence for this abduction, although some people in France believe she is innocent.

• Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli nuclear whistleblower, abducted by Mossad in Italy and brought back to Israel, where he was convicted of treason and espionage, and served 18 years in prison, 11 years in solitary confinement (1986).

• Adam Walsh, (14 November 1974 – c. 27 July 1981), was the 6-year-old son of America's Most Wanted host John Walsh and his wife, Revé. He was abducted on 27 July 1981, from a Sears department store at the Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida, and later found murdered.

• Jacob Wetterling, was an 11 year old boy kidnapped on his way home by a masked gunman on October 22, 1989 his case remains unsolved.

• Lesley Whittle, 17-year-old woman kidnapped by the so-called Black Panther Donald Neilson in January 1974.

• Sara Ann Wood was a 12-year-old girl who disappeared on a quiet road near her Frankfort, New York, home on August 18, 1993. Lewis 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 pled 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 he 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 currently in prison in Massachusetts. Lent is also 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. It has been speculated that Lent did not act alone and that his accomplice(s) are still at large.

• Naga Vaishnavi (2000–2010) was kidnapped and murdered by her kidnappers

• Luis Fishman Costa Rican politician, kidnapped in 1992 by Santos Orlando Ordóñez Betancourt, former intelligence member of Honduras. He was later released after a payment of $100,000.^[2]

• Khan Kakama (2008–2010) was kidnapped from Bugolobi, an affluent suburb in Uganda's capital Kampala and murdered in June 2010. He was handed to them by Molly Nabasa, his Nanny. His Parent's, Sven and Naome Karekaho are middle class citizens working for Uganda Revenue Authority and National Environmental Management Authority Respectiively. Godwin Tumusiime, Brian Sajjabi and Molly Nabasa are currently facing trial for His murder and kidnap.

• Norma Lopez (age 17) was kidnapped and murdered on her way home from summer school at Valley View High School in Moreno Valley, CA. Her murder has not been found.