Travis Embrey
In May 2004, Robert Lynn Embrey and Bonnie Gail Embrey abducted their grandson, Travis Embrey, and traveled with him from California to Arizona. The couple were Travis’s guardians and fled with him because they objected to allowing the boy court ordered visits with his mother. Travis was recovered in August 2006 at age 11. During his abduction, Travis […]
Joseph Chaney
Cynthia Guthrie abducted 14-year-old Joseph Chaney from his mobile home in Tennessee and went on the run with him, first to Colorado and then to New Mexico, where she was caught. Guthrie was a friend of the boy’s mother, Susan Smith, who had asked Guthrie to homeschool her two sons. Guthrie’s sexual abuse of Joseph […]
Jaelen Edge
13-year-old Jaelen Edge and his sister, 9-year-old Faith Edge, were found dead in a Santa Ana, California, hotel room the day before their mother, Marilyn Edge, was to turn over custody of the two children to their father, Mark Edge. Around a week earlier, a judge had settled the couple’s long custody dispute. Rather than […]
Emily Fritts
Mary Fritts kidnapped her 7-year-old daughter, Emily Fritts, from Staunton, Virginia, in August 1994 to avoid allowing her ex-husband visitation rights. The mother and daughter assumed new identities and moved frequently, living in Tennessee, Oregon, Kansas, Alaska, and Montana. Mary also homeschooled Emily. Emily’s father, Rodney Fritts, hired a private investigator and spent nearly half […]
Gail Perkins
In the late 1990s, 18-month-old Gail Perkins was kidnapped by her father, Adam Lee Perkins, from her Greensboro, North Carolina, home in the midst of a custody dispute. Along with his mother, Ruth Perkins, Adam fled with the girl to Alabama and later Ohio, where he claimed to be homeschooling the now 6-year-old (it is unknown whether he […]
Lisa Gooding
In 1991, Melissa Gooding kidnapped her 2-year-old daughter, Lisa Gooding. Melissa’s parents accompanied the mother and daughter, and Lisa grew up in the company of her mother and grandparents. The family adopted assumed names and moved every few years (they lived in Illinois, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Utah before settling in Texas). Lisa was homeschooled […]
3 Grandchildren of John Pierre Baker and Betty Jo Miller
In 1997, two children, a boy and a girl, clawed a hole in the room of their trailer home prison and escaped into the Arizona desert. Their story began ten years before, when their mother went to prison for theft and forgery and they were placed in the custody of their grandfather, John Pierre Baker. […]
Elizabeth Smart
14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her bedroom in Salt Lake City on June 5, 2002. Elizabeth was held captive by Brian David Mitchell, who considered himself a prophet, and his wife Wanda Ileen Barzee. Mitchell threatened, bound, and raped Elizabeth daily, treating her as his second wife and sex slave. The three traveled from […]
Jaycee Dugard and 2 Daughters
Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped from her home town of Lake Tahoe, on June 10, 1991. She was held captive by previously convicted kidnapper Phillip Garrido at his home in Antioch, California. Jaycee was kept handcuffed, locked in a bolted room, and then confined to a backyard surrounded by an 8 foot fence. Garrido sexually assaulted […]
Jessyca Mullenberg
13-year-old Jessyca Mullenberg was kidnapped from her father’s home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, by her writing teacher, Steven Oliver, on September 16, 1995. Oliver and Jessyca drove to Kansas City, Missouri, and then flew to Houston, Texas. Oliver took Jessyca from motel to motel, presenting himself as her father and physically, sexually, and mentally abusing […]
