新澳门开奖结果

20 Infamous Kidnappings That Gripped the World

I have always been fascinated by crime stories and movies. Even though I despise the criminals and their actions, I can鈥檛 help but wonder what drives them to do such things.

Some of the most intriguing crimes are high-profile murders, financial frauds, and today鈥檚 subject -kidnappings. Over the years, headlines have been flooded with stories of dark, grisly kidnappings.

Many of these stories are so horrifying that they鈥檙e almost hard to believe. Some kidnapping victims return home, but others are not so lucky and are sadly killed by their captors.

So what are the most common motives you ask? Several of the most famous kidnapping victims were abducted because their families were rich, and the kidnappers wanted a hefty ransom. Others were just the actions of deranged individuals with ulterior motives.

One of the best-known kidnapping stories is that of Adam Walsh, the son of America鈥檚 Most Wanted host John Walsh. Other famous kidnapping victims include Patty Hearst, Elizabeth Smart, Jaycee Dugard, and Charles Lindbergh Jr.

This article will look into the stories of these victims and the criminals who victimized them changing the trajectory of their lives.

1. John Paul Getty III

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Among history鈥檚 notorious kidnappings, few encapsulate high-stakes family drama like John Paul Getty III鈥檚 1973 abduction tied to the oil dynasty. John Paul Getty III, the teenage grandson of oil magnate J. Paul Getty, was kidnapped in Rome.

At just 16 years old, Getty III was taken by a criminal gang. The scene was one of terror as the young heir was dragged into a car, setting off a series of events that would captivate the world.

The kidnappers initially demanded a $17 million ransom from the Getty family. Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication, the ransom negotiations stalled, leading the captors to resort to drastic measures.

In a shocking turn, they severed Getty III’s ear and mailed it to a newspaper to pressure the family. Eventually, a reduced ransom was paid, and Getty III was released after six months in captivity, leaving an indelible mark on the Getty family’s legacy.

2. Victor Li Tzar-kuoi

Photo by on

In 1996, Hong Kong’s business elite was rocked by the high-profile kidnapping of Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, the son of billionaire Li Ka-shing. Victor, then 32, was abducted at knifepoint by notorious gangster “Big Spender” Cheung Tze-keung.

The scene unfolded when Victor Li was leaving his office in Hong Kong. The kidnappers demanded a staggering HKD 2 billion (about USD 260 million) ransom.

The situation was further complicated when, instead of involving the police, the Li family engaged in direct negotiations with the kidnappers. At the time, this amount was said to merit an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Eventually, a reduced ransom was paid, and Victor Li was released unharmed after a week in captivity.

This high-stakes kidnapping shed light on the vulnerability of even the wealthiest individuals and fueled debates about the appropriate response to such situations.

3. Jaycee Lee Dugard

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1991, the world was stunned by the abduction of 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard in South Lake Tahoe, California. Snatched on her way to school by Phillip and Nancy Garrido, Jaycee endured 18 years of captivity in a hidden backyard compound.

The Garridos subjected her to psychological manipulation, isolation, and abuse. During her captivity, Jaycee gave birth to two daughters fathered by Phillip. Her discovery in 2009 was a result of a campus event where Phillip was accompanied by Jaycee and her daughters, prompting suspicion.

The kidnapping became a global sensation as Jaycee bravely adapted to her newfound freedom, sharing her story in the memoir “A Stolen Life.”

4. Fusako Sano

In 1990, 9-year-old Fusako Sano was abducted in Japan by Nobuyuki Sato, who was mentally disturbed. Her kidnapping captivated the nation and intensified concerns about child safety.

Held in a hidden apartment for nearly a decade, Fusako endured both physical and psychological abuse. Remarkably, she was discovered by the police in 2000, having spent almost nine years in captivity.

Her discovery was largely thanks to the mother of the kidnapper noticing and reporting his strange behavior.

This case highlighted the challenges of locating missing children and the importance of sustained efforts in investigations. Fusako’s story had a profound impact on Japanese society, leading to increased awareness about child protection and the need for improved security measures.

5. Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr.

Lindbergh baby poster,

Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the 20-month-old son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, became the center of a haunting kidnapping case on the evening of March 1, 1932.

From the family’s New Jersey home, a ladder was found propped against the child’s bedroom window. The kidnapper left a ransom note demanding $50,000.

Despite the Lindberghs’ compliance, the situation took a tragic turn. The toddler’s lifeless body was discovered over two months later, on May 12, 1932, in the woods near the family home.

Bruno Hauptmann, a German immigrant, was arrested, tried, and eventually executed for the crime. The Lindbergh kidnapping captured international attention, marking the first high-profile “crime of the century”.

6. Steven Stayner

Snatched while riding his bike home, 7-year-old Steven Stayner鈥檚 1972 disappearance sparked California鈥檚 largest missing children hunt at the time.

However, when he astonishingly surfaced over 7 years later in 1980, the shocking truth emerged that Kenneth Eugene Parnell had kidnapped and abused him for years after promising a better home life.

Though initially too afraid to escape, Stayner later fled with another captive boy. His testimony brought national attention toward child abduction networks while helping pass 1982鈥檚 Missing Children Act before Stayner died at 24 in a motorcycle accident.

While Stayner did survive, the kidnapping also had some very severe consequences for the family. After he was kidnapped, the parents for years were so focused on getting their missing son that they neglected the one, called Cary, who was home.

Cary then grew up to become the Yosemite serial killer.

7. Patty Hearst

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Patty Hearst, the granddaughter of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, became the center of a sensational kidnapping saga in 1974. The 19-year-old was abducted by the radical Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) from her Berkeley apartment.

The kidnapping was marked by chaos as the SLA demanded food distribution for the needy in exchange for Hearst’s release. Shockingly, Hearst began identifying with her captors, later participating in bank robberies and adopting the name “Tania.”

She was held captive for 19 months before being apprehended by authorities. The case stirred controversy over whether Hearst acted under duress or genuinely embraced her captors’ ideology.

8. Colleen Stan

Colleen Stan’s harrowing ordeal began in 1977 when she accepted a ride from Cameron Hooker, a seemingly ordinary man with a dark secret. Stan was then held captive in a coffin-like box for 23 hours a day, enduring physical and psychological abuse.

Hooker even subjected her to his “Slave Contract,” making her believe she was a consensual participant in her own captivity. Stan was kidnapped for seven years, during which Hooker’s wife, Janice, was also implicated in the abuse. The situation finally concluded when Stan managed to escape, admittedly with the help of Hooker鈥檚 wife.

The case shed light on the extreme psychological manipulation used by abductors and the resilience of survivors in the face of unimaginable trauma.

9. Shannon Louise Matthews

Photo by on

In a shocking and convoluted case that unfolded in Dewsbury, England, 9-year-old Shannon Louise Matthews became the victim of a heart-wrenching abduction in 2008.

Held captive for about a month, the kidnapper turned out to be the uncle of Shannon’s mother’s boyfriend. What added a bizarre twist to this already distressing situation was the revelation that Shannon’s own mother was complicit in the scheme.

The motive was a monetary reward, and the plan involved splitting the money between Shannon’s mother and the uncle after the latter “discovered” the missing girl.

Intriguingly, Shannon’s mother’s boyfriend, though initially suspected, had no involvement in the kidnapping. He was, however, (the mother鈥檚 boyfriend that is), convicted for being in possession of child pornography on his computer.

10. Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Georgina “Gina” DeJesus

, , via Wikimedia Commons

For a harrowing decade starting in 2002, Ariel Castro held three Cleveland women captive by brutal force inside his nondescript home after separate abductions years apart.

Teenager Michelle Knight disappeared first, while 21-year-old Amanda Berry was nabbed next during her walk home from work followed by 14-year-old Gina DeJesus鈥� capture.

Repeatedly beaten and raped during nightmarish years of isolation where escape attempts risked their lives, Berry finally broke free with her 6-year daughter born in confinement to save them all.

Curiously, the women were apparently held captive in the same Cleveland, Ohio neighborhood where they were abducted. While Castro was imprisoned for over 1000 counts of rape and torture, he killed himself shortly after going to prison.

11. Elizabeth Fritzl

Photo by on

Imprisoned by her own father for 24 years, the nightmare captivity of Elizabeth Fritzl shocked Austria and the world after emerging in 2008.

At age 18 in 1984, Joseph Fritzl lured his daughter into the family’s basement before trapping her in a soundproof cellar he built first to rape Elizabeth repeatedly. The underground hell also birthed 7 of her father鈥檚 children, one dying after 3 days while the incestuous abuse stayed chillingly hidden.

Though reported missing, Elizabeth鈥檚 mother unwillingly helped conceal Joseph鈥檚 lies for decades till critically ill Elizabeth persuaded Joseph to seek hospital treatment in 2002.

The barbarous crimes stunned and disgusted the public upon exposure, intensifying outrage that such cruelty festered locally completely undetected for so long.

12. Brooke Hart

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The 1933 abduction and murder of 22-year-old department store heir Brooke Hart gripped America eventually culminating in a lynching that would be known as 鈥渢he last lynching in California.鈥�

While driving from work, two men forced Hart into a car at gunpoint demanding his family pay $40,000 in ransom. After delays in securing funds, Hart鈥檚 kidnappers announced they would hang him from a bridge as revenge before making the grim threat a reality despite hundreds of witnesses pleading otherwise.

Once caught, the kidnappers were publicly lynched by the public owing to how well-liked Hart was and the gruesome and inhumane way they treated him.

13. Zephany Nurse

, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Stolen from a South African hospital just 3 days after her birth in 1997, Zephany Nurse鈥檚 family spent 17 years fervently seeking the daughter they lost before an unbelievable twist of fate returned her.

As the Nurses never stopped believing they鈥檇 locate their missing infant, the now-teen Zephany unwittingly met biological relatives while attending the same school as her younger sister.

The girl鈥檚 remarkable resemblance to her parents and sister helped unravel a deception that revealed her identity. Ultimately, the woman who abducted Zephany at birth while posing as a nurse was sentenced to 10 years in prison just after an emotional reunion confirming DNA results.

14. Adam Walsh

Adam Walsh’s abduction in 1981 at a Florida shopping mall left an indelible mark on American consciousness. The scene was chaotic, with the 6-year-old separated from his mother for mere moments.

The aftermath of this tragedy led his parents, John and Reve Walsh, to become advocates for missing children’s rights. Adam’s kidnapping gained nationwide attention and prompted the establishment of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984.

Despite extensive efforts, Adam’s fate remained unknown for years. His legacy, however, inspired changes in how missing children cases are handled, leading to the development of the “Code Adam” safety program in retail stores.

15. Kampusch Kidnapper

, , via Wikimedia Commons

Natascha Kampusch, a name etched in the annals of infamous kidnappings, endured a horrifying ordeal that began on March 2, 1998, in Vienna, Austria. At the age of 10, she was kidnapped by Wolfgang Priklopil on her way to school.

Priklopil confined her in a small, windowless cell beneath his garage for eight grueling years. During captivity, Kampusch endured physical and psychological abuse, but her resilience led to her eventual escape in 2006.

She seized an opportunity when Priklopil became momentarily distracted, allowing her to break free. The kidnapper, recognizing his capture was imminent, took his own life shortly after Kampusch’s escape.

The world watched in shock and fascination as Kampusch rebuilt her life, becoming a symbol of survival and resilience.

16. Bobby Greenlease

Photo by on

The shocking murder of 6-year-old Bobby Greenlease just months after his millionaire father died gripped the heartland in 1953. Snatched outside his Catholic school by Bonnie Heady and Carl Austin Hall, the family paid a $600,000 ransom expecting Bobby鈥檚 return.

However, instead, the panicked parents learned of their boy鈥檚 tragic suffocation mere hours later before the couple went on the lam with loot in tow.

Fueling public fury as one of the infamous crimes of the era, the kidnappers鈥� nearly two-month stint evading an interstate FBI dragnet ended in a fiery shootout and swift execution sentencing.

The horrific loss of his only heir saw the Greenlease fortune later used to fund children鈥檚 charities 鈥� bittersweet solace after such senseless violence stole an innocent young life placed at the center of a notorious crime primarily driven by greed.

17. Eloise Parry

Lured through an online suicide blog, the case of U.K. woman Eloise Parry highlighted modern tech鈥檚 risk to mental health in an alarming fashion. Known to struggle with self-esteem issues, Parry grew convinced she should die accessing websites urging suicide pacts and methods.

When one contact claimed they could provide banned poison, Parry was pressured into providing intimate images such as blackmail to obtain the substance she ingested on camera.

Though quickly hospitalized in 2015 after the lethal dose, the vulnerable 21-year-old could not be saved but detailed her exploitation by this coercion.

Her devastating story underscored intensifying concerns about unregulated spaces and radicalizing content鈥檚 effect on compromised individuals while reigniting ethical arguments on enabling suicides virtually.

18. Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping

, , via Wikimedia Commons

In 1976, the small town of Chowchilla, California, became the eerie stage for one of the most audacious and infamous mass kidnappings. Twenty-six children, aged 5 to 14, along with their bus driver, were abducted from their school bus.

The scene unfolded when three armed men (Fred Woods, James Schoenfeld, and Richard Schoenfeld) blocked the bus’s path, revealing their faces behind pantyhose masks. The victims were herded into a moving van buried underground in a quarry, where they endured stifling conditions.

The kidnappers, led by Frederick Woods, demanded a hefty ransom. Remarkably, the victims managed to escape 16 hours later, after their captors’ plan to demand a ransom from the state failed.

The Chowchilla bus kidnapping left an indelible mark on the nation’s consciousness, highlighting the vulnerability of schoolchildren to heinous crimes.

19. Elizabeth Smart

, , via Wikimedia Commons

In 2002, America was transfixed when 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart vanished from the bedroom of her Salt Lake City home. A drifter named Brian David Mitchell who had done odd jobs for the family was soon implicated along with his wife Wanda Barzee.

Though extensively searched for, Smart was held captive for nine months, during which she was continuously drugged and sexually assaulted. In a remarkable turn, after sightings poured in, Smart was finally recognized and rescued walking with her captors.

Both were sentenced to lengthy prison terms as Smart became an advocate for kidnapped children. The riveting mystery around her nighttime disappearance gave way to inspiration in the face of trauma.

20. Frank Sinatra Jr.

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The 1963 kidnapping of beloved crooner Frank Sinatra鈥檚 teenage son riveted the nation with a mix of celebrity intrigue and relief upon his safe return days later.

After being coerced at gunpoint from a Lake Tahoe hotel room, young Frank Sinatra Jr. was held hostage by three men demanding an exorbitant $240,000 ransom from his entertainment icon father. Yet Sr. refused to pay, trusting the Bureau to intervene.

Shortly after the daring arrest of his assailants, Sinatra Jr. was located unharmed. He declined to press charges against the small-time criminals. Interest remained high around inconsistencies suggesting a staged publicity stunt instead to help resurrect his son鈥檚 foundering musical career.

Following this harrowing journey through the annals of infamous kidnappings, one cannot help but feel the weight of the collective anguish and resilience exhibited by the victims and their families. These heart-wrenching stories, etched in history, serve as cautionary tales and reminders of the fragility and complexity of human existence.