Women Who Were Abducted and Held Captive, But Later Escaped

Authorities think someone living near the Salt Lake City home from which the 6-year-old was taken in 1995 may have more information.

The 3-year-old vanished from her family's vacation home in Portugal in 2007.

Captors abducted Steve's Wynn oldest child from her home on July 26, 1993.

A news report inspired him to dig into his own past.

Fritzl imprisoned his daughter Elisabeth for almost 25 years.

The 23-year-old waitress graduated from the University of California at Irvine with a degree in social sciences one year earlier, her parents say.

The boy disappeared after attending his school science fair on June 4, 2010.

The mom of 'Today' show's Savannah Guthrie vanished February 1, 2026.

She and her young daughter were kidnapped by a former student.

The Chowchill bus abduction remains one of America's largest mass kidnappings.

The 20-year-old's decomposed body was found in an Iowa cornfield five weeks later.

A 1978 kidnapping nearly turned fatal after a prison escapee abducted her.

Tanner Horner abducted and murdered the Texas girl in November 2022.

The then-34-year-old mom of two told police she was kidnapped at gunpoint by two Hispanic women during a jog on November 2, 2016.

A group of kids came across Adre’anna Jackson's remains in April 2006.

Four children were murdered in Michigan between 1976 and 1977.

Their murderer came forward after their 1975 abduction and slaying.

Harrel Braddy was initially sentenced to death for Quatisha Maycock's murder.

Ransom demands have often played a crucial role in abduction cases.

An unidentified caller tormented Dorothy Jane Scott for months.

Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton were declared legally dead.

The press gave the abduction of Charles Lindbergh's son nonstop coverage.

Amber Dubois and Chelsea King were killed by the same man.

"I'm all about solving things," the 'Unfound' host says.

The family’s Great Depression kidnapping spree made headlines.

Julie Moseley, Rachel Trlica and Renee Wilson disappeared.

John Edward Robinson sold her as an infant to his brother.

Georiga passed The Meredith Emerson Memorial Privacy Act in 2010.

Two brothers targeted her one night in Oil City, Penn., in 1992.

Nadia Alexandra Dabbagh was taken at 2 years old in 1992.

Based on a true story, Lifetime’s *The Girl Who Survived: The Alina Thompson Story* recounts an attempt made on Thompson’s life at 15.

John Evander Couey abducted and killed her in February 2005.

Reporters worried Tony Kiritsis would kill Dick Hall on live TV.

The Utah teenager endured nine months of abuse before her rescue.

He was caught after the 1928 murder of 10-year-old Grace Budd.

They 13-year-old got taken from the supermarket parking lot.

Nima Louise Carter was taken from her crib and killed in 1977.

Inconsistencies in a victim's story often lead to skepticism.

Christopher Bernard Wilder became known as 'The Beauty Queen Killer' during a frenzied 1984 spree, where he criss-crossed the U.S., luring young women into his fancy cars and dangling the promise of work as a model, if they would just allow him to take their photographs. Some took the bait. Others, he took by force.

The chief suspect—her estranged husband—took his own life.

They escaped a house of horrors. Now the three women help others.

Lisa McVey was 17 years old when she was abducted, beaten and raped by a serial killer—and managed to survive. We spoke with McVey, now a master deputy in the Hillsborough County (Florida) Sheriff's Office, about how she outsmarted her kidnapper, Bobby Joe Long.

Jane Blasio was one of about 200 newborn babies illegally sold.

A New York mother found her abducted young son across the world.

The two cases helped usher in the age of milk-carton notices.

Rescue came after she secretly passed letters to a postal worker.

For seven years, she was locked in a small, coffin-like box.

She said a difficult childhood helped her survive.

She abducted and abused them to get their Social Security checks.

To find out how one might escape a captor, A&E spoke with Lt. Chris Zimmerman.

Sex trafficking is big business, and here in the United States, it ensnares hundreds of thousands of victims.

Parents might not report their missing child for a myriad of reasons: because they are the perpetrator, immigration concerns and more.

Read an excerpt from the book 'Life After Darkness: Finding Healing and Happiness After the Cleveland Kidnappings,' by Michelle Knight, now known as Lily Rose Lee.

Authorities didn't locate Kamiyah Mobley, who'd been abducted at birth by a woman named Gloria Williams, for 18 years. We explore this unusual kidnapping case.

Over a decade after she was found alive after being kidnapped as a child, Dugard has learned to drive, written two books and started a foundation to help other survivors.

Kamiyah Mobley was 16 years old when she discovered that Gloria Williams, the woman she knew as her mother, was actually her kidnapper.

The amazing 2006 escape of a 14-year-old girl from Kershaw County, South Carolina, who had been kidnapped, raped and held in an underground bunker in the woods for 10 days.

Although it's rare for women to kill other women for their unborn babies, when it happens, the motive is usually beyond wanting a child.

Gary Heidnick's crimes helped inspire Buffalo Bill's character in 'Silence of the Lambs.' We spoke with the killer and self-described pastor's defense lawyer, Charles Peruto, Jr., about what it was like representing one of Philadelphia's most infamous criminals.

For many years, a Georgia woman ran an underground network out of her Atlanta home in order to hide children who'd allegedly been abused. Some feel she was a hero, while others believe she was a kidnapper and vigilante.

Lisa Montgomery spent years on death row after committing a horrific crime. While there, she began to recover from a lifetime of nightmarish abuse. In January 2021 she was the first woman executed by the U.S. government in 67 years.

A 9-year-old girl vanished in Shelby, NC on February 14, 2000. New leads and DNA now offer hope for answers.

Journalist Brian Joseph tells us why sex trafficking is a complicated problem and how victims are further harmed by public perception and widespread corruption.

What causes adults to kidnap children? The perpetrators range from serial rapists to parents trying to protect their sons and daughters.