There are some scenarios in life that are simply too heartbreaking to even imagine. If I let the thought cross my mind that I’ll one day lose my loved ones, I can quickly start to spiral. But sadly, many people are experiencing and living through nightmares every single day.
Survivors of kidnappings have been sharing their stories online, so we’ve gathered some of their most heart wrenching accounts below. It’s a relief that these individuals lived to tell their tales, but no one should have to experience what they went through in the first place. We’ll warn you right now that these stories might be difficult to read, but if you can make it through, be sure to upvote the ones you find most powerful.
#1
When I was in my early 20s in St. Louis, I lived with my boyfriend. We both worked at a large government agency.
We had a large group of friends who would all party together.
At one particular party, there were a lot more guys than women. The guys were all playing football, air hockey, and some other games while drinking excessively.
I have never been a huge drinker so I wasn’t drinking. I was just hanging out in the kitchen looking at magazines because I found the party to be boring with mostly men playing games.
At one point, a guy I had seen around town but didn’t really know walked into the kitchen and started chatting with me.
He said, “Your boyfriend seems to be ignoring you.” I told him my boyfriend was really into competition and loved playing in the Foosball competitions.
Then he walked over to me and unexpectedly grabbed me. He picked me up and started walking out the back door. I was kicking and punching him while struggling to get away.
Another woman walked into the kitchen at that minute, and I screamed for her to help me. I was frightened but in shock since I did not see it coming.
The guy, whose name I didn’t even know, laughed and told her, “it’s OK, we’re just playing. She’s fine.”
The woman ran into the Foosball room, grabbed my boyfriend, and told him some guy just carried me out of the house.
My boyfriend ran out of the house after us and caught up to us as the man was pushing me into his car. I was still fighting and kicking, but he told me if I didn’t shut up, he was going to make me. I was frightened out of my mind.
Just as my boyfriend got to the car, he changed his entire demeanor and said, “Hey man, you were ignoring her, so I was going to take her to get something to eat.”
So untrue. My boyfriend quickly analyzed the situation, grabbed my hand and told the guy “hey, I’ll take care of her from here.”
The guy got in his car and drove off. I burst into tears.
We went back into the house and called the police. After talking to them on the phone, they said no crime had been committed, and that was it.
I have no idea what could have happened to me. Maybe nothing, maybe something very bad.
After that incident, I was always on guard at parties. Actually, I became hypersensitive to my surroundings after that.
From that point on I was always looking to see where the exits were. I always had money and change tucked into a pocket if I had to escape.
To this day I still keep money in my pocket, but I always have my phone with me. I have a tracker on it in case I disappear my family can track me. I also have a panic button on my home alarm system and cameras that back up to my cloud.
Yes, I am paranoid. Better safe than sorry.
When I hear about women at bars or parties getting drugged and assaulted, I realize how lucky I was that I had not been drinking and had my wits about me so many years ago. I was also lucky that other woman saw the situation and helped me.
I also understand after my incident how serial killers grab women, children, and weaker victims right out of public view.
It’s the element of surprise and not being 100% aware of your surroundings that can put you in the worst danger.
Please stay safe everyone.-
Image credits: Karen Marie Shelton
#2
“There are no winners when it comes to parental abduction. Everyone loses, especially the children. I was abducted by my father when I was 4 years old, and was missing for 14 years. I lived those years on the run, in hiding, and in fear. We lived on Greyhound buses and traveled through 3 countries and 34 states, all to run away from a mother who loved me. I had to dress like a boy, dye my hair different colors, beg for money and food, change my name and identity many times. I didn’t go to school much, or live in one place for very long, and was exposed to inappropriate and dangerous situations. It was a life of fear and homelessness.
As a very young child, I believed that my father did what he did because he loved me. He told me that the reason my mother wasn’t with us was because she didn’t care about me and was a bad person. Since I was so young, I quickly began to forget her face, her voice, everything. She soon became a faceless stranger who wanted to take me away from all that had become familiar. I helped my father hide me, and saw him as my hero. I, like most children, preferred the familiar to the unfamiliar, even if the familiar was abusive and awful.
It was only as I grew older that I began to see things differently. From things that my father said and did, I began to realize that his reasons for abducting me had nothing to do with my well–being. An aunt of mine, my father’s sister, told me that she thought my father was wrong to do what he did. She told me that my mom was a loving, responsible parent who wanted the best for me, and wanted me to have a good relationship with my dad, and that prior to the abduction I had spent nearly as much time with him as with her. My aunt said that my mother had come to her house crying, begging her to just let her know if I was alive and okay. This really touched me.
Another thing that made me rethink the abduction was that my father has abducted other children before, two of his three sons–my half-brothers–from his first marriage. (My mother was his second wife, and she didn’t know that he had abducted the boys. He was granted custody of them by a European court, using forged documents stating that their American mother didn’t want custody of them.) It seemed to be the way he dealt with his frustrations, and made me think that maybe what he did had less to do with protecting me than I was led to believe it did. As a teenager I nearly destroyed myself, both emotionally and physically. I felt betrayed by those who were supposed to love and protect me, and my world fell apart.
I managed to find my mother when I was nearly 18. It was a difficult reunion, since part of me desperately wanted to hang on to the belief that what my father did was justified. It was almost too painful to believe otherwise. But I wanted the truth. I called my mother before my 18th birthday, and we met shortly after. The pain didn’t end with my meeting my mom, a wonderful person. (I tried hard to find the fatal flaws that would have justified my father’s actions but they aren’t there. She’s wonderful.) I had to figure out who I was, where I came from, and where I was going. It took many years to reestablish a relationship with my mother, come to terms with my past, and learn to trust myself, others, and my perceptions of the world.
Image credits: Terra Matris
#3
I was walking to school alone at night and this guy pulled up next to me and tried grabbing my arm through his window, telling me to get in the car. He tried getting out of his car, and stuck his leg out. I body slammed the door so hard that I heard the crunch that was his leg breaking. He screamed, and I hit him square in the nose with the vitamin water I had in my hand. I sprinted all the way back to the school. When the officer talked with me, she said I did an amazing job.
Image credits: Kenneth McLaughlin
#4
A little girl got kiddnapped after the end of the school. The kidnappers told her that they knew her father and they were here to pick her up. The innocent girl believed them and went along. The kidnappers seemed to be friendly although they weren’t. The girl was being taken to a remote place in the same town. They had a conversation during the journey (trying to get more information from her). The girl doubted the kidnappers from their words and came up with a great idea! She cooked up a story saying ,”Do you know my uncle? He is a brave police, isn’t he? He just caught two thieves!” The kidnappers started biting their nails believing the story. Out to fear, they left the girl to the place she was picked up from and went away! The girl later discovered that her father hadn’t sent anyone and all were worried about her. The girl’s suspicion was true. Though she was very nervous and afraid, her presence of mind saved her.
P.S. That little girl is my mother.
Image credits: Garvit Jain
#5
For me it was quite a few things: The threatening to hit me with a huge branch, grabbing me and tossing me into his car and just the whole unknown of it all. Unknown grown man, unknown car (other than description), nobody around to hear or see what was going on or hear me loudly crying. The complete helplessness that way too.
I was 7. Im 31 now and i still remember exactly what he looks like to this day, his face pops up in dreams and nightmares sometimes. Police never caught him so i dont get to have any solid answers.
However, I have a strong feeling and suspicion that the man was going to sell me for money into human trafficking. Something very strong came over him though, and seemed to very suddenly change his mind in the moments before he reached over me, opened the door, and told me to get out. I believe the universe had something to do with that, given my purpose in life.
Image credits: Maddy Gerber
#6
I was kidnapped and SA’d when I was 8, and fortunately was set free the same day. It’s rare these days it seems that children who are kidnapped return home. I only know who I am now and have no idea who I would be otherwise but I definitely struggle with some anxiety and expect bad things to happen purely because they have happened. I suppose I suffer some form of PTSD but it’s never been diagnosed. I can’t imagine anyone could go through that without long lasting effects.
With that said people are more resilient than they think. Most who know me today would never guess that is my story. I’m successful and appear very confident to others.
Although I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone else it shaped who I am today and I’m able to help others because of my experience.
Image credits: Raine Leigh
#7
My friend’s mother used to open a local store at 6 am. One morning a car pulled in and 2 black guys shoved her into the back seat of their car and drove a few miles away to the Airline Motor Motel. When one of them opened the back door to the car, she shot him with the pistol she had in her purse. She said “he went, ‘ugh’ and pitched forward. She said the other man ran away. When the Cops came, called by the motel concierge, they wiped her gun off, gave it back to her and said, ”Good job”. She was terrified by the experience until she [took out] the guy.
Image credits: JN Dauterive
#8
I was kidnapped when I was 7 by a stranger. He let me go after 5-10 minutes of driving, but it has affected and scarred me for life. Therapy has been helping, I’m okay to talk about it.
Image credits: Maddy Gerber
#9
One of my relative’s kid was kidnapped a few years ago in India, and she was only 4 years old when she was kidnapped.
My relatives are a little well off and they have a couple of drivers at home for the ladies to go out shop or drive their kids to school. When these ladies go out they chat and gossip a lot other people and some sensitive financial information without even caring about who is around them.(Came to know about this from police in news paper) This one driver overheard a lot of this and carefully planned to kidnap this kid for ransom.
Every day this driver is used to drop off this 4 year old kid at the school, but this day he did not return home after the drop off. Late evening the parents realized that something was amiss, so, they started looking for the driver and the kid, they were no where to find. Police were informed about it on the very day, they found out that the kid never came to school that day.
The kidnapper had a head start of at-least 6 hours, he drove the girl to a safe place and then called the parents for ransom the same night. He called for ransom from a few different places using a couple of different pay phones over the next few days. All of this episode was ran in the news paper over the next few days. So, people who read news are aware of who this little girl and kidnapper were.
This guy was so busy(he was working alone), he did not realized that he was in news all over. Some one who saw the kidnapper on the street tipped off his location to the police. The police waited for him to go out of the hotel room again before nabbing him. He did go out and got arrested. The kid was unharmed and whole episode has ended in a happy note.
After this whole episode, a couple of months later, this family was performing a ceremony at their place and we were invited. I was curious to find out how the girl was doing. On the day of the ceremony I was hoping to see the kid all depressed and traumatized, but to my surprise, she was energetic and happy like always as if nothing ever happened to her. She was in-fact enjoying all the attention she was getting.
When inquired I found out that the driver took very good care of her when she was kidnapped, she did not even knew that she was kidnapped. The kid and driver are so much used to each other that she did not have any problem living with him for a few days. She was kept in very nice hotels and with all nice food. He even convinced her saying that he is taking her to her parents place and they are in a different city.
Today after several years I don’t think she remembers anything from that episode, her parents might have wanted it to be that way. By gods grace she is all good now.
Image credits: Sai Pabbathi
#10
Like drowning, You never know what to do, whether to try to get out or just cooperate.
After a week I lost about 10 lbs just from stress despite being fed. I finally got saved, but I felt like I was still there for a long time, and I still feel like it can happen anytime.
Image credits: Anonymous
#11
My elder sister was kidnapped once. She had an exam to take in the university. It was a bright sunny day when she left the house without her belongings to quickly go to a pharmacy shop, get some medicines and leave for the university. As she was returning from the shop, a white ambassador car with it’s jet black windows started walking parallel to her left side. One of the windows on her side opened and asked her if she studies in “abc” college. Just when she stopped for a sec, the door opened and they pulled her in. She screamed but before she realized the doors were closed. The struggle went in vain as she realized that the arms grabbing her are stronger than her. She found herself sitting in between two women wearing black burka dress. A lady with deep voice also wearing burka was seated next to the driver. The driver looked as creepy as a guy you wouldn’t like to see.
She asked them: what do you want?
Kidnappers: We just want some blood of yours. if you co-operate we will let you go.
As the car proceeded in the town and many of her known places went by she realized she can’t do anything now as she is surrounded by these heavy people in a moving car so she stopped struggling and sat coolly. After 10–15 mins both the kidnapper who were holding her wrists tightly started getting the confidence and naturally let their grip loosen up on her wrist. After half an hour they stopped the car and started waiting for someone. It’s when one of the kidnappers sitting next to her started feeling hot in those heavy black burka and she opened the door.
As she opened the door, my sister looked at the free life outside again without black shades. The kidnapper didn’t realize that she had left the door opened for her fellas to breath some air and since the grip by another kidnapper was too loose to hold my sister she jumped out of the car and pushed the kidnapper standing outside . The kidnapper fell down and my sister started running. She took the most crowded path to reach home and finally she was home with bleeding wrists.
This narrow escape changed the whole family as we became more cautious about her. She developed the fear of being kidnapped for many years after the incident.
Image credits: Anonymous
#12
I’m still going through the situation. Ever since I was three years old, my mom and dad didn’t get along. After they divorced, custody was given to my mom, who tried her best, but kept making the same mistakes (Abusive boyfriends, Smoking, Drinking, etc.). Eventually, my mom and I were more like friends than mother and daughter. Ten years after their divorce, my mom has taken me across the country on a trip that turned into a living situation. My dad didn’t feel very comfortable with that, so he told my mom that “He was heading out of country, and wanted to be with me for the last two weeks.” My mom agreed. She believes that I need to see my dad to maintain a decent relationship with him. He paid for the plane flight there, but the second day out here, he told me that I was never going back. I’ve been here since October and I hate it here. My dad has a stable life, unlike my mom, he has a wife and two sons, also unlike my mom, so it’s really weird having to deal with siblings that you’ve never had to deal with before.
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Image credits: Alicia Crain
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