True Kidnapping

The house was like something out of a Jane Austen novel, but the truth of what lay in the shadows was more terrifying than any fictional imagining. Shane Dunphy recalls the experience of his darkest nightmares: a young girl describing missing children as playthings at house parties, but no one was listening; a malevolent, threatening presence looming in the residence they called the Bad Place, and Shane was forced to flee. And now, 20 years later, a mother pleads with him to find her son who vanished at age five.

Revolution's End fully explains the most famous kidnapping in US history, detailing Patty Hearst's relationship with Donald DeFreeze, known as Cinque, the head of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Not only did the heiress have a sexual relationship with DeFreeze while he was imprisoned, she didn't know he was an informant and a victim of prison behavior modification.

In 1968, during Albert Lepard's fifth escape from a life sentence at Parchman Penitentiary, he kidnapped Lovejoy Boteler, then 18 years old, from his family's farm in Grenada, Mississippi. Three decades later, still beset by half-buried memories of that time, Boteler began researching his kidnapper's nefarious, sordid life to discover how and why this terrifying abduction occurred.

With over 55,000 disappearances annually in Australia, each story is a heart-wrenching account of unanswered questions and shattered lives. The narrative spans decades, from the 1980s to present-day mysteries, including the puzzling case of a gentle Greenpeace worker vanishing amidst inner-city Melbourne, the suspicious disappearance of a 21-year-old, and the grim discovery of scattered remains in Queensland, unravelling a harrowing tale of violence and tragedy. And then there is the perplexing case of a man who went missing over and over again.

Marie seems to have it all: a devoted husband, two wonderful children, and a professional career. But all of that changes when she drives her car into the darkened parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. After she lowers her car window to place an order at the drive-through, a man suddenly appears and places a gun at her temple. What follows is every woman's worst nightmare.

Grand Junction, Colorado, 2001: When Michael Blagg's adoring wife, Jennifer, and his six year-old-daughter, Abby, disappeared from their home, Michael led the charge to find them, even going so far as to make a nationwide appeal on Good Morning America for information. But seven months later, investigators found Jennifer's remains in a Mesa County landfill, and things took a darker turn. While Michael, a respected prayer-group leader, played the part of grieving survivor, authorities became increasingly suspicious.

My Search for Madeleine is a tirelessly researched, personal search by one of the UK's top investigative journalists. Jon Clarke looks into the bizarre and harrowing abduction of toddler Madeleine McCann, three, from her holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007. He was the first national newspaper journalist on the scene and has spent the last 15 years investigating the crime, from claims that the parents killed her to the most recent prime suspect Christian Brueckner, a dangerous pedophile and rapist. Ultimately, this is an intriguing descent into the dark heart of Europe.

While on patrol as part of a peacekeeping mission, eleven British soldiers are kidnapped. The captors are a dangerous rebel group known as the West Side Boys. Fuelled by alcohol and drugs, the behaviour of the rebels is notoriously unpredictable. How long the soldiers have, no one knows. Rescuing them becomes the British military's highest priority, and so they bring in the SAS for Operation Barras, a mission that will go down in special forces history.

Emerging from the pile of rubble, larger-than-life Navy SEAL Bart Nelson stood confident. His admirers cannot believe their eyes, thinking he had been destroyed by the violent blast that was created by his own teammate, the “Hammer.” Indescribably swift thinking and precise intuition had saved this giant of a man, once again. Just as the dawn of a new day greeted them, the image of their hero could be seen. Without his efforts and bravery, all of these young victims of human trafficking would have perished. Yet, the long dangerous journey back home had only begun. There were two choices...

On Monday, February 13, 1905, eight- year-old Kenneth Beasley walked to the back of his school's playground and into the melting snow of the woods beyond. He never returned. A massive search was undertaken for the North Carolina state senator's son, and a reward was offered. Despite clues, rumors, and even a ransom note, he was never found. A year and a half later, a political rival hurriedly was charged. Accused of the most bizarre and twisted of plots, he faced a courtroom overflowing with jurors, star lawyers, spectators, and newspaper reporters.

Situated in Northern California, Yuba County boasts vast wilderness, rugged terrain, and close-knit communities. However, the families of five local individuals were left to grapple with the heart-wrenching mystery of their sudden disappearance on a cold winter night in 1978. Even now, the mystery remains unsolved. On the night they went missing, Bill Sterling, Jack Madruga, Jack Huett, Ted Weiher, and Gary Mathias were affectionately known as "the boys."

This story begins in 2001 on top of Cave Mountain in the Arkansas Ozarks. A six-year-old girl named Haley—Benjamin Hale’s cousin—got lost on a mountain trail, prompting what was at the time the largest search and rescue mission in the state’s history. Her disappearance—and a ghostly vision she reported once she was found—would eventually connect her disappearance to another almost forgotten story from twenty years earlier: a dark and bizarre story of brainwashing and murder and the apocalyptic visions of a teenage prophet.

Stolen Babies of Spain chronicles how and why baby-stealing began in Spain just after the civil war of 1936 - 1939. This heartbreaking and tragic history of the worst, modern-day network of stolen babies pulls back a web of deceit and terror, uncovering pain, suffering, and, worse, organization and profit. Using more than 300 interviews conducted by the authors, many of them exclusive, Greg Rabidoux and Mara Lencina reveal the personal stories of the adults who were stolen babies as they search for their biological parents and their true origins.

En ny deckare i skärgårdsmiljö av Lars Bill Lundholm - en av manusförfattarna bakom SVT:s succéserie Skärgårdsdoktorn. En trettonårig flicka försvinner på Saxarön i Stockholms skärgård. Hennes cykel hittas i ett igenväxt kärr i öns naturskyddsområde. Snart upptäcks också att en kvinnlig gäst på öns ärevördiga hotell är borta. Semesteridyllen förvandlas till en mardröm. Polisledningen i Stockholm vill att kommissarie Jack Larsson ska leda sökandet efter de två personerna. Han är uppväxt på ön och kan skärgården utan och innan.

True crime stories are everywhere - from our screens to podcasts, capturing our imaginations and haunting our dreams. It's raw, it's real, and it's a deep dive into humanity's dark side. Whether you think you've heard it all or are just getting started, "The Ultimate True Crime Trivia Book" is your next must-listen.

What would be the "right" price for your loved one - and can you avoid putting others at risk by paying it? What prevents criminals from maltreating hostages? How do you (safely) pay a ransom? Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business uncovers how a group of insurers at Lloyd's of London have solved these thorny problems for their customers. Based on interviews with industry insiders (from both sides), as well as hostage stakeholders, it uncovers an intricate and powerful private governance system ordering transactions between the legal and the criminal economies.

Amit Lodha is a decorated IPS officer holding the rank of inspector general. But before he rose the ranks in the service, he was an IIT graduate who was struggling to find his true purpose. In this book, Lodha tells us how he turned his life around and studied for the UPSC exams. He also tells us how he trained to be an officer and had the most memorable beginning to his career, in Bihar.

In March 2005, Dr. Steven Berk was kidnapped in Amarillo, Texas, by a dangerous and enigmatic criminal who entered his home, armed with a shotgun, through an open garage door. Dr. Berk's experiences and training as a physician, especially his understanding of Sir William Osler's treatise on aequanimitas, enabled him to keep his family safe, establish rapport with his kidnapper, and bring his captor to justice.

AK47s, masked thugs, and brutal urgency erupt from Roy Hallums' account of his abduction in Iraq, shredding through those frequently sterile cable news reports revealing that another "American contractor is being held hostage...". Hallums was the everyman behind that report⁠—a 56-year-old retired Naval commander working as a food supply contractor in Baghdad's high-end Mansour District. His abduction was transacted in a matter of minutes, amidst a hail of gunfire and a handful of casualties.

From London’s cobblestone streets to the far edges of the British empire… one woman rewrites the rules of crime. Former street urchin Edith Black has risen through the ranks of Victorian London’s underworld. Mentored by the notorious Mrs. Hill, Edie becomes a master thief, navigating danger, deception, and betrayal across continents. Stolen Brilliance – A Lady Black Mystery is a gripping blend of historical fiction and crime, inspired by true events. A richly atmospheric tale for fans of clever heroines and layered storytelling.