10 Real Life Kidnappings Caught on Camera
#10: Carlesha Freeland-Gaither
On November 2nd, 2014, 22-year-old Carlesha Freeland-Gaither was walking down a street in the Philadelphia suburb of Germantown when she was abducted. The shocking ordeal was captured on a surveillance camera, and quickly became news when this footage was widely shared on social media. In the clip, a man, later identified as Delvin Barnes, is seen parking his car on a seemingly quiet street. Seconds later, he approaches Freeland-Gaither, before grabbing and dragging her into the vehicle. The young lady puts up quite the fight even after she is forcefully taken, and damages Barnes’ rear window in the process. Thankfully, Freeland-Gaither was rescued three days later, and her captor was handed a 35-year prison sentence.
#9: The Singh Family
Residents of Merced County in California were gripped by fear in October 2022, after the kidnap of a family from their trucking establishment. Jasdeep Singh, together with his wife Jasleen Kaur, their infant daughter Aroohi Dheri, and his brother Amandeep Singh, were all abducted at gunpoint by Jesus Manuel Salgado, a former employee of their company. Security cameras outside the building captured the exact moments Salgado led the entire family out of their business and into a truck in the parking lot, never to be seen again. The culprit was eventually arrested after using one of the victims’ ATM cards and attempting to take his own life. Sadly, the bodies of all four family members were found a few days later.
#8: Anichka Penev
35-year-old Anichka Penev made headlines in September 2022 following the release of this chilling surveillance video. Penev was driving into her husband’s plastics factory in Cape Town, South Africa, when her car was blocked from both ends by two white vehicles. The Ukrainian citizen attempts to make a run for it, but she is grabbed by the group of unknown assailants and forced into a getaway car. The brazen incident, which occurred in broad daylight, was captured on CCTV and circulated quickly on social media. The motive behind the abduction seemed to have been ransom, and after about a week of reported negotiations, Penev was reunited with her family.
#7: Georgiana Bambaloi
On November 17th, 2021, surveillance cameras captured what appeared to be the kidnapping of a young girl outside a gas station in Santa Rosa, California. The girl, Georgiana Bambaloi, is seen standing on a sidewalk when a man in an orange shirt runs up behind her and shoves her into a minivan, which speeds off immediately. Authorities promptly put out an AMBER alert after Bambaloi was reported missing, only for her to return home safely the next morning. Turns out what seemed to have been a case of child abduction was nothing but a poorly planned prank, orchestrated by Bambaloi, her boyfriend and another friend of theirs.
#6: Tween Girl From Providence, Rhode Island
The parents of a preteen girl in Providence, Rhode Island briefly experienced their worst nightmare on October 5th 2020. That afternoon, their daughter had just gotten off her school bus and was walking home when a man grabbed her off the street and forced her into his car. The incident occurred around the intersection of Grover and Merino streets in Providence, and was recorded in its entirety by a nearby CCTV camera. About an hour later, the girl was dropped off in the same area, and provided police with clues that eventually led them to the suspect, 34 year-old Luis Martinez-Romero. He was later arraigned on charges of kidnapping a minor and second-degree assault.
#5: Kamille ‘Cupcake’ McKinney
A public housing projects in Birmingham, Alabama was the site of a child abduction that occurred on October 12th 2019. Kamille McKinney, referred to lovingly by her family as Cupcake, was at a birthday party when she was taken by a man who lured her with sweets. Surveillance footage from outside the building showed McKinney playing with another toddler, when they were approached by a man, later identified as Patrick Stallworth. The clip was instrumental in identifying Stallworth, who had been arrested on separate charges two days after the abduction, but was later linked to the crime. McKinney’s body, sadly, was found in a dumpster a few days later, resulting in the conviction of both Stallworth and his girlfriend of her kidnapping.
#4: Cherish Perrywinkle
Cherish Perrywinkle was shopping together with her mother Rayne and two younger sisters, when they made the acquaintance of a man named Donald Smith. Smith had offered to buy clothes for the three young girls at a nearby Walmart, which Rayne agreed to. While there, Smith proposed buying burgers for the family at the store’s McDonald’s and took Cherish with him, only to be captured on CCTV exiting the building with the young girl. His van was later shown pulling out of the facility. That was the last time Cherish was seen alive, as her body was found the next day in a creek behind a church. Smith was promptly arrested, and later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.
#3: Carlie Brucia
In the dark woods behind a church in Sarasota, Florida, authorities found the body of young Carlie Brucia on February 5th 2004. Brucia had been reported missing four days earlier, after failing to return home from her friend’s house. In the aftermath of her disappearance, video from the surveillance camera of a carwash was released to the public. The footage showed Brucia walking across a parking lot when she is approached by a man named Joseph Smith who takes her by the hand and pulls her away. Smith, who was on probation at the time of the shocking incident, was later identified and convicted of first-degree murder. He died behind bars in 2021, while on death row.
#2: Samantha Koenig
On February 1st 2012, Samantha Koenig was working as a barista at a coffee shack in Anchorage, Alaska when a man later identified as Israel Keyes approached the stand. From CCTV footage, Keyes first places an order, before pointing a gun at Koenig. He proceeds to tie her up and takes her out of the shop, never to be seen again. Keyes, as it turned out, was a serial killer who had claimed the lives of at least two other people before he abducted Koenig and killed her the next day. He was eventually arrested the following month after withdrawing money with Koenig’s ATM card. Before he could even be tried for the crime, Keyes took his own life in his jail cell.
#1: James Bulger
The story of the abduction and murder of James Bulger is sure to leave anyone sick to their stomach. Bulger was with his mother at a shopping center in Bootle, England when he was taken by Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, two preteen boys. Security cameras captured the toddler holding Venables’ hand and being led out of the mall. The boys had reportedly taken Bulger on a long walk to Walton, Liverpool, where he was brutally tortured and left for dead. Stills from the surveillance footage were widely broadcast, leading one woman who recognized the boys to reach out to police. Thompson and Venables became two of the youngest convicted murderers in British history when they were found guilty of Bulger’s death.