20 FAILED Kidnapping Attempts Caught on Camera

#20: John Marshall Randolph

Also in:

John Oliver: Hilarious Set at Just For Laughs!

Employees at the Coeur d'Alene Parasail in Idaho foiled the attempted kidnapping of a young boy in August 2021. The boy had been approached by a man named John Marshall Randolph, who tried to take him away in one of the boats. The Parasail staff, including the owner Jamin Rodriguez, sensed something was wrong when the frightened boy came up to them and reported that he didn’t know Randolph. When confronted, Randolph insisted that he was the boy’s father, before turning around and walking away. Rodriguez quickly called the police and followed Randolph, to prevent him from escaping. The boy was later reunited with his mother, while Randolph was arrested by police and charged with child enticement.

On March 25th 2020, Daniel Arroyo Beltran accosted a mother and her three children at a bus stop in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Beltran snatched one of the woman’s children and assaulted her when she refused to give him the others. She was, however, able to escape from his hold and ran into a nearby store where she hid with her kids. Beltran forced his way into the store, attacking anyone who challenged him. Things could’ve gone horribly, if not for Canaan Bower, a high school wrestling champ who rushed into the store and pinned Beltran down until police arrived. Bower was hailed as a hero and received international recognition for his efforts.

Surveillance cameras outside an auto repair shop in Sacramento, California captured the moment when the shop owner Ashraf Ali thwarted an abduction attempt. The perpetrator here, a woman named Dedra Gentry, confronted two unnamed women who were pushing a baby in a stroller and claimed that the child was hers. Gentry chased after the two women, only for the stroller to escape their control and roll in the direction of the auto shop. Ali then got in between the attacker and the stroller, preventing her from grabbing the baby. After police were called to the scene, they arrested Gentry and charged her with attempted kidnapping.

It’s an attempt so brazen, it’ll send shivers down your spine. In December 2019, Sonny Alloway was filmed in a New York City train trying to talk to an unidentified woman as she slept. Once the train comes to a stop at the station and the doors open, Alloway grabs the woman and carries her onto a platform bench. We’re not quite sure what his plan was after that, but thankfully, it never materialized. The victim was able to regain consciousness and quickly made her way back into the train before it left the station. Alloway reportedly received a dose of street justice before he was apprehended by the authorities for unlawful imprisonment.

This grainy footage came from a CCTV camera in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The clip shows a boy, identified only as Sebastian, walking down a lonely street in the middle of the night. A car pulls up beside him and two men jump out and attempt to drag him into the vehicle. Sebastian wrestles with the two men and is able to free himself from their hold, against all odds. The boy lets go of his backpack and runs away, foiling their abduction attempt. His would-be kidnappers get back into their car and also flee the scene. It is unclear if any arrests have been made in the case since it occurred in 2017.

Early on a Monday morning in April 2022, a boy was walking to his school in Orlando, Florida when he was approached by Vinh Nguyen. A surveillance camera outside a restaurant captured the moment when Nguyen tried luring him into his vehicle. He allegedly told the child he was cute and offered to drop him off at school. Thankfully, the boy declined his offer and continued walking. Nguyen was arrested the following day after the footage was given to the authorities. It was later discovered that he had apparently attempted to do the same to another child the previous year. Nguyen was brought up on charges of false imprisonment, luring of a child and battery.

A routine shopping trip to the local Walmart took a horrifying turn for Alicia Keating and her two daughters. While at the Oklahoma store back in 2013, a man named Sammie Wallace grabbed one of Keating’s daughters from her shopping cart and held her at knifepoint. Police who responded to other shoppers’ 911 call attempted negotiating with Wallace for the girl’s release, to no avail. After about 30 minutes of fruitless negotiations, the assailant reportedly began counting down from 60, stating that he would do the unthinkable when he reached zero. Believing that there was no other option, one of the officers stepped up and fired a shot right at Wallace. Thankfully, the girl was unhurt.

#13: Henry “Oscar” Mazariegos-Gonzalez

Also in:

Things Time Founder Henry Luce Taught Me

On August 6th 2019, a girl identified as Estella was walking down the street in a California neighborhood when she was accosted by Henry “Oscar” Mazariegos-Gonzalez. The assailant grabbed Estella off the street and tried forcing her into his vehicle. At some point, he reportedly struck her in the head with a hammer. After briefly letting go of the weapon, the brave girl grabbed it and hit Mazariegos-Gonzalez, freeing herself from his hold. Mazariegos-Gonzalez remained on the run for nearly a year until he was apprehended by police on April 19th 2020, in Guatemala. Unfortunately, the culprit never faced justice, as he took his own life in his jail cell before he could be extradited to the U.S.

26-year old Esther Daniels was arrested and charged with kidnapping and obstruction of a police officer on June 22nd 2019. Daniels had engaged in a tussle with a married couple at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia after attempting to abduct their children. CCTV footage from the airport showed Daniels walk up to the woman and try to grab a stroller with one of her children in it. After the woman manages to fight her off, she reaches for another child, but is intercepted by the father. Daniels tries to make a run for it, but she is taken down by a group of officers, who later put her in handcuffs and lead her away.

This terrifying incident happened so fast, if you blink, you’d probably miss it. On July 1st 2016, a mother walked into a cell phone store in Victorville, California with her two daughters. While she held her infant in her arms, her older daughter played by the candy machine, right next to the entrance. Then, in a flash, a hand reached through the door and snatched the girl out of the store. That hand belonged to 24-year-old Terry Ransom. Luckily, Ransom lost his grip on the child and she was able to escape, right into her mother’s arms. The would-be abductor was chased down by bystanders, who held him until police arrived. He was charged with kidnapping and child cruelty.

For a preteen Florida girl and her mother, this was probably the most terrifying 15 seconds of their entire lives. While shopping at a Dollar General store on June 7th 2016, a man identified as Craig Bonello grabbed the girl by her arm and violently dragged her away. Without missing a beat, the girl’s mother sprung into action, fighting off Bonello as he tugged her daughter through the supermarket’s aisles, all in full view of surveillance cameras. Bonello eventually let go and tried to make a run for it, but he was blocked by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy and arrested. He was brought up on charges of kidnapping and child abuse, but was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

In September 2020, a video went viral on social media, showing the attempted abduction of a child at a restaurant in Johannesburg, South Africa. In the clip, two women are seen sitting together with a young girl at the Bella Napoli Italian Kitchen. All of a sudden, 24-year-old Naseem Slamang jumps over the railings and lunges towards the child. Slamang’s brazen attempt to abduct the young girl in broad daylight was however cut short by the restaurant’s owner Dishal Sooku. Sooku, a trained martial artist, immediately tackled the culprit to the floor, placing him in a chokehold, while one of the women secured the girl. Slamang was swiftly arrested by police and charged with multiple counts of assault and attempted kidnapping.

The tremendous efforts of a gas station cashier and customer made the difference between life and death for a woman in Coweta County, Georgia. Surveillance footage from the convenience store showed the woman and a man, later identified as Timothy Todd Milner, walk up to the counter. The woman was reported to have quietly asked the cashier for a phone, but after being handed one, Milner grabbed it from her and threw it on the counter. He then dragged her out of the building and into his truck, parked outside. Noticing the ordeal, a stranger quickly took a picture of Milner’s license plate, which aided police in locating him. Upon his arrest, Milner was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment and battery.

Most of us do not know how we would react if we ever came face to face with a dangerous criminal. But Philadelphia convenience store clerk Manveer Komer knew exactly what to do in that situation. While working the overnight shift on November 11th 2015, Komer stopped the apparent abduction of a doctor by a supposedly armed criminal named Nathaniel Rodriguez. Rodriguez allegedly kidnapped the lady and was attempting to withdraw money using her debit card. Footage from the store’s cameras showed Komer leaving the counter and confronting Rodriguez just as the two were about to exit. The suspect then fled the scene in the victim’s car, but was later tracked down and arrested after making use of her phone.

On October 11th 2021, a woman was walking by a gas station in the Bronx with her three grandchildren when a man approached them. Partially covered in a blanket, the man suddenly grabbed one of the toddlers and took to his heels. Initially torn between the captured girl and the other two boys left with her, the grandmother eventually chased after the abductor. Other bystanders joined in and they soon cornered the man, later identified as Santiago Salcedo, and he let go of the child. After riding away on a scooter, police later caught up with Salcedo, who was reported to be homeless, and arrested him. He was arraigned on charges of attempted kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment.

#5: Thomas Woods

Also in:

Thomas Kostigen: Interview with Author & Director of Sustainability

Georgeann Baxter was at a Walmart in Bremen, Georgia with her daughter Brittney, when her worst nightmare nearly became reality. Brittney was playing in the toy section by herself when she was grabbed by 25-year-old Thomas Woods. Using all the power within her, the young girl kicked and screamed until he eventually let her go. Woods, who had just been released on parole after serving prison time for manslaughter, was captured by surveillance cameras getting into his car and driving away. Police were able to use this footage to track him to his house where he was arrested in less than an hour. Although he denied even being at the store, Woods was charged with attempted kidnapping.

#4: James McGonagle

Also in:

5 Best James Webb Images Of 2023 | Unveiled

It’s always particularly shocking when an attempted child abduction not only occurs in broad daylight, but also right in front of their parents. That was the case of Jacob Diaz, who was walking down a Queens street with his mom, Dolores Diaz Lopez, and two siblings. Diaz was slightly ahead of the rest when a man jumped out of a parked car and snatched him, just a few feet away from Lopez. The quick-thinking mom and the other kids immediately ran after the man - 24-year-old James McGonagle - and successfully retrieved Diaz through the front passenger window. McGonagle was able to flee the scene in his car, but he was later arrested by police on charges including attempted kidnapping and reckless endangerment.

#3: Manuel Towns

Also in:

Top 20 Songs Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda

It looked like something out of a Hollywood action movie. 25-year-old Brittany Diggs had already been abducted at gunpoint by Manuel Towns, who had repeatedly threatened to kill her. Towns forced her into the trunk of her car and drove around, in hopes of using her debit card to take out cash. This led him to a gas station in Birmingham where he seemed to have withdrawn money from the convenience store ATM. As Towns returned to the car and slowly pulled out of the parking lot, Diggs popped the trunk using the interior latch and bolted into the store. The Alabama nursing student made it to safety, and her captor was arrested by police about a week later.

The doorbell camera at the Nash family house in Ohio captured the attempted abduction of one of their daughters in 2022. Ken'Adi Nash was taking out the trash when a man, identified as Deric McPherson, approached her and grabbed her by the arm. The young girl let out a piercing scream, prompting McPherson to release her and quickly walk past. Ken'Adi rushed back into the house and relayed the incident to her dad, Ricky, who got in his car and chased down the culprit. He was later taken in by authorities and brought up on charges of abduction and inappropriate grabbing. Ricky’s swift chase may have secured McPherson’s capture, but it was Ken'Adi’s quick thinking that prevented the tragedy altogether.

This terrifying footage from a street surveillance camera in Florida showed the exact moment young Alyssa Bonal was nearly abducted. Bonal was waiting at a bus stop on the morning of May 18th 2021, when a white minivan parked just beside her. The driver of the vehicle, Jared Paul Stanga, was captured running towards Bonal and grabbing her as she attempted to scurry away. Stanga, who was reportedly wielding a knife, was unsuccessful, as Bonal fought tooth and nail to regain her freedom. According to the young girl, she was inspired by “Law & Order: SVU” to rub the blue slime she had been playing with on Stanga’s arms. This helped police to definitively identify him as the culprit upon his eventual arrest.