FBI: Violence, Social Media Used To Steal Newborn Babies
It is relatively rare
for infants to be abducted by strangers. But it does happen. And recent
analysis of abduction cases by the FBI suggests there are new and
troubling trends for expectant parents to be aware of, including women
kidnappers using violence to commit their crimes and social media to
target their victims.
In April, for example, a 30-year-old Texas
woman shot and killed a 28-year-old mother while kidnapping her
three-day-old son from a pediatric center. The infant was recovered six
hours later.
“For the most part, women are no longer
going into hospitals and dressing in nurse’s uniforms and walking out
with children,” said Ashli-Jade Douglas, an FBI intelligence analyst who
works in our Crimes Against Children Unit and specializes in child
abduction matters. That’s because hospital security has greatly improved
over the years.
A recent case illustrates the point: Last
month, a woman entered a California hospital dressed in medical scrubs
and abducted a newborn girl, hiding the baby in a bag. But when she
attempted to walk out of the hospital, the baby’s security bracelet
triggered an alarm and the woman was caught.
Because of heightened hospital security,
Douglas said, “now women who desperately want a child—and are willing to
go to extreme lengths to get one—have to gain direct contact with their
victims, and that’s when things can turn violent.”
The women who commit these crimes are
usually between the ages of 17 and 33,” said Douglas, who provides
analytical support to our Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team.
“Usually they are unable to get pregnant. Often, they will fake a
pregnancy in the hopes of keeping a boyfriend or husband.” In most
cases, she added, the women intend no harm to the infants—and maybe not
even the mother. “They just want a child to raise as their own and will
do anything to get one.”
Another emerging trend, Douglas said, is
that women desperate for a child are turning to social networking
websites to locate victims. “We have seen several recent cases involving
social networking sites,” she explained, “and we see how easy it is to
use these websites to gain access to targets.”
In January, for example, a 32-year-old
Florida woman developed a friendship with a younger new mother through a
social networking site. The woman lied about having her own newborn and
claimed the child was sick and in the hospital. The victim invited the
woman to spend the night at her house, and the next morning, when the
victim was in the shower, the woman abducted her two-week-old infant.
She then deleted her contact information from the victim’s social
networking site, thinking she would not be found. The baby was recovered
and the woman was arrested.
“Parents should check their privacy
settings on social networking sites,” Douglas said, and they should
always use caution on the Internet (see below). Without the proper
settings, pictures posted online can contain embedded information that
allows others to track your movements.
“This information is important to share
with parents,” Douglas said. “They should be aware of their physical
surroundings and how they use the Internet. This can help protect
mothers and their babies.”
Exercising Good Sense Online and at Home
