List of long-term false imprisonment cases

List of long-term false imprisonment cases

This is a list of notable long-term false imprisonment cases.

Cases involving children imprisoned by relatives

List of long-term false imprisonment cases

• Turpin case, Perris, California, United States, 29 years, discovered on 14 January 2018. • Lydia Gouardo, Melun, France, 28 years, discovered on 20 November 1999. • "M" and her children, Moe, Victoria, Australia, 28 years, discovered in February 2007. • Mirella case, Świętochłowice, Poland, 27 years, discovered in July 2025. • Elizabeth Wesson, her sisters, her children, her nieces and her nephews, Fresno, California, US, 26 years, discovered on 12 March 2004. • Blanche Monnier, Poitiers, France, 25 years, discovered on 23 May 1901. • Sheffield incest case, England, 25 years, discovered in November 2008. • Alba Nidia Álvarez, Mariquita, Colombia, 25 years, discovered in March 2009. • "Laura" Mongelli, Turin, Italy, 25 years, discovered on 27 March 2009. • Elisabeth Fritzl and her children, Amstetten, Austria, 24 years, discovered on 26 April 2008. • Paola Lucero, Mendoza, Argentina, 20 years, discovered in May 2009. • Siders case, Hamden, Ohio, United States, 4 years, discovered on July 1, 2026. • South Wales paternal sex abuse case, Wales, 20 years, discovered in October 2019. • "S", Waterbury, Connecticut, United States, 20 years, discovered on 17 February 2025. • Christine and Robert Baskin, US, arrested in 2009 for kidnapping his grandchildren, 20 years earlier. • Rachael and Lisa Smart, Palm Springs, California, United States, 19 years, discovered in 1998. • Rosalynn McGinnis, Poteau, Oklahoma, United States, 19 years, escaped in 2016. • Piotr Kurek, Warsaw, Poland, 18 years, discovered on 21 August 1931. • "Genie", Arcadia, California, United States, 13 years, discovered on 4 November 1970. • Schollenberger case, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, United States, 10 years, discovered in May 2020. • Drenthe hermits family of six children, Ruinerwold, Netherlands, at least 9 years, discovered in October 2019. • Viktoria, Katharina, and Elisabeth, Linz, Austria, 7 years. • "Anna", Perryopolis, Pennsylvania, United States, 6 years, discovered on 6 February 1938. • Jürgen Bartsch, Langenberg, Germany, 6 years, captivity ended in November 1952. • Jeffrey Baldwin, Toronto, Canada, 4 years, discovered on 30 November 2002. • Byron Anthony McCane II, Kaw City, Oklahoma, United States, 2 years, discovered in 1983. • Rader/Beighley case, Greenville, Pennsylvania, United States, 1 year, discovered in June 2014. • Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, Solihull, West Midlands, England, 1 year, discovered in June 2020.

Cases involving abducted children

List of long-term false imprisonment cases

• Sylvia Likens, a teenager tortured and repeatedly held captive in the basement by her caretaker and her children and their friends for three months in Indianapolis, US, discovered on 26 October 1965. • Jaycee Dugard, kidnappers Phillip and Nancy Garrido, Antioch, California, US, 18 years, discovered on 26 August 2009. • John Jamelske, serial rapist-kidnapper who, from 1988 to 2003, kidnapped a series of teenage girls and women and held them captive in a concrete bunker beneath the yard of his home in DeWitt, New York. • Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby, kidnapper Michael J. Devlin, Kirkwood, Missouri, US, 4 years, discovered on 12 January 2007. • Sally Horner, kidnapper Frank La Salle, Camden, New Jersey, US, 1 year 9 months, discovered on 22 March 1950. • Jayme Closs, kidnapper Jake Thomas Patterson, held for 88 days, discovered on 10 January 2019. • Tanya Nicole Kach, kidnapper Thomas Hose, McKeesport, Pennsylvania, US, 10 years, escaped on 21 March 2006. • Natascha Kampusch, kidnapper Wolfgang Přiklopil, Vienna, Austria, 8 years, discovered on 23 August 2006. • Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus, kidnapper Ariel Castro, Cleveland, Ohio, US, 9 to 11 years, discovered on 6 May 2013. • Katya Martynova and Lena Samokhina, kidnapper Viktor Mokhov, Skopin, Russia, 3 to 4 years. • Anna Saito, kidnapper Kabu Terauchi, Tokyo, Japan, 2 years. • Fusako Sano, kidnapper Nobuyuki Satō, Kashiwazaki, Niigata, Japan, 9 years, discovered on 28 January 2000. • Santa Ana kidnapping accusation of 15-year-old girl, held by Isidro Garcia, Santa Ana, California, US, 10 years, discovered on 19 May 2014. • Elizabeth Smart, kidnappers Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, Salt Lake City, Utah, and San Diego County, California, US, 9 months, discovered on 12 March 2003. • Steven Stayner, kidnappers Kenneth Parnell and Ervin Murphy, Merced, California, US, 7 years, discovered on 1 March 1980. • 7-year-old girl kidnapped by a school bus driver in Medellín, Colombia, 12 years, escaped in February 2024. • Kaspar Hauser, Nuremberg, Germany, 16 years, released 26 May 1828.

Cases involving sexual slavery of children

List of long-term false imprisonment cases

• Kidwelly sex cult • Birmingham bathing cult • Lambeth slavery case

Cases involving adults

List of long-term false imprisonment cases

• Catharina Ulrika Hjort af Ornäs, Falun, Sweden, 33 years, discovered after 11 January 1837 • Colleen Stan, kidnappers Cameron and Janice Hooker, Red Bluff, California, US, 7 years, discovered August 1984 • Vera Talpayeva, Tatyana Melnikova, Yevgeny Shishov, Tatyana Kozikokova, Tatyana Nazimova, and Irina Ganyushkina, kidnappers Aleksandr Komin and Aleksandr Mikheev, Vyatskiye Polyany, Russia, 2 years, Ganyushkina escaped on 21 July 1997 • Omar bin Omran, Djelfa, Algeria, 26 years, discovered on 12 May 2024. • Josefina Rivera, Sandra Lindsay, Lisa Thomas, Deborah Dudley, Jacqueline Askins, Agnes Adams, kidnapper Gary M. Heidnik, four months to one day, Philadelphia, US, escaped on 24 March 1987 • Zhang "Moumou", Zhang "Xuanxuan", Duan "Moumou", Jiang "Moumou", Cai "Moumou" and Ma "Moumou", kidnapper Li Hao, Luoyang, China, 21 to 2 months, Ma escaped on 3 September 2011 • Philadelphia basement kidnapping, US, 12 years, discovered on 17 October 2011