10 Month Old Baby Kidnapped from crib....what's Your Take?

Cheryl - I was just reading about the lastest on this story and I'm so pissed off.

When I read about it yesterday, it was sad and mom looked distraught, however, I found some things strange. I thought it was weird that dad would go to work without his cell. And that mom happened to be programming numbers into all three cells and left all three on the counter which were then stolen. So they had no way of calling 911. That whole thing was odd.

And now the police are saying that they won't cooperate / talk with the detectives anymore.

If they did something to that child or covered up for something I will volunteer to give them lethal injections myself.

ETA - love Reston. Going there next month!!

Ya know, I watched the parents on the Today Show this morning and something doesn't seem right with them. The mom said she failed the lie detector test, the dad says he didn't take one, and there is absolutely no emotion coming from the dad. I know everyone reacts differently to things, but I doubt I would be able to be interviewed on the Today Show while my baby is missing, I would be a wreck. Also, the phone thing, all of their phones are missing, so the dad went to work without his phone? It's sad that in these cases we immediately think the parents are involved, but whats even more sad is they usually are.

I'm with you - really torn, but my gut just clenches and red flags say something isn't right.

I didn't know that the front door was unlocked. I thought I had read that the window in the baby's room was tampered with and/or open?

I agree, something is off about this one. The phone thing is really weird. Why are they making such an issue about the fact that the phones were taken? Unless they lived in the boonies, that wouldn't slow you down from calling 911. If I found my kid missing, no matter what time of day, I would break down a neighbors door to get to a phone if I had to. I wouldn't sit around helpless like "oh, I don't have a cell phone, what will I do?". I feel like that was staged. Combine that with the fact that they didn't find any forced entry and it seems like all signs are pointing to a cover up.

As for the door being unlocked, I haven't read anything about her saying she left it unlocked. I assumed that was from the "kidnapper" leaving after taking the baby. Are you really going to try to crawl out a window with a baby? And what's with all the lights being on? If you're going to go to the length of taking all the phones to delay notifying the police, why would you turn on all the lights in the house which would obviously signal that something was not normal? Doesn't add up.

So on one hand I think it's the family somehow. But I also read that a neighbor called the police about a man walking down the street with a baby in the middle of the night. If that call really did happen, then I don't have any idea what's going on.

As horrible as it may sound, I almost hope it was the family. I don't want to face the fact that anyone could come into my house and steal my baby while I sleep. I would never be able to sleep again!

Here is where I start to think there were involved. The parents say the person must have come through the window to get the baby. (The window was open, or damaged in some way.) SO...the kidnapper then walks through the house, TURN on several lights, with people HOME, takes all cellphones, and opens the door, and waltzes out. Really? Because, babies being woken up in the middle on the night are never upset. They aren't startled, reminded they might be hungry, coo, scream, etc. He or she took time to turn all the lights on?? So everyone in the house could wake up? With a BABY? That was perfectly quiet, not a peep? Uh huh. The cell phones. Why did they need 3? Were 2 personal, and one work? If so, how does a nighttime on-call electrician do a whole shift with NO phone. If it wasn't a work phone, why 3. I'm certain the police have already tried to ping the phone. IF there was a kidnapper, they would have turned it off (being the genius light leaving on kind of guy he was), so the GPS could not be accessed. ALL phones have GPS when they are on. The cell company would have record of the phones all being turned off. The towers would have been dinged by that. The police has searched the same piece of land near their home 3 times. Police are not that dumb. OK, they can be. However, they have other agencies involved now. Why would the FBI (and whoever else is involved) OK the time wasting of one place being searched 3 times...if there wasn't an idea that something happened there?

In these cases, there is a mountain of evidence we don't know about. I would be shocked to find the people aren't involved. It really seems to me the parents themselves didn't get their story straight with each other, which would explain separating them. I am no detective, but separating them seems like crime solving 101 to me.

P.S.
To be very clear, I hope with everything this baby is found safe and sound. I don't WANT anything to have happened to her. I hope this is all a rare crime, and the baby is returned to her parents. Yes, I'll admit it would ease my personal worst fears if it were the parents, and not a random person! I do sincerely hope it was a person desperate for a child, and they will do the right thing. That would be the best outcome in this scenario. I hope all these things that don't add up, are just terrible consequences and they baby is found alive.

A true kidnapping of a baby by a stranger from a crib is HIGHLY unusual--and rare.
That's why they are looking so hard at the parents--and they are right to do just that.
When I saw this initially and the tearful pleas from the parents, I'm sorry to say I did have the same gut reaction I did when I saw Susan Smith tearfully begging for the return of her kids.
Something is amiss. That's for sure.
If the parents are innocent, I can certainly understand their frustration. But they need to cooperate and just tell the truth if they have nothing to hide, right?
And don't forget we only "get" to hear what the authorities choose to release. And that's as it should be. The investigation needs to be done & information protected to the degree it needs to be.
It's not our "right" as bystanders to "know" every single tidbit if doing so compromises the investigation.

Of everything it is the cell phones that get to me. Electricians travel and tend to need those phones on hand to communicate with the other workers. There is just no way I would see him leaving it home with her to program? Why would you program a phone that is not in use which is what they said about the third one. Even a phone without a sim card can be used to dial 911. Then I have a land line but even then my cell is always plugged in next to my bed. It is just part of the evening ritual like brushing my teeth. If you don't have a land line I would think this would be even more a part of the ritual, not something you would just leave on the counter especially knowing your husband is out there without his?

If I had to make a guess I think one of the boys accidentally did something. I doubt either parent would protect the other if they were involved but protecting your kid, I could see that.

Sadly, I think the parents know more than they are telling. It is odd that the lights in the house were all on and the mom was still asleep. When my husband doesn't get home until after I go to bed, I am super sensitive to noise, lights, etc. The dad said the house was all lit up and he immediately checked on the kids. If my husband came home, the house was lit up, and the front door was unlocked, I know he would come to me first to find out what is up. The missing phones is also strange. I don't know. The whole story seems odd and suspicious.

I hope I am wrong. I hope they had nothing to do with this because if I'm not, the little girl is probably not alive. If I am wrong, there is still hope that she is okay somewhere and will be returned. So sad.

It isn't fair, but all the lies and deceit in the Casey Anthony case and the fact that this mom failed a lie detector test just makes me feel they are involved somehow.

While running errands earlier, I heard on the news the mom admitted she failed the lie detector test miserably.. It does not mean anything legally. The Investigator said they still want to work with the parents, but the parents said they needed a break..

I also find it all odd.

How did the person know which window to get into? Why was it unlocked? Open?

.. The person had to walk all the way from the babies room to then KNOW where the cell phones were?

And then take them and then go out the front door with the baby?

Just seems a bit shifty..

I will tell you, If the police questioned me asked me to stand on my head so they could find the information they needed to find our daughter.. I would do it in a heartbeat. I would have nothing to hide and would want them to be on my team with no doubts.

I'm with you on this. I can't help but feel that there is more to the story than what the parents are letting on. Something doesn't add up. If they had nothing to do with it I can't help but feel it's someone they know. A complete stranger going in to kidnap a 10 month old baby seems strange but not impossible I know. I can see it happening better if the baby was a newborn or something. Meaning, someone who pretended to be pregnant and then in order to keep up the mirage, had to get a baby when it came time to deliver. We've all heard those stories. I just don't know about this one...it just doesn't make much sense to me. But then again, harming a child or doing something like this has never made any sense to me. The longer the parents don't cooperate, the more scrutiny they are going to get. If they truly had nothing to do with the baby's disappearance, they need to cooperate fully. My prayers go out to that sweet baby.

As of right now, I think there are too many holes in the story. I think either the parents, or more likely, the brothers had something to do with it.

It's terrible any way you try to look at it. Even if the parents are innocent, the investigation against them is adding insult to injury, you know? An unimaginable thing to have to go through when you're already freaking out, possibly grieving the loss of your child.

But pieces of it are SCREAMING Casey Anthony, THAT'S what I don't like.

Their story is just so odd. I didn't know until today about the lights. I thought the window had been tampered with, the kidnapper climbed through the window like a stealth ninja, and took the sleeping baby and walked about the front door. How does one crawl through a window and not wake anyone up? Especially a baby??? This is just so strange. I pray that the parents didn't do this but I think that they know what happened to that cutie pie. So sad.

I am not sure. I do find it odd that someone came in through a window/ door to steal a baby. But no one heard anything? Usually with a 10 month old, you would still have a baby monitor on and even if you didn't, with 3 kids, you sure don't sleep as soundly as you used to. But, then again, with the front door unlocked, it could be easy to come in quite quietly. As to leaving the front door unlocked, well, I have woken up in the morning to my horror and finding it unlocked. Usually though, if I go to bed with hubby gone, I am diligent about locking it. So again, I am with you. On the fence about it. The cell phones should hopefully provide a clue with the pinging. I am praying this is exactly how the parents described and the child will be found safe and returned home.

I think that the media plays a big role in this.. always have been. And with the Casey Anthony case, people are now more likely to believe the trouble started at home, instead of a stranger breaking in....

Sadly, this is often the case, but I hope for their sake it is not, and that the baby girl gets returned safely.

I said to myself this morning that I hope to God the parents didn't do it. I don't think I could take one more of those sad stories right now.

Unsure I heard about it Tuesday then today the news on parents aren't cooperatign with the police mom failed the lie detector didn't hear about the door being unlocked I thought the childs bedroom window was left opened,all this time I was thinking who leaves a bedroom window opened in their childs room.

I think it's possible to have a perfect storm of bad events that lead to a tragic outcome. First night in a long time the husband needs to stay out and work late. Frazzled mom with a disrupted night time schedule forgets to lock the door before going to bed. Maybe that used to be dad's responsibility and she was unused to dealing with it? Phones on the counter, eh that's weird but not all families do everything the same way. My husband and I take our phones and charge them together at a charge station on his night stand every night so our phones would be all clumped together for an easy theft as well...

Someone who knows the family intimately and knows the husband is going to be working very late plans to come steal the baby when he's out of the house, finding the door unlocked was probably just a lucky happenstance for them and the cell phone grab a last minute thought on the way out. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt. I haven't seen any other moms of swiped kids on TV sobbing and out of it as much as this one. She seems genuinely shocked and off kilter because of this.

Hopefully the baby was stolen by a man for a W. who wanted a baby desperately and they thought this was the only way. At least that way the child is sure to still be alive. I have my doubts about that scenario though and fear after three days things do not bode well for the baby.

you moms disturb me. That said, if that baby is dead I hope it was the parents. Some things are worse than death and to live in the hands of a molester or deranged person seems a worse fate to me than a parent who snaps and tries to cover it up. Though a dead baby is not what any of us are hoping for, I find it more unsettling for loving parents to not know what their child suffered through (or continues to suffer through), than a guilty parent who knows their child's fate. I continue to take the parent's for their word for the time being.

I don't think they did it, but I do think they know something they aren't telling.

Well Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her bed, with her sister sleeping in the same room.

I think its possible. I do agree that leaving the door unlocked was stupid, but it happens. I just hope the parents WEREN'T involved, and that they find the baby safe. I would be a disaster if this were my child.

This reminds me of that girl who drowned her 2 boys by strapping them in a carseat and pushing it into a lake...who was it again? I think her last name was Smith. I know it wasn't Andrea Yates.

According to our wonderful legal system, they are all innocent until proven guilty.

My 1st thought was oh no, here we go again, another tearful plea from another guilty mom. That's not fair to the mom, but too many guilty moms have cried wolf before. After having chastised myself for that, I said a prayer for this baby and all the other children in harms way. Bringing me to wonder, why the national media attention? Children go missing all the time. Only certain ones make it to the media circus level of this one. There had to be something about this kidnapping to attract all this attention. I don't know what's going on, but it sure makes me wonder.

My husband's cousin's house was robbed a few weeks ago while they slept. Their baby was in her bedroom sleeping. Thank God they only took their computers and a few other replaceable items. They never heard a thing. Stuff like this happens.
Statistically, the parents are more than likely involved however imagine if you were the parents and you knew you didn't do it. How frustrating it must be to be interrogated for hours on end when you just want to be out searching for your child and you want every police officer looking for your child not interrogating you. I am not blaming the police... They have to do what theys have to do but I can understand the parents saying enough. Remember the Jon Benet Ramsey case. Those poor parents suffered horribly due to false accusations by both the police and media.

I'm on the fence as well.....I haven't read anything new yet this morning, so there may be new information I don't have.

One of the big things for me is that a) it seems so strange that a 10 month old would be taken from her bed by a complete stranger at random. But as someone pointed out, it happened to Elizabeth Smart, so it definitely does happen. B) Like Molly pointed out.....was there not a baby monitor on in her room. Mine is 17 months and I still have a baby monitor on and can't imagine not hearing SOMETHING if someone came in to take her.

On the other side, you have someone who claims to have seen a man in the neighborhood carrying a baby in the wee hours.

I'm totally on the fence about whether the parents could be responsible. But my gut tells me that something is a little "off" here.....hopefully some new things will come to light to alleviate that.

Regardless of anything, I'm just praying for that poor little girl. Heartbreaking.

ETA: 3rdTimes...I feel the same way, part of me doesn't want to think about the fact that someone could come in and take my child right out of my home! I'm not embarrassed to admit that I've been checking my daughters window every night. Irrational, maybe, but it helps me sleep at night!

I think its weird....and the whole situation a bit convenient that in a five hour period she's gone...I guess I am so suspect anymore that anything could happen. I will wait to here more in this case...While I know there are creeps and weirdos out there how is it that of all things in this quiet neighborhood she was selected at that specific time and who the hell leaves their front door unlocked? I don't think 10 hours are too much....to talk with parents. Of course they would be turning against eachother. Husband gone wife at home and door unlocked....It really does seem fishy to me.

I'm sure EVERY parent everywhere hopes the mom has PPD and killed her infant while dad was working, or sold him on the adoption black market ... either of which is pretty probable. Because it means that the super scary fact that we all sleep at night, and windows are just glass, and locks can be gotten around, can go back to being less scary.

Not sure what stand to take, however I want to assume that the parent's story is correct and that they had nothing to do with the baby's kidnapping. If that's not true then i am starting to lose my belief in this society where more and more parents are trying to get rid of their kids! Something's just not right with this society if this case also turns up like all other cases we know!

I also pray the baby is found unharmed. Cute little innocent being!

I also think the investigators should be as unbiased as possible. Its very natural to hold the parents responsible for everything considering the recent cases. However I am sure if the parents are innocent, then that kind of grueling must be adding to their voes when all they need is their baby back! Investigators should focus on finding the baby instead of making assumptions about the parents. Whatever happened to the dog snifers and stuff?

The Jon Benet case was never solved either.
What a deja vu type of thing.

I haven't followed the news, so I really don't know what happened, but I work in criminal defense and I will tell you now to take what you see/read in the press with a grain of salt. The media is in the entertainment business and they will sensationalize a story to get papers sold or viewers to watch their station. They are NOT privvy to what the police are doing; they only get the information that the police want them to have, which is usually geared toward swaying public opinion in their favor. The parents are probably done cooperating because they are seeing that the police are only focusing on them which may be giving the true culprits more of an opportunity to get away. If the police can't find any other clues, they will focus on the parents simply because they have no one else to focus on and no other leads/ideas. Also, I am quite sure that ten hours of interrogation is extremely rough. Why don't you try sitting in a chair with no food, no water and very few bathroom breaks and see how cooperative you are after ten hours! Also, after that length of time,. I might be tempted to tell them what they want to hear just to get them to stop! Please don't put these people on trial in the media. Yes, it might sound strange - husband working late - door unlocked. But there is nothing stranger than human nature, the truth, and reality. Please reserve your judgments!

What I can't wrap my head around is her sleeping through someone coming in and taking the baby. Babies make noises when they are awaken, especially if they are brought into the light.
When I had little ones I never slept well. And lights being turned on would have awaken me. Maybe she is a deep sleeper.
Obviously they did not have a dog.

I also think the media needs to butt out.

Edited to Add: it would make more sense that the parents wanted to get rid of the phones as maybe there were some calls made back and forth between the two that could be used as evidence? Hence the reprogramming (maybe the "reprogramming" was more like erasing voice mails, phone call history, etc.?). It just seemed strange that she would "reprogram" the phones and then they would disappear. I'm not saying it can't happened or that proves they did it. It just seems strange and points more to the parents than a kidnapper. If the phones were part of the evidence than I think whatever happened, happened before the dad left for work.

_____________________________________________________________

I hadn't heard about this case until yesterday (I guess I must be living in a cave) when someone posted a question on here about it. I googled it and found articles. I haven't watched any videos so I haven't seen the parents reactions, interviews, etc. so I realize that my opinon is limited at this point. That being said, I'm on the fence as well.

In regards to the door: one of the articles that I read that mentioned the door being unlocked didn't say that the mother/father left it unlocked it just said that the father came home and found it unlocked. He was shocked to find it that way. The article also mentioned that it appeared the kidnapper entered through a window. So it seemed to me that the article was suggesting that the kidnapper entered through a window and then existed out the door thus leaving it unlocked. Now, I'm not saying I"m buying all that - I honestly don't know what to believe.

The cell phone thing bugs me too. Let's say she was programming all the phones and that's why her husband forgot his because she had it and he forgot to get it back, why would a kidnapper want them? That would make it easier to track him/her down? That part just doesn't make sense to me.

This reminds me a tad bit of the Jon Bennet Ramsey (sp?) case because the investigators focused so much on the parents that they overlooked so many clues. I just hope the investigators aren't focusing too much on the parents and overlooking clues because you just never know.......

at first I was sick over it (and I still am) but I also saw the the parents aren't cooperating anymore and now I am wondering if they had something to do with it. I hate to think that any parent could hurt their own children, but sadly it does happen. But besides now thinking that they had something to do with it, I don't know what to say. Even if the mom had nothing to do with it, I think the dad might. She was crying on the news while he just sat there with a stone like face. Something weird is going on with that.