List of long-term false imprisonment cases

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

Cases involving children imprisoned by relatives

• Turpin case, Perris, California, United States, 29 years,^[1][2][3] discovered on 14 January 2018.
• Lydia Gouardo, Val-de-Marne, France, 28 years, discovered on 20 November 1999.^[4]
• "M" and her children, Moe, Victoria, Australia, 28 years, discovered in February 2007.
• Mirella case, Świętochłowice, Poland, 27 years, discovered in July 2025.^[5][6][7]
• 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.^[8][9][10]
• Sheffield incest case, UK, 25 years, discovered in November 2008.
• Alba Nidia Álvarez, Mariquita, Colombia, 25 years,^[11][12] discovered in March 2009.
• "Laura" Mongelli, Turin, Italy, 25 years, discovered on 27 March 2009.
• Elisabeth Fritzl and her children, Austria, 24 years,^[13] discovered on 26 April 2008.
• Lucero case, Argentina, 20 years, discovered in May 2009.^[14][15]
• South Wales paternal sex abuse case, South Wales, UK, 20 years, discovered in October 2019.^{[16][17][18][19]}
• "S", Waterbury, Connecticut, United States, 20 years, discovered on 17 February 2025.^[20][21]
• Rosalynn McGinnis, Missouri, United States, 19 years, escaped in 2016.^[22]
• "Genie", Arcadia, California, United States, 13 years,^[23] discovered on 4 November 1970.
• Schollenberger case, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, United States, 10 years, discovered in May 2020.^[24]
• Drenthe hermits family of six children, Ruinerwold, the Netherlands, at least 9 years, discovered in October 2019.^[25][26]
• Viktoria, Katharina, and Elisabeth (Linz sisters), Linz, Austria, 7 years.^[27]
• "Anna", Perryopolis, Pennsylvania, United States, 6 years, discovered on 6 February 1938.
• Jürgen Bartsch, Langenberg, Germany, 6 years.^[28]
• Jeffrey Baldwin, Toronto, Canada, 4 years, discovered on 30 November 2002.^[29]
• Byron Anthony McCane II, Oklahoma, United States, 2 years, discovered in 1983.
• Rader/Beighley case, Pennsylvania, United States, 1 year, discovered in June 2014.^[30][31][32]
• Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, Solihull, West Midlands, England, 1 year, discovered in June 2020.^[33]

Cases involving abducted children

• Jayme Closs, kidnapped after her parents' murder and held for 88 days, discovered on 10 January 2019.
• Murder of Sylvia Likens, a teenager tortured and repeatedly held captive in the basement by her caretaker and her children and their friends for three months, discovered on 26 October 1965.
• Jaycee Dugard, kidnappers Phillip and Nancy Garrido, Antioch, California, US, 18 years, discovered on 26 August 2009.^[34][35]
• John Jamelske, serial rapist-kidnapper who, from 1988 to his apprehension in 2003, kidnapped a series of girls and women and held them captive in a concrete bunker beneath the yard of his home in DeWitt, a suburb of Syracuse, New York, US. All five of his victims were from different ethnic origins and most from different age groups.
• Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby, kidnapper Michael J. Devlin, Kirkwood, Missouri, US, 4 years, discovered on 12 January 2007.^[36]
• Florence Sally Horner, kidnapper Frank La Salle, Camden, New Jersey, US, 1 year 9 months, discovered on 22 March 1950.^[37]
• Tanya Nicole Kach, kidnapper Thomas Hose, McKeesport, Pennsylvania, US, 10 years, discovered on 21 March 2006.^[38][39][40]
• Natascha Kampusch, kidnapper Wolfgang Přiklopil, Vienna, Austria, 8 years, discovered on 23 August 2006.^[9]
• Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus, kidnapper Ariel Castro, Cleveland, Ohio, US, 9 to 11 years, discovered on 6 May 2013.^[41][42][43]
• Katya Martynova and Lena Samokhina, kidnapper Viktor Mokhov, Skopin, Ryazan, Russia, 3 to 4 years.^[44][45]
• Anna Saito, kidnapper Kabu Terauchi, Higashi-Nakano, Tokyo, Japan, 2 years.^[46][47]
• Fusako Sano, kidnapper Nobuyuki Satō, Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, 9 years, discovered on 28 January 2000.^[48]
• Santa Ana kidnapping accusation of 15-year-old girl, held by Isidro Garcia, Santa Ana, California, US, 10 years, discovered on 19 May 2014.^[49][50]
• 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.^[51]
• Steven Stayner, kidnappers Kenneth Parnell and Ervin Murphy, Merced, California, US, 7 years, discovered on 1 March 1980.^[52]
• 7-year-old girl kidnapped by a school bus driver in Medellín, Colombia, in early 2012. Escaped in February 2024 after being held captive for 12 years.^[53]

Cases involving sexual slavery of children

• Kidwelly sex cult
• Jeffrey Epstein
• Birmingham bathing cult
• Lambeth slavery case^[54]

Cases involving adults

• Kaspar Hauser, Nuremberg, Germany, 16 years.^[55]
• Catharina Ulrika Hjort af Ornäs, Sweden, 33 years, discovered after 11 January 1837
• Marvin L. Maple, US, arrested in 2009 for kidnapping his grandchildren, 20 years earlier.
• Colleen Stan, US, an American woman who was kidnapped and held captive between 1977 and 1984.
• Alexander Komin, Vyatskiye Polyany, Kirov Oblast, Russia.^[56]
• Omar bin Omran, Algeria, 26 years, discovered on 12 May 2024.^[57]

References

1. "13 captive siblings allowed to eat once a day, shower once a year". NBC.
2. Carly Sitzer (18 January 2018). "Quiverfull: More Children For God's Army". In Touch Weekly. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
3. Schmidt, Samantha; Bever, Lindsey (16 January 2018). "How a malnourished teen escaped a house full of chains and freed her 12 siblings". Washington Post.
4. "French incest victim says world ignored her plight". 29 April 2008.
5. "Horror w Świętochłowicach? Rodzice mieli więzić ją w pokoju przez 27 lat. Służby weszły do mieszkania". Onet.pl. 14 October 2025.
6. "Została skreślona z listy uczniów, 27 lat nie wychodziła z domu". TVN24. 15 October 2025.
7. "Była przetrzymywana w domu 27 lat? Policja wydała komunikat". TVP3. 14 October 2025.
8. "Blanche Monnier was imprisoned in a tiny room for 25 years because her mother hated her choice of husband". 5 January 2018.
9. ObsoleteOddity (12 November 2017). "The French Socialite Locked in her Attic for 25 Years ▭ Blanche Monnier (Narrated Version)" – via YouTube.
10. "The Miserable Imprisonment of Blanche Monnier - Mandatory". 6 February 2015.
11. Semana (29 April 2009). "The daughter of the Colombian monster". The daughter of the Colombian monster.
12. Bronstein, Hugh (29 March 2009). "Colombia rocked by father-daughter incest case". Reuters.
13. Bell, Bethany (2 May 2008). "The Children of the Cellar". Time – via content.time.com.
14. "Urgente24 - primer diario online con las últimas noticias de Argentina y el mundo en tiempo real". Urgente24 - primer diario online con las últimas noticias de Argentina y el mundo en tiempo real.
15. "Argentina's Fritzl accused of fathering daughter's 7 kids".
16. "Dad who raped daughters given 40-year term at Swansea Crown Court". BBC News. 18 October 2019. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019.
17. Rahman, Khaleda (11 October 2019). "Man Found Guilty of Raping Own Daughter, Fathering 6 Children Over 20-Year Period: One of the 'Worst Cases I Have Ever Had to Deal With,' Says Judge". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019.
18. Brown, Lee (13 October 2019). "DNA proved British pedophile fathered 6 kids with his own daughter". New York Post. Archived from the original on 14 October 2019.
19. Yeo, Julia (14 October 2019). "British man fathered 6 children with daughter, also guilty of raping his daughter's child". Mothership. Archived from the original on 14 October 2019.
20. Maslin Nir, Sarah (8 April 2025). "He Was Held Captive in His Room for Decades. Then He Set It on Fire". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved 21 April 2025..
21. Sanchez, Ray (15 April 2025). "Young man held captive in Connecticut home for decades makes first public statement 'to have my say in how my story is told'". CNN. Retrieved 21 April 2025..
22. Burke, Minyvonne (13 June 2019). "She was kidnapped by her stepfather as a child in Oklahoma, held captive 19 years. Then she escaped". NBC News. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
23. Carroll, Rory (14 July 2016). "Starved, tortured, forgotten: Genie, the feral child who left a mark on researchers". the Guardian.
24. "NEWS POST: Couple Charged in the Torture and Murder of their 12 year old son Maxwell". CRIMEWATCH.
25. "De kinderen van Ruinerwold". 2Doc.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-04-29.
26. "Jongste kinderen Ruinerwold treden naar buiten. Lees hun verklaring hier: 'Ons leven was niet traumatisch, het jaar na de inval in de boerderij wel'". Steenwijker Courant (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-04-29.
27. Weaver, Matthew (28 April 2008). "Austria's hidden nightmare". the Guardian.
28. Miller, Alice (1986). Pictures of Childhood. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.
29. "Jeffrey Baldwin inquest: Toronto detective haunted by boy's starvation death". thestar.com. 8 September 2013.
30. "Boy was being starved". www.sharonherald.com.
31. "Police Charge Mom, Grandparents Of Starving, Beaten Child Who Ate Insects To Survive". 19 July 2014.
32. EndPlay (21 July 2014). "Starved, beaten, neglected boy released from hospital".
33. "Mr Justice Wall - Sentencing Remarks. Regina v Emma Tustin & Thomas Hughes"(PDF). UK Courts and Tribunals Judiciary.
34. "Video: Jaycee Dugard: The Full Interview". ABC News.
35. "Jaycee Dugard, Her Daughters Today, and if They Ever Want to See Their Father". ABC News. 1 August 2016.
36. "Experts: Mo. boy was controlled by his captor". NBC News. 15 January 2007.
37. Linge, Mary Kay (2018-08-04). "The girl whose tragic story inspired 'Lolita'". New York Post. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
38. Urbina, Ian (24 March 2006). "Woman, 24, Says Neighbor Held Her Captive for 10 Years". The New York Times.
39. "Story hits close to home for Tanya Nicole Kach, held captive in McKeesport".
40. "Man: I Held Girl Captive for 10 Years". ABC News. 26 June 2007.
41. "Cleveland Kidnapping Survivors Describe Life in Captivity". ABC News. 29 April 2015.
42. "Michelle Knight's life after 11 years of captivity". Newsweek. 3 September 2015.
43. "Cleveland Captive Changes Name, Distances Self From Captives". ABC News. 2 May 2014.
44. Parfitt, Tom (8 May 2004). "Inside the sex slaves' cell". The Daily Telegraph.
45. "Free After 3 Years As Sex Slaves". CBS News.
46. "Japanese teen escapes from two year kidnap ordeal". The Irish Times.
47. "Man who held Japanese teen girl captive as 'experiment' is jailed". South China Morning Post. 12 March 2018.
48. "Fusako Sano - Captive Humans". captivehumans.com.
49. "California man charged with holding girl 10 years pleads not guilty". Reuters. 10 June 2014.
50. "Man charged with kidnapping, raping teen in decade-long case". 22 May 2014.
51. Egan, Timothy (14 March 2003). "END OF AN ABDUCTION: ORDEAL; In Plain Sight, a Kidnapped Girl Behind a Veil". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
52. AP (7 January 1982). "2 CONVICTED IN '72 KIDNAPPING OF 7-YEAR-OLD CALIFORNIA BOY". The New York Times.
53. "Colombian bus driver arrested after holding girl captive for 12 years". BNO News. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
54. "How Chairman Mao of Brixton built his sect of 'slaves'". The Daily Telegraph.
55. "The lingering legend of Kaspar Hauser: the semi-feral mystery child of Nuremberg". 27 May 2014.
56. Stanley, Alessandra (28 August 1997). "A Tale of Murder and Sex Slaves to Stun Dostoyevsky". The New York Times.
57. "Algerian man found alive after 26 years in neighbour's cellar". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2024-05-27.