# Has there ever been a successful ransom kidnapping? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382 "2015-03-19T13:54:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/21 "2015-03-19T17:55:12Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > IIRC from news at the time, Getty disappeared while in Italy and part of the reason for refusal was that the Getty with all the money (and authorities in general) were at first pretty skeptical that it was not just a hoax for young Getty to get his hands on some money (it seems the elder granpa Getty was pretty much a skinflint.) When the ear arrived there was some debate whether this was his, and the family started to entertain the possibility the kidnapping was real. Couple of years ago I’d see these schemes all the time in local media. > **[$800 fine for fake kidnapping](https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/800-fine-for-fake-kidnapping/article_9d857df4-8a95-57d1-85cc-463a344d5490.html)** > > A 32-year-old Trincity man was yesterday fined $800 for staging his bogus kidnapping aimed at scheming his father out of $500,000. > [@](#): > > A 32-year-old Trincity man was yesterday fined $800 for staging his bogus kidnapping aimed at scheming his father out of $500,000. > His lawyer claimed that his client, Ricardo Daniel, “was possibly taken over by a shaitan (evil spirit)” as he pleaded for leniency. Ah yes the classic evil spirit defense! ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/22 "2015-03-19T17:58:02Z")
I’d suggest most successful kidnappings never actually make the news, as the whole affair never involves the authorities. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/23 "2015-03-19T20:35:02Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Amateurs. I can get you an ear by 3 o’clock this afternoon. 😃 But is it an ear with rich parents? > [@griffin1977](#): > > I’d suggest most successful kidnappings never actually make the news, as the whole affair never involves the authorities. That was sort of my question. Do those happen? I sort of suspect not, just because I would think that people would involve the authorities after the fact; you know, get the kid back, and _then_ call the police and try to bring the kidnappers to justice, even if you don’t get the money back. I understand those kind of kidnappings happen in other countries, where the authorities, well, aren’t, but in the US, not so much. Also, even if it was true at one time, considering how quickly the alarm goes up for a missing person, particularly a child, I wonder if parents wouldn’t contact authorities before the kidnappers had a chance to contact the parents. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/24 "2015-03-20T09:18:13Z")
The kidnapping of Freddy Heineken comes to mind. Not, as per OP, in the US but nevertheless a datapoint.[wiki link](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Freddy_Heineken) ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/25 "2015-03-20T12:30:18Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I’d suggest most successful kidnappings never actually make the news, as the whole affair never involves the authorities. In North America, unlikely. People withdrawing huge amounts of untraceable cash probably trigger some sort of alarm. Most kidnappers won’t take a cheque. And most people with the connections to raise large amounts of cash quietly - you probably don’t want to mess with. Where was it, Italy or South America somewhere, where when the authorities heard about a kidnapping they would freeze the family’s money to prevent them paying the kidnappers? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/26 "2015-03-21T06:42:22Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Weird question for me. I would define a successful kidnapping as > > 1. Ransom paid > 2. Victim released unharmed > 3. Kidnapper(s) escape and are still unknown > > Has all 3 ever happened? Well, there was [this infamous case](http://fiction.eserver.org/short/ransom_of_red_chief.html), but someone will probably say it doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/27 "2015-03-21T07:11:31Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Well, there was [this infamous case](http://fiction.eserver.org/short/ransom_of_red_chief.html), but someone will probably say it doesn’t count. I love that story. When my son is misbehaving, I call him Red Chief-- his real name actually is Johnny. I was very sad when I had to explain it to my husband. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/28 "2015-03-21T15:28:06Z")
Steve Wynn’s daughter Kevyn was kidnapped in 1993. Steve paid $1.45 million and got her back safely. The kidnappers were caught when one of them tried to buy a Ferrari in Newport Beach for cash. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/29 "2015-03-22T10:52:34Z")
Not a factual source, but in the Ron Howard/Mel Gibson movie **Ransom** , that FBI guy told Mel that the families that paid generally got their kids back. Interesting that no reviewer at the time called them on that. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/30 "2015-03-22T11:27:08Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Weird question for me. I would define a successful kidnapping as > > 1. Ransom paid > 2. Victim released unharmed > 3. Kidnapper(s) escape and are still unknown > > Has all 3 ever happened? [Virginia Piper](http://listverse.com/2013/08/02/10-unsolved-ransom-kidnappings/), some details here. Two suspects arrested, acquitted due to evidence tampering. Officially they are innocent, and the crime is unsolved. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382.md?page=1)