▲In 1991, 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped in Meyers, California while boarding a school bus. Her stepfather witnessed the abduction. She was held in captivity for 18 years.

▲In 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was taken from her home in Salt Lake City, while her sister pretended to be asleep. She was dragged through a forest by her abductor and held captive in a camp in the woods for nine months.

▲Her kidnapper was a religious fanatic named Brian David Mitchell. Together with his wife Wanda Barzee, the pair kept Smart chained to a tree and abused her.

▲After nine months, Smart's sister recognized the abductor's voice as that of a man the family knew as Emmanuel. A sketch was released to the media that was recognized by the family of Brian David Mitchell, who voiced their suspicions. Mitchell and Barzee were later arrested after being spotted walking with Smart.

▲Elizabeth Smart has spoken about her abduction to various media outlets and is now an activist and author of several books about her experience. She told U.S. News that she has chosen to punish her kidnappers by being happy.

▲The name Patty Hearst is one of the most notorious in the history of modern-day kidnappings. The granddaughter of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst, she was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in 1974.

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Patty Hearst married her former bodyguard, Bernard Shaw, in 1979. They had two daughters before his death in 2013. She published a memoir in 1981, and later pursued an acting career, appearing in several movies and television series.

▲On May 28, 1996, 12-year-old Sabine Dardenne was cycling to school in Tournai, Belgium, when she was kidnapped and taken to a house in Marcinelle. She was held in captivity for 80 days.

▲It was Marc Dutroux and an accomplice who kidnapped her. She spent most of the time concealed in the basement of Dutroux's house, tied to a bed with a chain around her neck. Dutroux convinced his victim that her parents didn't want to see her again, and that they would not pay a ransom.

▲During the abduction of another girl, 14-year-old Laetitia Delhez, an eye witness was able to write down the license plate of Dutroux's car. This eventually led police to his home where he was arrested. Dutroux admitted to kidnapping and assaulting the two girls. The remains of four other kidnap victims, plus Dutroux's accomplice, were found in properties belonging to the convicted criminal, who had served jail time for previous crimes.

▲Sabine Dardenne testified at Dutroux's trial in 2004, where she asked her abuser why he did it. A year later, she released a book about her experience, which has been translated into 14 languages and published in 30 countries. Little is known about her life today.

▲Elisabeth Fritzl (center) was 18 when she kidnapped by her own father. The girl was concealed in the basement of the Fritzl household and later forced to write a letter supposedly addressed to her mother and father explaining that she had run away from home and asking not to be followed.

▲Josef Fritzl kept his daughter in her basement prison for 24 years, during which time he repeatedly abused her. Over the years, she gave birth to seven children (one died shortly after birth). He openly adopted three of the six children by forcing his daughter to write letters describing how she wanted her parents to look after the boys. The others remained with Elisabeth in the basement.

▲One of the children fell ill and needed medical assistance. Josef Fritzl took the girl to the hospital with the excuse that he had found her unconscious on the street. Doctors and police began looking for the child's mother and made an appeal on television. Elisabeth was able to see the appeal on a TV in the basement and convinced Fritzl to take her to the hospital. When she was sure of her safety, she told doctors of her ordeal and her father was arrested. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment.

▲Elisabeth now lives with her six children and boyfriend in a small village in Austria. The whole family has adopted new names and live a seemingly normal life.

▲Ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped on March 2, 1998 while on her way to school in Vienna. It was the beginning of an ordeal that would last more than eight years.

▲Wolfgang Priklopil kept the girl in a basement, where he tortured, starved, and abused her. The space featured no windows, was soundproof, and had a reinforced steel door.

▲During the years she spent with her abductor, the young woman was allowed to walk around the house, although she was constantly watched. On August 23, 2006, she was vacuuming Priklopil's car when he received a call on his mobile phone. While he was distracted, Kampusch managed to escape and asked a woman to call the police. After realizing that his captive had fled, Priklopil went on the run. He later took his own life.

▲The case made headline news around the world. Kampusch wrote a book about her ordeal. A film based on her memoir was released in 2013. Today, she is a spokesperson for the animal rights group PETA, likening animal cruelty to her own experience.

▲Shawn Hornbeck was 11 years old in 2002 when he was abducted while riding his bicycle near his home in Richwoods, Missouri. He spent over four years in captivity, just 80 km (49 mi) from the family house.

▲His kidnapper Michael J. Devlin held the youngster captive in his apartment during which time he abused the boy and threatened to kill him if he tried to escape.

▲In 2007, Devlin kidnapped another boy named Ben Ownby. An eye witness was able to describe to police the truck Devlin used to carry out the crime. Four days later, they found Ownby, and consequently Shawn Hornbeck.

▲Following his kidnap, Shawn Hornbeck's family established the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation dedicated to the search for and rescue of abducted children. Hornbeck himself later offered advice to the family of kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard.

▲Amanda Berry, Georgina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight were abducted in the early 2000s in Cleveland, Ohio.

▲Ariel Castro abducted Michelle Knight in 2002 when she was 21; he kidnapped 16-year-old Amanda Berry in 2003; and in 2004 he took Georgina DeJesus, who was 14 at the time. Held captive inside Castro's house, the women were bound by rope and chains, subjected to constant abuse, and endured forced abortions. They went without seeing daylight for much of that time. While imprisoned, Amanda Berry bore Castro a child, who was also held captive.

▲On May 6, 2013, the three women managed to escape while Castro was out, after Berry began screaming and punching a door. Neighbors helped her flee and then called the police. Sentenced to life in prison, Castro later took his own life in his cell.

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Two months after their escape, the three women recorded a video message thanking everyone involved with their release and who donated funds towards their welfare. A memoir published in 2015 recounts the women's ordeal and subsequent recovery. They remain in touch with each other.

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Patty Hearst's kidnappers were a revolutionary organization of individuals with Marxist ideals responsible for several murders, bank robberies, and other crimes. Pictured: Donald DeFreeze (left), William Lawton Wolfe (center), and Camilla Hall—leaders of the rebel group responsible for the kidnapping of Hearst.

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Hearst ended up joining the SLA, supposedly as a result of Stockholm Syndrome, where hostages begin to bond with their captors. Hearst was caught on CCTV participating in a bank robbery carried out by the SLA. She was eventually captured and sentenced to seven years in prison. She served 21 months before her sentence was commuted by President Carter. She was later pardoned by President Clinton in January 2001.

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Jaycee Lee Dugard was 29 when she escaped the hands of the Garridos. Today, she tries to live as normal a life as possible, and has written about her experience. She told ABC News that she would not stop her daughters from seeing their criminal father if they wanted to. However, this has so far not happened. Her exact whereabouts today are unknown.

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Six-year-old Paislee Shultis went missing in 2019 but was found alive on February 14, 2022, hidden under a basement staircase in her grandfather's home in upstate New York. She was discovered by investigators in the "small, cold and wet" space with her alleged abductor: her mother, Kimberly Cooper, The Daily Freeman reports via People.

According to the Saugerties Police Department, Paislee's parents, Cooper and Kirk Shultis, were believed to have abducted their daughter in central New York state at the time of her disappearance, when they were scheduled to lose custody of Paislee and her older sister. Police finally obtained a warrant after receiving information that the girl was being hidden in a home in Saugerties, though Paislee's grandfather allegedly said he hadn't seen Paislee since 2019 and didn't know she was in his own house. Police had noticed something about the staircase leading into the basement, and after removing several wooden panels they saw her "little feet."

The older sister was placed in the care of a legal guardian, and fortunately the siblings were reunited.

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Her abductors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, kept her in the backyard of their house. Dugard was abused and assaulted during this time, and eventually gave birth to two daughters conceived with Garrido.

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Phillip Garrido was registered as an abuser after an offense committed in 1976, and had to report regularly to parole officers. On August 26, 2009, Garrido arrived as required to a police station accompanied by his wife and Dugard, and Dugard's two daughters from Garrido. Police became suspicious of the pale and frightened girls, who were then 13 and 16 years old. Garrido and his wife were eventually detained at the scene.

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In the annals of crime, kidnap is considered one of the most heinous, usually characterized by violence and prolonged physical and mental abuse. Victims often endure long and terrifying periods of captivity, with no contact with the outside world. History has recorded some notorious cases of kidnap, but some of the most disturbing abductions have taken place quite recently.

So what happened? And what became of the victims? Browse this gallery and relive some of the worst crimes of kidnap in recent times.