A girl kidnapped by her mother six years ago has just been found in the United States thanks to footage from a Netflix documentary. Kayla Unbehaun disappeared on July 4, 2017 in Illinois, when she was just 9 years old. In the last hours she was found more than 1,100 kilometers from where she had disappeared. She is safe and sound.
The discovery occurred in North Carolina, thanks to the complaint of a neighbor. A business owner had seen a Netflix documentary called "Unsolved Mysteries" that mentioned the case of the young woman, who is now 15 years old.
While working, he saw a teenage girl next to her mother Heather Unbehaun and thought the girl looked a lot like the one in the show. He wasn't wrong.
Kayla Unbehaun was abducted by her mother when she was 9 years old.
"I'm just asking for privacy for this time when we have to get to know each other again," the father, Ryan, said after recovering his daughter after six years of agony.
The child's father had custody of the girl at the time of the abduction and the mother, now detained, was allowed to visit her daughter twice a week. During one of those visits, he took the young woman and fled.
Kayla Unbehaun and her father Ryan, who had custody of the girl when she was abducted.
Heather Unbehaun, 40, faces a child kidnapping charge and is being held on $250,000 bail following her arrest in Asheville over the weekend.
On a Facebook page titled "Bring Kayla Home," Ryan wrote a tribute to his daughter earlier this year, on her 15th birthday, Jan. 5.
Heather Unbehaun, the mother of the kidnapped girl, was arrested in North Carolina.
"I love you and miss you so much. I can't wait for the day when I can see you again, hoping that every day I wake up is the day. It will never be soon enough. I think of you every day, hoping and praying that you will be safe, happy and return to my life soon," the message read. "There are so many others who love you and miss you too."
"Unsolved Mysteries", the Netflix documentary that was key.
"You are now a young woman with your own thoughts and opinions. I hope you're old enough to realize that you only know half the story from one point of view." "I hope you can remember the truth about how things were when we could all be together, how good things really were."
Kayla Unbehaun, found safe and sound.
"The truth is, I'm still alive and I love you with every beat of my heart. I love you so much that there are no limits to measure it. I've loved you since before you were alive, when you were just a possibility," the post concluded. "I've dreamed of being your Dada since I was a little boy. And I have loved you through it all, no matter what happens and I will continue to love you always. I've never wanted anything but the best for you, and I feel like part of that is being in someone else's life."
Unsolved Mysteries, the Netflix series, premiered in 2020 and has three seasons, the last in 2022.
