In 2020, Welsh singer Duffy revealed that she had been drugged, abducted, and raped years earlier at the height of her music career. She said she was drugged at a restaurant on her birthday, transported to another country, and held captive for several days before being returned home.
The trauma caused her to disappear from public life for nearly a decade. Duffy later explained that she remained silent out of fear and while recovering psychologically. She did not publicly identify the attacker, and few investigative details were released, but her statement confirmed the crime fundamentally altered her life and career.
During an episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, actor Justin Long revealed he was drugged and abducted while filming Youth in Revolt in Michigan. After a night of drinking, he left with locals who offered him a substance that he later believed was actually PCP. He became severely intoxicated.
Long said the group drove him to multiple locations against his will and refused to return him to his hotel. They allegedly discussed filming him while under the influence and selling the footage to TMZ. Fearing exploitation, Long escaped by jumping from the moving vehicle, later reporting lasting nerve damage in his leg.
On December 8, 1963, 19-year-old Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped from his hotel room in Lake Tahoe. Three men abducted him and demanded $240,000 from his father, legendary singer Frank Sinatra. The ransom demand quickly became national news.
Sinatra paid the ransom, and his son was released unharmed two days later. The FBI tracked the kidnappers using recorded serial numbers from the ransom money. All three were arrested and convicted, and the case became one of the most well-known ransom kidnappings in American history.
In 1973, 16-year-old John Paul Getty III was kidnapped in Rome by members of the Italian mafia. His grandfather, oil billionaire J. Paul Getty, initially refused to pay the ransom, reportedly concerned about setting a precedent for future kidnappings.
Months into the ordeal, the kidnappers cut off Getty’s ear and mailed it to a newspaper to prove they were serious. A reduced ransom was eventually paid, and he was released. Getty suffered lasting physical and emotional trauma, and the case remains one of the most notorious ransom crimes of the 20th century.
Patty Hearst was kidnapped in 1974 by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a radical extremist group. They demanded that her wealthy family fund a massive food distribution program in California as part of their political agenda.
Weeks later, Hearst appeared in surveillance footage participating in a bank robbery with the group. She claimed she had been threatened and psychologically manipulated. Convicted in 1975, President Jimmy Carter later commuted her sentence, and she was eventually pardoned, leaving her case subject to debate for decades.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, the mother of NBC Today anchor Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing from her Tucson, Arizona home on February 1, 2026. Investigators treating the disappearance as a crime believe she was taken against her will; blood matching her DNA was found on her porch and her security camera was tampered with by a masked individual on video.
Law enforcement and the FBI are conducting an extensive search and have received thousands of tips. Multiple ransom notes, including demands for cryptocurrency, have surfaced but their authenticity is unconfirmed and there has been no verified contact with the suspected abductors. Families have issued emotional public pleas for her safe return.
In March 1932, 20-month-old Charles Lindbergh Jr. was kidnapped from his family’s home in New Jersey. A ransom note demanded $50,000, and despite payment, the child was not safely returned.
His body was discovered weeks later nearby. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested after ransom money was traced back to him. He was convicted and executed in 1936. The case led to federal legislation making interstate kidnapping a federal crime.
Adolph Coors III was kidnapped in 1960 near his Colorado home. A ransom note demanding $500,000 was left behind after his car was found abandoned. Coors did not return home that day.
Months later, his remains were discovered in a remote area. Joseph Corbett Jr. was identified through forensic evidence and arrested in Canada. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, and the case heightened security awareness among corporate executives.
In November 1983, Dutch brewing executive Freddy Heineken and his driver were kidnapped in Amsterdam. The abductors demanded 35 million Dutch guilders, one of the largest ransom demands ever at that time.
After three weeks, police located and rescued them from a warehouse where they were being held. Although the ransom had been paid, much of the money was later recovered. The perpetrators were arrested and convicted, and the crime later inspired multiple books and films.
In January 2003, hedge fund manager and Sears executive Eddie Lampert was kidnapped from a parking garage in Greenwich, Connecticut. The abductors held him for about 30 hours and demanded ransom money.
Lampert reportedly negotiated directly with his captors, persuading them that holding him longer increased their risk of arrest. He was released, unharmed, after two days of captivity. The suspects were later arrested and the case that transpired drew attention for Lampert’s calm negotiation during captivity and the swift law enforcement response.
