A store owner in North Carolina has found little Kayla Unbehaun. Six years after her mother Heather abducted the nine-year-old girl, the owner of a mall store found her.
Last minute! NCMEC is pleased to share that Kayla Unbehaun has been found safe in North Carolina! Kayla was only 9 years old when she was abducted by her non-custodial mother, Heather Unbehaun of South Elgin, Illinois on July 5, 2017. Ryan, Kayla's father, asked NCMEC to share this statement on his behalf: "I'm so glad Kayla is home safe. I want to thank @ElginPDFD, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and all the law enforcement agencies that assisted in her case. We ask for privacy as we get to know each other again and navigate this new beginning."
BREAKING NEWS ‼️
NCMEC is excited to share that Kayla Unbehaun has been FOUND SAFE in North Carolina!
Kayla was only 9 years old when she was abducted by her non-custodial mother, Heather Unbehaun from South Elgin, Illinois on July 5, 2017. Kayla’s dad, Ryan asked NCMEC to… pic.twitter.com/5O7bpEjIhT
— National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (@MissingKids) May 16, 2023
The surprising part of the story is how the clerk located Kayla. It did so thanks to
Unsolved mysteries
the Netflix show dedicated to investigating unsolved cases. The saleswoman assured that she had seen the chapter dedicated to the nine-year-old girl. Days later, she saw a young woman who looked like her at a mall in Asheville, North Carolina, 684 miles from where the girl disappeared six years ago.
She couldn't get the resemblance out of her head and decided to alert the authorities who intervened and discovered that indeed the girl, now 15, was Kayla. She is now with her father, who has been searching for her for six years while her mother, Heather, is in custody.
