Acquaintances were responsible for 27 percent of the abduction cases, while the remaining 24 percent of abductors were strangers. It was the first time researchers examined the acquaintance category separate from strangers, and the results will help guide future education and prevention strategies, government officials and child advocates said.
Children are at far greater risk with people they know, at least casually.
It's not the guy who crawls out from under the bridge. Seduction rather than abduction Acquaintance kidnapping, often by boyfriends or ex-boyfriends of the child's mother, usually involves girls ages 12 to 17, the study found. The victims are more likely to be hurt by acquaintances who kidnap them than by strangers, the study said. Twenty-four percent of acquaintance kidnappings led to victim injury compared with 16 percent of stranger abductions and 4 percent of family kidnappings. Eighty-four percent of kidnappers were males and 30 percent were juveniles.