A mom has handed herself in for allegedly planning to have her mentally disabled daughter kidnapped.
On November 17, police responded to reports of a suspected kidnap of a 22-year-old woman, who has intellectual and physical disabilities.
Two masked men reportedly entered the woman's home, where they took her to a field and tied her to a tree, twice, after she tried to flee the first time.
When she eventually managed to break free, cops say she contacted 911 in 'fear for her life'.
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Now, it is alleged that the woman's carer and her own mother, who served on the Crawford County Library Board, had set up the scheme.
According to 5news, Tamara 'Tammi' Hanby, from Arkansas, is said to have informed their in-home nursing assistant, Shannon Yvonne Childers, of her supposed plot to scare her daughter.
Childers then allegedly recruited two individuals, David Q. Quach and Nico Austria, to act as the kidnappers.
The mom, who has since handed herself in to police, is said to have set up the scheme to teach her daughter a lesson about speaking to strangers on the internet, including someone allegedly pretending to be country singer Luke Bryan.
Hanby's alleged plan was to have someone pretend to be linked to the singer and contact her daughter to arrange a meet-up.
Then, the person would collect her, take her to a field and make demands for money before leaving her tied to a tree, after which her mom was supposedly meant to swoop in and 'rescue her', the warrant detailed.
However, it apparently didn't quite go to plan.
Quach and Austria reportedly showed up and asked the woman if she wanted to meet the singer, to which investigators say she agreed to and got into the car.
The warrant adds Austria then appeared to take a wrong turn during the ordeal and took the victim to a different field than was planned before tying her to a tree.
When she tried to flee, she was allegedly tackled by Austria and Quach, who then tied her back up using zipties.
When she eventually escaped, it is reported she fled to a nearby house where she made a desperate plea to 911. Meanwhile, Hanby was watching the ordeal, the outlet reports.
"[Hamby’s daughter] was in fear for her life and clung tightly to a teddy bear the entirety of me speaking with her during her interview,” the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office deputy said, as per 5news.
While the mom has resigned from her position on the library board as of November 24, her husband, Jeffrey Hamby, told the outlet that she was trying to do the right thing to protect their daughter after they became increasingly worried by her online activity.
“The predator developed a relationship with her, and he said he was Luke Bryan, the singer. And my daughter adores him,” Jeffrey explained.
"So, over the last six months, he’s developed somewhat of a trauma bond, now that we’ve been able to see the chats and the messages, and he was attempting to obtain her or get her."
The father, who said he had no idea of the plan, told the outlet that the family had taken her devices away in a bid to cut her contact with the stranger, who Jeffrey says has been traced to Nigeria by Arkansas State Police.
"We tried everything, and she has not stopped communicating with him, and he was going to get her. He was going to take her. And so, my wife, without my knowledge, with her aide and a couple of their friends, tried to do an intervention,” he said.
However, he admitted the scheme was 'ill-conceived' and 'really poorly executed,' adding that the kidnappers had done a practice run to prevent the woman from being harmed though his daughter ended up getting bruises on her wrists from the zip ties in her 'struggle to get away.'
Court records show Hanby has since been charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, abuse of an endangered adult or impaired person, battery and terroristic threatening.
The others, Quach, Austria and Childers have also been arrested in connection with the plot.
If convicted, conspiracy to commit kidnapping could see the four behind bars for 10 to 30 years.
Topics: Crime, Arkansas, Parenting, Mental Health, US News
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