Girl, who was abducted by her three teenage aunts when she was just over a year old, was found alive and safe in Arizona
Girl, who was abducted by her three teenage aunts when she was just over a year old, was found alive and safe in ArizonaA girl who was kidnapped when she was a toddler has been found alive nearly seven years after her abduction.
In a case that may offer hope to the parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann (see box), Amber Nicklas was discovered alive and well in Phoenix, Arizona, 370 miles away from her hometown in California.
Amber Nicklas was 13-months-old when she was abducted by her three teenage aunts from a
Los Angeles restaurant in 2003. She was discovered seven years later, apparently living with an acquaintance of her family.
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| Amber's discovery gives hopes to parents of British girl Madeleine McCannu00a0 who went missing in May 2007 |
No schooling
Detectives said she had not been to school and could not read, but could speak English and some Romanian,
and was in good physical condition.
She was discovered hidden under a pile of towels and clothes in a bathroom shower. The woman living there, a psychic, initially told detectives she had adopted the girl.
Her name and date of birth had been changed, but Amber was identified from a footprint on her birth certificate and DNA swabs.
Amber was abducted during an organised visit with her biological mother and her foster parents at a fast food
restaurant.
But two of her teenage aunts distracted the foster parents while a third escaped with the little girl. Two of the aunts were arrested soon afterwards, but the third was never found.
Two women and a man were questioned over Amber's disappearance but have been released pending possible charges.
The case also bears similarities to that of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was snatched in Antioch, California in 1991 at the age of 11 and held captive in the back garden of her alleged abductor Phillip Garrido, a convicted sex offender, for 18 years.
| Search for Maddie |
| Madeleine disappeared on the evening of Thursday, 3 May 2007, while holidaying with her parents and twin siblings in the Algarve region of Portugal. The British girl went missing from an apartment, in the central area of the resort of Praia da Luz, a few days before her fourth birthday, and has still not been found. Her parents, Kate and Gerry, have sworn they will not stop searching for her. |
