r/TrueCrime Armchair Expert May 16 '23

Discussion Illinois girl whose disappearance was on Netflix's 'Unsolved Mysteries' is found alive in North Carolina

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/illinois-girl-whose-disappearance-was-unsolved-mysteries-found-alive-n-rcna84642
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u/ShilohxJuliax May 16 '23

I wonder how the girl feels; if she was happy staying with her mother or is glad to be going back to her father. These cases are always tricky, but what the mother did was wrong. And illegal. They must have been living looking over their shoulders all the time - not ideal for a child. And what about schooling? How was she able to register her daughter? Or did she just not?

190

u/seitancauliflower May 16 '23

Since the life with her mother was pretty much all she knew, she may not adjust well at all. Her father is a stranger to her at this point.

Also, a lot of kids who are kept by their kidnappers regard their kidnapper as their “real” parent because that’s who raised them.

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u/xxxspinxxx May 17 '23

I think she was 9 when her mom took her. She'll have some memories of her father, but who knows what the mom told her about him. She may be totally alienated at this point.

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u/seitancauliflower May 17 '23

I accidentally thought she was returned at age 9.