7 Abducted Children Who Found Their Way Home Decades Later.
Li Jingwei
When Li Jingwei was only four years old, he was kidnapped from his village in Zhaotong, China, by a neighbor and sold into a child trafficking ring in 1989. Jingwei was then taken to live with another family in the Henan province, over 1,118 miles (1,800 kilometers) away.
While Jingwei was very much aware of his abduction growing up, given that he had been taken so far and had no recollection of his own name, his parents’ name, or the name of his village, returning home seemed impossible.
On the other hand, Jingwei could remember the most vivid details of his village, such as where trees and bamboo shoots grew, the twists and turns of roads and rivers, and even where cows grazed, and he often drew maps of his village as a child. It would be Jingwei’s photographic memory that would lead him back home.
In a final attempt to find his parents, Jingwei drew a detailed picture of his village on December 24, 2021, and posted it to the video-sharing app Douyin. The drawing went viral and was shared across social media platforms, eventually getting the attention of the Ministry of Public Security, which then began assisting Jingwei in his search.
Shortly after that, authorities were able to locate a woman they believed was Jingwei’s mother, and on December 28, 2021, a DNA test confirmed their findings. Jingwei was finally reunited with his mother on January 1, 2022, more than 30 years after his abduction. Unfortunately, his father had already passed away.
Jermaine Mann
On June 24, 1987, 21-month-old Jermaine Allan Mann was abducted by his father, Allan Mann Jr., during a court-ordered visit in Toronto, Canada. Later that year, Mann moved to the United States, creating a new life for himself and Jermaine using fake birth certificates. He also later told Jermaine that his mother was dead.
Although it took nearly three decades, thanks to more than 200 tips received by authorities in both the United States and Canada, they were able to track down Mann using facial recognition. He had been living in Vernon, Connecticut, under the alias of Hailee Randolph DeSouza. Mann was arrested on October 26, 2018, by officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development after discovering his birth certificate was counterfeit. Jermaine and his mother were finally reunited on October 27, 2018, after 31 long years.
Mann was charged with making false statements and making false statements to obtain HUD housing after having received more than $180k in housing and Medicaid benefits during his time in the United States. Mann was sentenced to 18 months in prison and was ordered to be deported to Toronto to face abduction charges after serving his sentence in the United States.[5]
Carlina White
When Joy White and Carl Tyson’s 19-day-old daughter, Carlina, began running a high fever on August 4, 1987, they brought her to the Harlem Hospital in New York for treatment. Little did they know that was the last time they would see their daughter. A woman named Ann Pettway, who pretended to be a nurse taking the baby for treatment, kidnapped Carlina and raised her under the alias of Nejdra Nance.
However, as Carlina grew older, she noticed the lack of resemblance between herself and her “mother.” Her suspicions only grew when Pettway could not produce a copy of her birth certificate or social security card, claiming Carlina had been given to her by a woman who used drugs.
It wasn’t until December 2010 that Carlina went on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s website. Imagine her surprise to find a photo similar to her own baby pictures. Carlina then called their hotline and was put in touch with her mother, Joy White.
DNA tests later confirmed Carlina was, in fact, her missing daughter, and they were reunited in January 2011, 23 years after her abduction. Pettway turned herself in on January 23, 2011, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Sun Wei
Four-year-old Sun Wei was walking home from kindergarten in Lianshan Yi when he was given sweets by a stranger, lured into a van, and kidnapped in 1995. He was taken to the city of Jieyang, sold to a couple, and given a new name and birthdate. While Sun Wei’s identity was changed, he never forgot his kidnapping.
The boy’s father, Sun Zhenghua, reported the kidnapping to the police, but given that he and his wife had no photographs of their son, finding him seemed impossible. However, Zhengua refused to give up and began a cross-country journey, working odd jobs across several provinces in hopes of finding his son. Unfortunately, his attempts were unsuccessful. Refusing to be defeated, Zhengua later registered his DNA with the Chinese missing persons’ authorities.
When Sun Wei was 14 years old, he quit school to begin working and was later persuaded by his friends to register his DNA in the missing person’s database as well. The family was reunited in October 2015, 20 years after Sun Wei’s kidnapping.
Dollie Ann Henson
At the age of five, Dollie Ann Henson (who was born Darlene McDaniel) was playing at a neighbor’s house in Houston, Texas, when the woman asked her if she wanted to go on a train ride. Little did Henson realize at the time that the “train ride” was a kidnapping. She was taken to Louisiana before ending up in San Francisco, California, 1600 miles (2,574 kilometers) away from her family.
Henson’s kidnapper changed her name, birth date, and birth certificate, even going so far as to keep any information that would lead to Henson’s past locked in the trunk of her car. While Henson’s kidnapper claimed her biological family never wanted her, that wouldn’t stop Henson from eventually finding them. However, the challenge was a bit harder after a fire destroyed all the documents in the car, and her kidnapper passed away in 1977.
After getting married and having children of her own, Henson told them the story of her abduction. It was her daughter Kia’Ora who contacted a local television station that allowed Henson to go on-air and share her story on November 12, 2009.
Miraculously, Henson’s family members happened to be watching the broadcast, and they were able to connect by phone on November 13, 2009. Unfortunately, Henson’s birth mother had already passed away, but she was able to spend Christmas that year getting to know the rest of her family and making up for the previous 55 years.
Susan Gervaise
Susan Gervaise, born Susan Preece, had a rough beginning as a young child. Her mother was a single mom, and she and her six siblings lived on a traveler’s site, in and out of foster care in Yorkshire, England.
Therefore, when a Scottish couple who also lived on the site offered four-year-old Gervaise the opportunity to go to Disney World in 1969, her mother agreed. The couple asked Gervaise’s mother for her birth certificate as well so “she could be put on their passport.” Unfortunately, this ruse was nothing more than a disguised kidnapping that would take Gervaise from Canada to New Zealand and Australia.
While Gervaise claimed she had “a cherished life where she was spoiled rotten” with her traveling family, it wasn’t until she was 16 years old that she found out she had been stolen from her family. Gervaise later moved to Australia as an adult, got married, and had three children, never thinking much about her “real family.” That is, until a friend of Gervaise’s, who had been adopted, caused her to think about what her family must have gone through all these years.
Gervaise then located a Facebook page dedicated to the auburn of Pontefract, where she had been taken, and posted her story. Within 30 minutes, her family had been found. Gervaise was reunited with four of her six siblings and other family members in September of 2022, 53 years after her disappearance. Unfortunately, Gervaise’s biological mother had passed away eight years prior.
Feng Lulu
At 22 months of age, Feng Lulu was abducted in 1989 while playing outside her home in Xinxing, China. Lulu was later sold to another family and renamed Zhang Qianqian. While her foster family later claimed that Lulu’s parents couldn’t afford her as the reason they sold her, that was far from the truth.
However, thirty years would pass before the All-China Women’s Federation learned of Lulu’s parents’ search for their missing daughter and assisted them in contacting local police. Thanks to a “statistical database,” Lulu was located, and a DNA test confirmed her identity on March 30, 2021.
On April 2, 2021, Lulu was reunited with her parents after 32 long years and was able to meet her younger brothers and sister for the first time.
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