Black Scarf Found of Potential Kidnapper of Baby Abigale Lynn Woods … Who Takes a Child?
Authorities investigating the disappearance of Abigale Lynn Woods have located a black scarf near the home where she was abducted. The 21 year old mother, Stephenie Ochsenbine, had told police early on that her attacker was wearing a scarf.
On the fifth day of the investigation, Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke was hoping the drawing, as well as a picture of a black scarf that was recovered near the home on Saturday, would generate new clues.
The drawing shows a woman with dark hair wearing a baseball cap, and Ochsenbine told authorities the woman also was wearing a scarf. Toelke said she is believed to be between 5-foot-4 and 5-foot-8 and is heavy, perhaps about 200 pounds.
He called the scarf a “pretty significant piece of evidence” that he would like the public to see. (FOX News)
The question has arose as to what type of individual would take a child in such a violent manner. The mother, Stephenie Ochsenbine, was stabbed several times including having her throat slashed. During the violent altercation to take baby Abigale, the other younger child was left behind unharmed. What motivates someone to perform this crime?
The recent kidnapping of Abigale “Abby” Lynn Woods has dominated the local news and reached the national media because of the urgency to find the newborn. Statistics show there have been roughly 200 baby abductions in the U.S. in the last two decades.
Bausman said even with a small, statistical sample, there is a pattern in the cases.
“I would not be surprised if this woman was unable to have children but maybe is using a child to shore up a relationship or maybe she recently experienced a still birth or miscarriage and felt this incredible void and she saw a way to fill that.”
Bausman doubts birth announcements on yard signs instigated this or most other abductions.
“We don’t need to be reacting to this in a closed mouth fashion of don’t put yard signs up, don’t announce to the world I’ve had a baby because these people tend to do their homework before they commit such crimes,” said Bausman. (KSDK)
Experts: Baby abductors driven by need, mental trouble
What drives a stranger to snatch a mother’s newborn?
Experts theorize it could be desperation, mental illness or lack of conscience.
But a retired FBI special agent who led a study of 120 baby abductions in the U.S. over 10 years said most women who steal infants are driven by the belief a child will resolve a problem in their lives. And that problem primarily is a desperate need to preserve a relationship with a man.
“Typically, they come from a subculture where their worth is intrinsically tied to bearing children,” said Ken Lanning, who spent 20 years in the FBI’s Behavior Science Unit at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va.
They figure that once they come up with a child – and they devise elaborate plans to achieve that – “they’ll live happily ever after,” he said. (Belleville News Democrat)
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