Authorities suspected a parental kidnapping after Kayla Unbehaun, 9, and her mother Heather Unbehaun vanished in 2017 when Kayla was 9 years old. The case gained new attention because to Unsolved Mysteries.
The 9-year-old Kayla Unbehaun did not vanish under strange circumstances; instead, her mother, Heather Unbehaun, took her, according to Ryan Iskerka, the child’s father, who reported the incident to the police.
In accordance with the rules of their court-ordered custody plan, Ryan claimed Kayla had spent the night with her mother on July 4, 2017, but neither of them were there at Heather’s house in Wheaton, Illinois, when he went to pick up his daughter the following day.
A year later, Ryan told WXIA’s 11 Alive that “[Heather’s] family was having dinner at her house and they told me she hadn’t come back from a camping trip and they didn’t know where she was.”
According to the South Elgin, Illinois, Police Department, a warrant was issued for Heather’s arrest on suspicion of felony child abduction on July 28, 2017, and Kayla’s identity was entered into the national missing persons database.
Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries noticed that Kayla was still missing five years later: The season two episode “Abducted by a Parent,” which debuted on November 1, 2022, included multiple images of missing children, including an age-progression image of Kayla next to her 9-year-old self. A picture of Heather with the word “WANTED” is also displayed.
What led to Kayla Unbehaun’s disappearance, and why?
When Kayla was reportedly kidnapped by Heather, she was living with her dad Ryan, stepmother Lisa, and two stepsisters.
In a 2020 Vanished: The Missing Persons Project episode, Ryan commented, “My relationship with Heather was…I’d kind of describe it as extreme.” We may have had an infatuated love for one another, which I believe caused some issues.
Ryan claimed that they were together for five years before Kayla was born, but not long after they became parents, Heather told him she wanted to end their relationship.
Ryan claims that he and Heather first had a loose visitation schedule, but as it got harder for him to see Kayla, they ultimately ended up in court.
The 43-year-old told MEAWW earlier this year, before Kayla was discovered, “Heather decided she wanted to move to Athens, Georgia, with Kayla when she was just four.” “As long as we could agree and set up a visitation plan and child support, Heather and I were okay with the move. However, they unexpectedly relocated without informing me a few weeks later. Kayla told me about it when she confided in me over the phone. I filed to establish child support and visitation rights the day after learning the news.
It took years to obtain a court-approved visitation agreement, according to Ryan, “with my relationship with Kayla being through Skype for a few hours twice weekly and seeing her for a few hours around holidays if Heather was back in town.”
According to Ryan on Vanished, Heather claimed to the court at the beginning of 2017 that Ryan couldn’t visit Kayla because the child had “rare health problems.” As a result, an investigator was hired to look into Heather’s claims, and “he found out they weren’t true,” Ryan added.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Ryan was then given primary custody of Kayla, while Heather was allowed to see Kayla once a week.
Ryan told MEAWW, “I never intended for any of that to occur, but what was happening had a negative impact on Kayla and my relationship with her.”
He claimed that once Kayla moved in with him, Lisa, and her two children, “things were going great for a few months.”
On July 5, 2017, after Kayla had spent a long weekend with her mother, Ryan stopped by Heather’s house to pick her up on his way home from work, but neither of them were there.
A year later, he told the NCMEC, “There are lots of people who love her. “In our family, she is adored and is the focus of everyone’s attention. I don’t want to separate her from her mother. I want her to live a good life with everyone who cares about her as she grows up.
According to the organization, family abductions will account for more than 1,200 missing child cases reported to the NCMEC in 2022, making them the second most common type. 63 percent of the AMBER alerts sent out in 2020 involved family abduction situations.
After 2017, where did Heather and Kayla Unbehaun go?
Police in Athens, Georgia, claimed to have cause to believe Heather was nearby in July 2018.
At the time, Epifanio Rodriguez, a public information officer for the Athens-Clarke County PD, told 11 Alive that “we do have a detective who is assigned to this case and he has followed up on some leads.” “We have frequently posted about this case on our social media accounts, requesting the public’s assistance.”
The automobile Heather had been using had been sold, according to the police, and there had been no movement on her social media accounts since she and Kayla vanished.
On January 5, 2020, Ryan wrote on Facebook in honor of Kayla’s 12th birthday, “I hope you are safe and that you have seen many good times since you’ve been away. I hope you had a wonderful birthday, and I want you to know how much your entire family and I love you. We all miss you terribly and consider you frequently.
How did someone find Kayla Unbehaun?
According to the South Elgin and Asheville police departments, a worker at the Plato’s Closet in Asheville, North Carolina, called the neighborhood police on May 13 after spotting Heather and Kayla, who is now 15 years old, and remembered that the child had been reported missing.
According to Asheville PD, officers arrived at the area at 7:26 p.m. and arrested Heather after confirming Kayla and Heather’s identities with South Elgin police. Social services took possession of Kayla until her father could pick her up the next day.
“I’m overjoyed that Kayla is home safe,” Ryan said in a statement on May 16. She thanked the NCMEC, law enforcement, and everyone who “helped keep her story alive and were instrumental in spreading awareness.” As we navigate this new beginning and learn to know each other again, we ask for privacy.
According to Asheville Police Lt. Diana Loveland, it was “unusual, but it’s good that when someone does suspect that they recognize someone, no matter how old the story might be, that they are not afraid to give us a call so we can come to investigate.”
Thanks to “well-publicized media,” Asheville Police Lt. Jonathan Brown said WLOS, the thrift store clerk recognized Kayla. “It was really a series of events where the caller thought they had identified the suspect and called the police, and the police responded and persisted in their investigation,” the caller said.
It’s a “unique case,” Brown said, adding that “the ability to stay off the grid, if you will, for that period of time is most unusual.” We frequently leave a technology trail, which is usually extremely simple and straightforward to find. That wasn’t it.
What has become of Heather Unbehaun?
According to Asheville PD, Heather was detained on a fugitive warrant and lodged in the Buncombe County Detention Facility on a $250,000 bond. E! News reported that she was released on May 16 after posting bond. She handed herself in to Illinois police the next day and was lodged at the Kane County Adult Justice Center.
According to NBC Chicago, a court ordered the 41-year-old to wear a GPS tracking device, keep more than 1,000 feet away from Ryan’s home, and put her bond at $10,000 at a hearing on May 18. After posting the necessary 10% of her bond, she was released that afternoon.
Heather attended a status hearing on June 14 via Zoom. She is also forbidden from leaving Illinois without the court’s approval. She has not yet been arraigned, but according to authorities, she is facing a charge of kidnapping for willfully disobeying a court order. June 29 has been slated as her next court date.
Kayla Unbehaun is currently where?
Dad Ryan said that he was relying heavily on his faith and his family for support but that “there is nothing I want more than to have you back in my life” in his birthday greeting to Kayla for 2020. Everyone wants you back in their life. Every day, throughout the day, I think of you. Every day, I hope for your safety and the speedy return of your mother and you to my life.
Ryan told NBC News that he wasn’t ready to discuss what had happened after his daughter had been found safe in May and described the incident as “really devastating” for Kayla and the rest of his family.
However, a new graphic has been added to the Unsolved Mysteries episode that included Kayla’s picture: “SOLVED.”
