Kelsey Shelton Smith-Briggs (December 28, 2002 – October 11, 2005) was a child abuse victim. She died at the home of her biological mother Raye Dawn Smith, and her stepfather Michael Lee Porter. Her death was ruled a homicide. Kelsey had been "closely" observed by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services from January 2005 up to and including the day of her death.
The Eloá Pimentel hostage crisis, as it is known, refers to the October 2008 incident involving 15-year-old Brazilian girl Eloá Cristina Pimentel, who was kidnapped, taken against her will and held hostage before being murdered by her 22-year-old ex-boyfriend, Lindemberg Alves. Additionally, Pimentel’s friend, Nayara da Silva, was shot by Alves. The tragedy received major media exposure, not only because of the murder, but also because of blatant mistakes made by the São Paulo police. Eloá Pimentel was held as a hostage for 100 hours – the longest kidnapping ever registered in the State of São Paulo. The trial of Alves commenced on 13 February 2012, exactly three years and four months after the crime.
Agnès Marin ((1997-11-26)26 November 1997 – 16 November 2011) was a 13-year-old girl who was raped and murdered on 16 November 2011 in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, Haute-Loire, France. The murder was committed by 17-year-old Mathieu Moulinas, a student at the same school who at the time was on parole while awaiting trial for rape of another girl.
Katherine Beers (born December 30, 1982) is an American woman who was kidnapped when she was 9 years old in Bay Shore, New York by John Esposito, a friend of the family, and held in an underground bunker from December 28, 1992, to January 13, 1993.
Rebecca Jeanne Riley (April 11, 2002 – December 13, 2006) was a four-year-old girl from Massachusetts. In December 2006, Riley's parents gave Riley—who had been diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and pediatric bipolar disorder between two and three years old—a lethal dose of clonidine. Her death sparked significant controversy over diagnosis of psychiatric conditions and subsequent prescription of psychotropic medication in children.
Danielle van Dam (September 22, 1994 – February 2002) was an American girl from the Sabre Springs neighborhood of San Diego, California, who disappeared from her bedroom during the night of February 1–2, 2002. Her body was found by searchers on February 27 in a remote area. Police suspected a neighbor, David Alan Westerfield, of the killing. He was arrested, tried, and convicted of kidnapping and first-degree murder. Westerfield was sentenced to death and is currently incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.
Molly Anne Bish (August 2, 1983 – June 27, 2000) was a sixteen-year-old American girl from rural Worcester County, Massachusetts, who disappeared while working as a lifeguard in her hometown of Warren, Massachusetts. Her remains were found three years later in neighboring Hampden County after what became the largest search in the state's history. Police believe Bish was the victim of a homicide and several suspects have been publicly identified, but the case remains officially unresolved as of 2024.
Polly Hannah Klaas (January 3, 1981 – October 1, 1993) was an American murder victim whose case garnered national media attention. On October 1, 1993, at age twelve, she was kidnapped at knifepoint during a slumber party at her mother's home in Petaluma, California, and strangled to death. Richard Allen Davis was convicted of her murder in 1996 and sentenced to death.
Holly Kristen Piirainen (January 19, 1983 – August 5, 1993) was a 10-year-old American murder victim from Grafton, Massachusetts. She and her brother had been visiting their grandparents in Sturbridge, Massachusetts when Holly was murdered. Her murder remains unsolved.
Michaela Joy Garecht (January 24, 1979 — disappeared November 19, 1988) was nine years old when she was abducted in Hayward, California, in broad daylight at the corner of Mission Boulevard and Lafayette Avenue.
Sketches of Garecht's abductor were distributed along with missing person flyers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area within 24 hours of her disappearance, but search efforts proved fruitless. Her case was featured in national media, including profiles on the documentary series Unsolved Mysteries.
After the 2009 release of Jaycee Dugard, who had been kidnapped in Meyers, California, and held captive by Phillip and Nancy Garrido for nearly two decades, renewed interest was brought on Garecht's case, and Garrido was interviewed regarding Garecht's abduction. In 2012, Wesley Shermantine, a convicted serial killer who committed various murders with his accomplice, Loren Herzog—known collectively as the Speed Freak Killers—brought to the attention of law enforcement that the original sketches of Garecht's abductor bore a striking similarity to Herzog, who had committed suicide while on parole from prison in January 2012. While bone fragments discovered in one of Herzog and Shermantine's disposal sites was thought to belong to Garecht, DNA profiling completed in late 2012 proved they were not hers.
On December 21, 2020, thirty-two years after the abduction of Garecht, David Emery Misch was charged with her abduction and murder.