A mother has surrendered to authorities after being accused of orchestrating the kidnapping of her mentally disabled daughter.
On November 17, police were alerted to a possible kidnapping involving a 22-year-old woman with intellectual and physical disabilities. Allegedly, two masked men entered the woman’s home, took her to a field, and tied her to a tree. The woman reportedly escaped once but was recaptured and tied up again. In distress for her life, she eventually managed to get free and contacted 911 for help.
Authorities now claim that the woman’s mother, along with the family’s caregiver, were behind the scheme. Tamara ‘Tammi’ Hanby, from Arkansas, reportedly informed their in-home nursing assistant, Shannon Yvonne Childers, of her plan to frighten her daughter into being more cautious about online interactions.
Childers is accused of recruiting David Q. Quach and Nico Austria to play the role of the kidnappers. According to reports, the mother intended to teach her daughter a lesson about the dangers of interacting with strangers on the internet after becoming concerned about her daughter’s communication with someone pretending to be the country singer Luke Bryan.
The plan allegedly involved a ruse where someone pretending to be associated with the singer would arrange to meet the daughter, abduct her, make false monetary demands, and leave her tied to a tree. The mother was supposedly meant to arrive and ‘rescue’ her daughter.
However, things did not proceed as planned. Quach and Austria reportedly approached the woman with the offer to meet Luke Bryan, which she accepted, leading her to enter their car. During the execution of the plan, Austria allegedly took a wrong turn, taking the victim to an unintended location before tying her to a tree. When she attempted to escape, Austria and Quach allegedly restrained her again using zip ties.
Eventually, the woman escaped and sought help from a nearby residence, where she made an urgent call to 911. During the whole episode, Hanby was reportedly observing the situation unfold.
“She was in fear for her life and clung tightly to a teddy bear throughout her interview,” a deputy from the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office recounted, as reported by 5news.
Following the incident, Hanby resigned from her position on the Crawford County Library Board on November 24. Her husband, Jeffrey Hamby, explained that Hanby was acting out of concern for their daughter’s safety after noticing her ongoing communication with a stranger online, who was impersonating Luke Bryan.
Jeffrey mentioned that the family had previously attempted to sever the daughter’s contact with the stranger by confiscating her devices. This stranger was later determined to be based in Nigeria, according to Arkansas State Police.
“We tried everything, and she has not stopped communicating with him, and he was going to get her. He was going to take her. And so, my wife, without my knowledge, with her aide and a couple of their friends, tried to do an intervention,” Jeffrey stated.
He acknowledged that the plan was poorly thought out and executed, noting that although precautions were taken to prevent harm, the daughter sustained bruises on her wrists from the zip ties during her struggle.
Court documents indicate that Hanby faces several charges, including kidnapping, false imprisonment, abuse of an endangered adult, battery, and terroristic threatening. Quach, Austria, and Childers have also been arrested in relation to the incident. If found guilty, the conspiracy to commit kidnapping could result in a 10 to 30-year prison sentence for all involved.