Survival Options
Kidnapping

The best kidnapping survival strategy is to immediately prevent the kdnapping and avoid worse survival odds at a second crime scene.

The young man and woman who were found shot to death on a golf course were killed by five men who randomly selected the two college students as they stood talking on a downtown street. The police say the pair had been dancing and were outside the young man's car when the men kidnapped them at gunpoint, forced them into the vehicle, and drove them to the golf course. After arguing whether to kill them, the men shot the two as they begged for their lives.
Excerpted from The Providence Journal (RI) – 11 June 2000

Anyone wanting to move you to another location is probably not just a robber.

15 year-old Kara was watering flowers in front of her house on a residential street in broad daylight when a man pulled his car into her driveway. He approached her with a handful of pamphlets, asking if she was interested in them. She declined but by then he was right in front of her, pressed a handgun to her throat, and ordered her into his car. Fearing he'd shoot her on the spot, she obeyed. ... He drove to his apartment where he bound and raped her for days. Though not aware he had murdered all his previous victims, she wisely controlled her fear as she befriended and lulled him into trusting her. As he slept, she loosened her bindings and escaped.
As described on The John Walsh TV Show – 30 December 2002

Kara, when first confronted, should have simply run away screaming. Almost all kidnappers would then flee because they greatly fear attracting attention. Kidnappers use guns to intimidate and control a victim, seldom to kill in public.

Two attempted abductions involved the same man pointing a handgun at female victims and telling them to get in his car. The first incident took place in which a man told a 35 year-old woman to get into the black van he was driving. She ran away and the suspect fled. ... Less than an hour later, the man approached a 16 year-old girl while driving the van and said, "Don't run and get in the van" as he pointed a gun at her. The girl ran away, rushed to a passing car and called 911 from the driver's cell phone as the suspect fled.
Excerpted from The Flushing Times (NY) – 23 January 2003

A gunshot instantly rivets the attention of people nearby who’ll probably immediately call the cops. That deters a kidnapper hoping his gun will discretely intimidate you to go with him to a hideaway where you’ll beg for mercy as he decides whether or not to let you – his only witness – remain alive.

A Gunman’s Command
What are your survival odds if you ignore his command and flee? Most people don’t know that handguns are very difficult to shoot accurately beyond "point-blank range" of 0-3 feet, especially at a moving target. According to Sanford Strong, San Diego police tactical instructor and author of Strong on Defense, police officers in gun battles miss with 76 percent of "close-range" shots (3-9 feet); while criminals miss with 96 percent. Hollywood and TV distort reality.

A student of mine, a police officer in Saginaw, Michigan, found a gang member dead on the street with one bullet to the head. But scattered on the ground nearby were 127 shell casings from 6 different guns. There were no other blood spatters nearby and no gunshot wounds reported at area hospitals. A raging gang battle had yielded only one actual hit – scoring less than one percent accuracy overall.

Another student ran to aid his undercover partner who stood fifteen feet from a drug dealer in a narrow hallway while they frantically emptied their guns at each other. They each fired 17 bullets but neither one was hit – both scoring zero percent accuracy.

Now, these were gun battles, wherein the shooters were hoping to dodge bullets while frenziedly firing back. Nevertheless, accurately shooting a live target – especially a moving target – is extremely difficult.

In the eternal moment before a gunman can react, aim, and fire, you can run beyond close-range.

Besides, J.J. Bittenbinder, a Chicago police detective and author of Tough Target, quotes Department of Justice figures showing only a 12 percent chance an abductor will pull the trigger in a populated area, a 6 percent chance of actually hitting you, and only a 3 percent chance of that bullet being fatal (shooting distance undetermined). Moreover, think about it, if he’s willing to shoot you there, he’s willing to do even worse harm elsewhere.

Most criminologists warn of the poor survival odds (possibly death by torture) if you are kidnapped to a secluded area. Why does he want to isolate you? Are you wealthy thus worth a ransom? Are you a hostage in a botched retail store robbery? If not, then you’ll be fully at the mercy of a violent criminal, possibly silenced forever afterward.

The above survival rationale is based on the kidnapper using a (loud) gun to threaten you. But what if he instead uses a (silent) knife? There’s no noise factor to deter him. Yet the same survival rationale remains: if he’s willing to stab you there, he’s willing to do even worse harm elsewhere.

Not All Kidnappings Result in Violence
A young woman returned to her car in a shopping mall parking lot near New Orleans. A disturbed man with a gun confronted her and ordered her to drive him 1,200 miles to Philadelphia so he could see his family. ... They stayed on interstate highways all the while, never venturing toward a secluded area. She never felt acute fear and sensed that he wouldn't rape or otherwise harm her, but still she was too afraid to try escaping even though she had many opportunities: they took turns driving, often stopping for food, gas, and restrooms. ... Instead, she kept talking to him about his life. Maybe that's why she was eventually released unraped and unharmed near Philadelphia. Though her Intuition proved correct, she nonetheless would’ve had better survival odds had she escaped during one of her many opportunities instead of risking the whims of a disturbed man with a gun.

50/50 Survival Odds – for her

Wendy Osborn, age 14, was running late for school on a winter morning in 1987 in Orange County, California. She never made it to her eighth-grade classroom that day. Her body was found raped and strangled 10 days later. Despite a massive manhunt, police couldn't find her killer. ... Seven years passed. Then a crime lab technician revisiting her case made a DNA hit. The semen found in Wendy's body matched that found in a rape kit from a remarkably similar attack on another 14-year-old girl. But unlike Wendy, that girl survived. ... That other victim was me. My part of the story began in 1988. I was walking to school on a sunny summer morning. I was running late. I passed a stranger who was watching me intently. My stomach tightened. ... The stranger grabbed me from behind and flashed a kitchen knife. I caught my breath. He led me to a station wagon parked nearby. Through tears I asked him where he was taking me. "To the hills," he replied. ... When he was on top of me, I told him I have a weak heart, that I was having an attack. Later, a detective told me my deceit was clever. But at the time I believed it." When it was over, he plunked my clothes down in the dirt. "I'm going to do you a favor," he said, "and let you go."
Excerpted from the 07 October 2001 San Francisco Chronicle article by Kelly St. John, Chronicle staff writer and documentary filmmaker.

Despite being taken to a second crime scene, Kelly survived. But he did kill his other victim. Thus, as far as we know, this rapist's victims had 50/50 survival odds. However, Kelly's survival odds were better at the first crime scene had she thrashed and fled – especially in daylight. At that point, without harming the victim, most rapists simply flee.

Beyond the psychological harm, a rape victim usually suffers varying degrees of physical injury – possibly murder. If a victim is kidnapped to a second crime scene, she has no way of surely knowing the kidnapper’s ultimate intent – he may not know yet, either. His only witness, her survival hangs on the whim of a psychopathic predator.

Patti Kelly believed she was going to die that night. No amount of pleading or prayer would deliver her from what she knew to be her fate. … As she kneeled in the dirt, eyes closed tight, she could hear footsteps approaching from behind. "I thought, he's fixing to kill me. I thought, I'm fixing to die," Kelly said. She didn't fight or attempt to run. Perhaps that's because she knew a part of her was already dead. The violation she had endured at the hands of this man was so horrific, her shame so great, she wondered if any life was left in her. … The footsteps stopped. He was right behind her now. She said she could feel him reaching toward her head. Then, in an act that could be considered mercy, he handed Kelly her glasses and said he didn't have the heart to kill her. After she heard him walk away, get into his truck and drive off, she broke down crying. A rape victim lost and abandoned in the woods. By doing what her attacker wanted, she avoided death, Kelly said. The cost of survival, however, was high. Kelly lost a part of herself that night, she said, changing the way she viewed herself and the world.
Excerpted from The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (GA) – 10 June 2007

Survival odds usually get worse in a secluded location, and a criminal’s escalation to violence against an isolated victim is usually sudden. Overall, resisting kidnapping – fighting – and escaping from the first crime scene is a far lower risk than being kidnapped to a second crime scene. See Kidnap Escape below.

See all worst-case scenarios:
• Survival Options - Overview of the do-or-die realities of worst-case crises.
• Shooting Rampage: seven options for surviving.
• Hostage Taking: the slightest edge makes all the difference in survival.
• Hostage Escape: optimizing hostage survival and escape.
• Kidnapping (YOU’RE NOW ON THIS PAGE) avoidance and prevention.
• Kidnap Escape: optimizing kidnap survival and escape.
• SOS Distress Signals for summoning help in all situations.
• Surviving the Worst: options for the worst of the worst-case scenarios.
• Recap of Survival Options.
• Pepper Spray & Devices.

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