Breaking Hoax Abduction Story?

On Thursday, March 16, a terrifying and bizarre news story came out of Houston, Texas: A woman was kidnapped, forced into the trunk of her car, threatened with rape, and then abandoned. An article by Cindy Horswell in the March 17 Houston Chronicle described the woman's ordeal: "Her tall body twisted like a pretzel inside the trunk of her car as she fumbled in the darkness to find her cell phone and dial 911..." According to the 23-year old victim, Jessica Buckley (the police report--probably correctly-- spells it Bulkey), she was leaving her job as a bartender at about 1:00 in the morning and approached by a man who pulled a butcher knife from his pocket. He took her purse and car keys before forcing her in the trunk of her own car. She said the abductor drove around the city for 45 minutes, during which time she dialled 911 and had a conversation with her abductor from the trunk. Police cars and helicopters were dispatched, but were unable to find her. Finally the man parked the car near where the woman was first abducted, and left her alone and unharmed. A police dispatcher helped Buckley release the trunk's latch, and she was found by police shortly afterward. Buckley described the carjacker as a slim male in his 20s with a shaved head and goatee, wearing jeans or black pants and a dirty white T-shirt.

The story was covered by several journalists, all of whom seem to have taken Buckley's story at face value. So far, none have expressed a whit of suspicion about the woman's story. While it is important that all crime victims (and potential victims) be believed, there are several very strange aspects to this case that suggest that the abduction was faked.

1) Buckley claimed that the suspect pulled a butcher knife from his pocket. Yet she also claimed he was wearing jeans or dark pants. How many butcher knives have you seen that will fit in someone's jeans pocket, much less without injuring the person?

2) So far no eyewitnesses have reported seeing the abduction. There is no evidence that she was ever in the trunk of the car at all, since the first police arrived after she had supposedly escaped from the trunk.

3) Buckley claims that she had a conversation with her abductor, who heard her whispering to the 911 operator and asked if she was praying. The man must have remarkable hearing to hear a whisper from the trunk of a car with the engine running as he sped through Houston.

4) Police were apparently unable to locate Buckley during her 45-minute ride, unable to triangulate where she was calling from. Thus it's not clear that she was moving at all during that time; she may have been in her car at the time.

5) And finally, the woman was allegedly left "not far" from where she was abducted.

These are all elements that should have raised questions with journalists covering the story, but apparently didn't. People don't just pull butcher knives on women, force them into their car trunks, drive around for 45 minutes, then return to the scene of the crime, only to run away and leave the victim uninjured. This case remains open and the police are still investigating, but I will go on record and predict that either there is much more to this story, or this will turn out to be a faked abduction.

Hoaxed abductions occur several times a month across the United States; the "Runaway Bride" Jennifer Wilbanks and college student Audrey Sieler are only two of the high-profile cases in recent years. These faked abductions waste police time and resources, not to mention hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

All claims of assault and abductions should be taken seriously from the start, and thoroughly investigated. When red flags are raised, as they should have been in this case, it is up to journalists and police to seek out answers. So far, the news reports about Buckley's abduction have failed to note the glaring contradictions; hopefully once this case is resolved, reporters will do a better job of investigating what really happened.

I wrote about faked crimes and abductions in my book Media Mythmakers. I will be contacting the Houston police department to follow up on the case, and will report it here.