April Nicole Williams

[jasonbigley]

Was her case ever featured on Unsolved Mysteries? She is the infant that was traveling with her mom by bus and they had a layover in Washington, D.C. This was December 8th, 1983. A woman the mom had never met before came up to her asking if she could hold April. She was still holding April and began to walk in a direction towards a Hardees restaurant to grab a soda. She never returned the baby. The case is still unsolved 30 years later.

[WishfulDreamer]

I don't believe this case ever aired on UM.

Here's the Charley Project article: http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/...ams_april.html

What a sad case. I do find it odd, however, that the mother would allow a stranger to walk away with her baby. Holding her, I could see, but walking away to grab a drink?

[wiseguy182]

I remember reading about that. I would NOT let a stranger even hold my child, not in a big, crime-infested city like Washington D.C. Why didn't the mother follow the lady to the Hardees? Sorry, the mom is stupid.

[Mysteryphile]

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

I remember reading about that. I would NOT let a stranger even hold my child, not in a big, crime-infested city like Washington D.C. Why didn't the mother follow the lady to the Hardees? Sorry, the mom is stupid.

Or maybe none of it really happened. No lady, no Hardees. Maybe something ELSE happened to the baby and she's made up a really unbelievable lie.

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by Mysteryphile

Or maybe none of it really happened. No lady, no Hardees. Maybe something ELSE happened to the baby and she's made up a really unbelievable lie.

Sadly, this is very possible. It would certainly not be the first time a parent fabricated a story when their child turned up missing.

I can't picture any parent who is concerned about their child's safety letting a stranger walk off with their baby like that. It reminds me of another case where a family supposedly let a baby-sitter they had never met take the baby. Sounds made up to me.

[jasonbigley]

I can't believe a mom would be so trusting of a stranger. I would never let a stranger even hold my baby. I remember when me and my older brother were traveling by bus with our mom back in 1996. I was 10 at the time and my brother was 15. Mom watched us like a hawk at the bus terminals when we had a layover. (We had a lot of them because we were on the bus for about 3 days.) You know, now that I remember this, one of our layovers was in Washington, D.C.

[unsolved88]

Originally Posted by WishfulDreamer

Sadly, this is very possible. It would certainly not be the first time a parent fabricated a story when their child turned up missing.

I can't picture any parent who is concerned about their child's safety letting a stranger walk off with their baby like that. It reminds me of another case where a family supposedly let a baby-sitter they had never met take the baby. Sounds made up to me.

I think you're referring to the 1971 case of Melissa Highsmith. A "babysitter" calling herself Ruth Johnson came to pick her up from her mother's apartment building.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/...h_melissa.html

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by unsolved88

I think you're referring to the 1971 case of Melissa Highsmith. A "babysitter" calling herself Ruth Johnson came to pick her up from her mother's apartment building.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/...h_melissa.html

That's the one. Thanks!
If they didn't make it up, that was an incredibly foolish thing to do. I hate to blame parents, but this and the topic of the thread both come off to me as absurd acts of trust if they're not entirely fictitious.

[RobinW]

Here is a prime example of one of these suspicious "child abducted by mysterious stranger" stories being exposed as a sham. A father claims that his 2-year old son was abducted in a park after leaving him alone for a few minutes with a strange couple. 30 years later, the same guy stabs his wife to death. Even though no body has ever been found, it seems likely the father is going to be charged with his child's murder as well:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/...z_wallace.html

It seems the main reason everyone bought this guy's story for years is because another woman contacted police, believing she had seen this mysterious couple in the park that same day and that they were trying to abduct her children. I'm guessing this was probably some strange coincidence that got misinterpreted, like the sighting of the woman in the floppy hat near Jeffrey MacDonald's house.

[unsolved88]

Notice how all these case where the parent willingly let their child go with a stranger have a poorly-drawn composite of the alleged abductor. I think that's somewhat telling.

[unsolved88]

Not to turn this into a "critique the parents after the fact" thread, especially since this next mother was found murdered, but her judgement was unusually poor.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/bryant_andre.html

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by Mysteryphile

Or maybe none of it really happened. No lady, no Hardees. Maybe something ELSE happened to the baby and she's made up a really unbelievable lie.

That crossed my mind.

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by RobinW

Here is a prime example of one of these suspicious "child abducted by mysterious stranger" stories being exposed as a sham. A father claims that his 2-year old son was abducted in a park after leaving him alone for a few minutes with a strange couple. 30 years later, the same guy stabs his wife to death. Even though no body has ever been found, it seems likely the father is going to be charged with his child's murder as well:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/...z_wallace.html

It seems the main reason everyone bought this guy's story for years is because another woman contacted police, believing she had seen this mysterious couple in the park that same day and that they were trying to abduct her children. I'm guessing this was probably some strange coincidence that got misinterpreted, like the sighting of the woman in the floppy hat near Jeffrey MacDonald's house.

That story has NOT been confirmed as a hoax. I think it's a very strong possibility he really was abducted. Not only was there another person that stated a couple matching the description attempted to abducted her child in that area on that day, but the details of the abduction strongly resemble several others near the Canadian border during that time frame. I have mentioned all these in the past. This is still an unsolved case.

[RobinW]

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

That story has NOT been confirmed as a hoax. I think it's a very strong possibility he really was abducted. Not only was there another person that stated a couple matching the description attempted to abducted her child in that area on that day, but the details of the abduction strongly resemble several others near the Canadian border during that time frame. I have mentioned all these in the past. This is still an unsolved case.

It's been a few years since Stanley Guidroz was arrested, but according to this article from early August, they're still hoping to charge him with Wallace's murder. It's weird, the police won't confirm that Stanley has confessed, but he apparently directed them towards a location where Wallace's remains were buried. Even though they didn't find anything, I don't know why Stanley would do this if he wasn't responsible:
http://www.king5.com/story/news/2014/08/03/13097604/

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by RobinW

It's been a few years since Stanley Guidroz was arrested, but according to this article from early August, they're still hoping to charge him with Wallace's murder. It's weird, the police won't confirm that Stanley has confessed, but he apparently directed them towards a location where Wallace's remains were buried. Even though they didn't find anything, I don't know why Stanley would do this if he wasn't responsible:
http://www.king5.com/story/news/2014/08/03/13097604/

that tends to happen pretty frequently.