List of kidnappings: Encyclopedia II - List of kidnappings - Modern kidnappings of celebrities or their relatives

List of kidnappings - Modern kidnappings of celebrities or their relatives

Kidnappers interested in getting a large ransom or a political effect often target celebrities or their relatives. Here are some of the people affected by these crimes:

• Beatriz Adriana - The Mexican singer's/actress's son was kidnapped and found dead in Tijuana. There were rumors that his death was the result of his failure to pay a drug debt, but no such evidence was ever found.
• Julio Iglesias's father was kidnapped in 1985. Found well and alive.
• Julio Cesar Chavez received threatening calls, saying his sons would be kidnapped.
• Jorge Campos (soccer player) - His father was kidnapped and later found alive in Acapulco, Mexico.
• Adolph Coors III, heir to the Coors beer fortune. He was found dead.
• Industrialist Baron Édouard-Jean Empain was kidnapped for ransom. His captors cut off one of his fingers in order to bring proof that they held him.
• Alejandro Fernandez - his brother was kidnapped (see Vicente Fernandez).
• Karl Maria von Spret - West-Germany's ambassador to Guatemala, was kidnapped in 1970 in Guatemala City. He was killed.
• Hanns-Martin Schleyer - German manager and employer representative.He was kidnapped in Köln in 1977. He was found dead in Mulhouse, France.
• Françoise Claustre French archaeologist , was kidnapped in Chad by guerillas who was led by Hissène Habré.
• Vicente Fernandez - The famous Mexican singer's son, Vicente Fernandez Jr., was kidnapped and later released alive.
• John Paul Getty III, kidnapped in Italy in 1973. His grandfather, the then world's richest man, American multi-billionaire oil tycoon, J. Paul Getty, refused to pay his $3 million ransom until one of the boy's ears was cut off and sent to a newspaper.
• Georgiy Gongadze, a prominent Ukrainian journalist kidnapped and later found beheaded in 2000. His disappearance has triggered a major political and diplomatic scandal also involving United States and other Western countries. No details of the crime revealed yet.
• Cordelia Gonzalez, the well known Puerto Rican actress, who has made some Hollywood films, was kidnapped at gunpoint during July of 2005. Released after paying ransom.
• Charles Lindbergh - The aviator's two-year old son, Charles Jr., was kidnapped in 1932, and was killed. This was among the most famous of modern kidnappings of celebrities' relatives. See Lindbergh kidnapping.
• William Randolph Hearst - His granddaughter Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the SLA in 1974. Her father gave $6 million in food to the poor of the Bay Area as ransom, but she was not released. She became part of her captor's group and was later convicted on bank robbery charges.
• Thalía - The Mexican Diva's sister, the also famous actress Laura Zapata and another unidentified sister, were kidnapped. They were both released alive.
• Laura Zapata (See Thalía).
• Nikoloz Tskitishvili - The basketball player, a star in his home country (Georgia), had strangers call to his house and threaten to kidnap his brother and mother after it became known he signed a million-dollar contract with the NBA's Denver Nuggets. As a consequence, he moved all his family to Denver.
• Johnny Tapia - The world boxing champion saw his mother raped and kidnapped when he was 8 years old. He was hiding when he witnessed the assault. His mother's body was found on a road days later.
• Alejandra Guzman - The Mexican singing diva has received several calls threatening to kidnap her ten year old daughter, because of which she has hired extra security. She always takes her daughter with her on the road.
• Jorge and Juan Born, (1974), scions of the Bunge y Born business were kidnapped in September by the Montoneros and only released after the payment of a $60 million ransom.
• Yuri - She was going to be kidnapped, but the plans folded when one of the would be kidnappers left the criminal band that would have committed the act, and told her cousin about the plans.
• Cesar Rosas - the wife of the member of Los Lobos, Sandra, was kidnapped on October 23, 1999, and later found dead. Gabriel Gomez was accused and sentenced for her kidnapping and murder.
• Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, son of the Hong Kong tycoon, Li Ka Shing - kidnapped by Cheung Chi Keung, AKA "Big Spender". He was released after the world record payment of a HK$1Billion (US$134 million) ransom in cash. Cheung was later captured and executed in Guangzhou in 2000.
• Frank Sinatra, Jr., son of Frank Sinatra, was kidnapped and released after ransom was paid.
• Veruska Ramirez, former Miss Venezuela, kidnapped and released three hours later, after signing 15 autographs for her captors.
• Ruben Omar Romano, Argentine Soccer coach, in Mexico. He was rescued two months later.
• Susana Gimenez - the Argentine diva's boyfriend's father was kidnapped on January 8, 2004. The father was rescued by police a month later.
• Adal Ramones, who was kidnapped in 2000, later released alive.
• Adi Koila Mara Nailatikau, First daughter of Fiji and senator, during a coup against her father. Kidnappers threatened to kill her, but she survived.
• Carlos Pesquera, former candidate for governor of Puerto Rico and president of the PNP party, held captive for a few hours on July 2004 in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico; released after paying captiors 1,000 dollars.
• Jean Mermoz, by an African tribe, at the Sahara.
• Riddick Bowe's wife, Julie and his five kids were kidnapped for five days by Bowe himself.
• Eric Peugeot, son of Raymond Peugeot, an automobile industry millionaire, was kidnapped at the age of four in 1960 in Paris. He was returned after payment of a ransom, and his kidnappers arrested a few years later.

Also of notice is that Dominican actor Andres Garcia announced he doubled his security guard numbers, afraid he and his family could get kidnapped too. On the same line, Manny Pacquiao, world boxing champion at the Flyweight, Jr. Featherweight and Featherweight divisions, has had to hire six security guards who constantly surround him and his family in his home country of the Philippines, after receiving kidnap threatening calls from several groups.

This crime is flourishing in poor countries, where the economic situation can drive people to desperate measures.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Modern kidnappings of celebrities or their relatives", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki