I have been doing a bit of research into child abduction from bed and I must admit that the only examples I can find are American ones - thought there are a good few examples nonetheless:
Elizabeth Smart, 2002. This is a very famous case, in the US as at least, and an interesting and involved one. An abductor entered the home in the middle of the night and took Elizabeth, then aged 14, from a bedroom she shared with her 9 year old sister. The sister witnessed the abductor at length, but did not call out to alert anyone as she was afraid he would kill her and her sister.
Elizabeth was admittedly much older than Madeleine - and therefore, one would think, harder to subdue and exit with undetected.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Smart_kidnapping
Rosie Tapia, abducted from her bed in 1995, age 6, and murdered.
http://mylifeofcrime.wordpress.com/2007/03/13/rosie-tapia-murder-81395-salt-lake-city-ut-unsolved-murder/
Both girls were from Salt Lake City, Utah.
And a more recent example, from Los Angeles:
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/29/local/la-me-kidnapped-20130329
And another case, from Georgia, that involved a burglary:
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/09/17/ayvani-hope-perez-missing-georgia-home-invasion
No sign of gypsies, though it's a completely different demographic.
I did find a related piece on the topic of abduction from bed, however:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865558906/Child-abductions-from-homes-exceptionally-rare-expert-says.html
The piece contains an interesting insight:
''And while such brazen abductions are a parent's worst fear, they don't happen often, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"We do see them from time to time, but they are exceptionally rare," said Bob Lowery, executive director of the Virginia-based center's missing child division.
"We have the expectation that when we are at home, we are safe," he said. "This is a different kind of predator that will engage in something that high-risk because of the motivation for what he wants to do with that child."
Sherlock's question from this article is:
Does that statement, if true, suggest that someone willing to enter a child's bedroom at night, with all the risks that that entails, would be unlikely to be a person merely in the employ of higher-up or group who wanted a child to sell or pass on, or use for their own purposes?
For him to have been prepared to make such a brazen move, would he be a man operation alone, driven by his own nefarious drives?
The circumstances around children being snatched from home or residence are bound to differ. Here are a few other cases, in which the abductor had a previous criminal history and apparently acted alone.
- A UK one, but from a bath while the child's mother was in another room.
Willington Quay child abduction case
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The Willington Quay child abduction was a case of the abduction and rape of a 6-year-old girl in Willington Quay, North Tyneside, England, on 27 December 2005, when she was taken while in the bath. A local man, Peter Voisey, a known sex offender, was later convicted of the crime and sentenced to life in prison. The brazen nature of the crime sparked widespread media interest and a Crimewatch appeal. It also sparked the largest ever man-hunt by Northumbria Police. Assertions by the police that the crime had been a case of opportunistic abduction from the home by a stranger were initially met with scepticism, given the seemingly unbelievable nature of the crime.[1] Voisey's conviction also sparked a review of the multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA), which govern the monitoring of past offenders.
The girl was abducted from her ground-floor bath as her mother was next door room. She was driven around the local area for 20 minutes, before being found naked in a snow-covered back alley. Initially, police only had the girl's eyewitness account of a "man in a red car" identified by her as a Vauxhall Astra, with no other witnesses present.[2] The only forensic evidence the police could obtain was a footprint in the bathroom, and a partial DNA trace from the girl's fingernail. Through careful interview with the girl, it was ascertained from the route she was driven, that the offender had a good knowledge of the local area.
Voisey, a.k.a. Smith, was originally questioned because he was a registered sex offender, as part of a wide sweep of local people who might be of interest. Originally a known sneak thief, committing high risk burglaries with a chance of discovery,[2] he had been convicted in 2001 of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in a swimming pool changing room in Cheshire.[3] He was not initially considered a priority lead, as he had been classified low risk due to good behaviour.[2] Voisey initially appeared good natured, and had a good account of his movements. He continued to strenuously deny any involvement when further interviewed.
With no strong evidence, Voisey was convicted from a multitude of lesser clues.[2] This included his local knowledge and his mobile phone records which proved he was not where he claimed to be at the time. The trainer print had been matched to a pair he owned, only five of which had been sold in the North East that year. He had made a cryptic diary entry for the day in question, "Phew it's over, chill now", which he claimed referred to Christmas. He had also owned a red Astra, although this was scrapped before it could be seized as evidence. It was also concluded, although a partial match, that there was a high chance of the DNA found being Voisey's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willington_Quay_child_abduction_case- Different again: a guy raped and murdered Caroline Dickinson (UK) in a French hostel dorm
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/girl-murdered-on-school-trip-to-france-1329474.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Arce_Montes- Someone "known" to the family snatched a 3-year-old when she and her mum had just come home from a shopping trip and the mother was on the phone. It's unclear whether he was a friend or a slight acquaintance.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jan/05/ukcrime.childprotection
