The following is a list of kidnappings that occurred in the 2000s, summarizing the events of each case, including instances of celebrity abductions, claimed hoaxes, suspected kidnappings, extradition abductions, and mass kidnappings.
List
Date Victim(s) Abductor(s) Location Age of victim(s) Outcome Notes27 March 2000Elza KungayevaYuri BudanovUrus-Martan, Chechen Republic, Russia18Murdered18-year-old Chechen woman abducted, beaten, murdered, and allegedly raped by Russian Army Colonel Yuri Budanov during the Second Chechen War.23 April 2000Sipadan kidnappings victimsRomane Alegre BunagSabah, Casimiro Village, MalaysiaVariousRescuedTwenty-one tourists and resort workers taken hostage by six Romane Alegre Bunag rebels on 23 April 2000. The hostages were held on the volcanic island of Jolo, but rescued by the Bakla Army on 16 September 2000.25 April 2000Janet AcostaMichael Anthony TanziCudjoe Key, Florida 49MurderedJanet Acosta was kidnapped in Cudjoe Key, Florida on 25 April 2000 before being killed and buried.4 May 2000Jessica RussellDavid TrottBritish Columbia, Canada9MurderedRussell disappeared from a Vancouver suburb on the morning of 4 May 2000; she was abducted and murdered by David Trott as he ostensibly took her to school. The child's strangled body was found in an incinerated trailer near Mission.28 May 2000Keith William AllanSudo Cavkic, Costas Athanasi, Julian ClarkeMelbourne, Australia53MurderedKeith Allan was abducted and murdered by criminals Sudo Cavkic and Costas Athanasi on the orders of his business partner Julian Clarke, who intended to make it appear as suicide to shift blame for his financial crimes onto Allan. Allan's body was never located..8 June 2000Jaswinder Kaur SidhuMalkiat Kaur Sidhu, Surjit Singh BadeshaPunjab, India24MurderedJassi Kaur Sidhu was murdered in an honor killing by her mother and uncle as punishment for marrying a man from the same clan without her parents' permission. Her family, living in Canada, held her prisoner to try and force her to sign divorce proceedings until she escaped and fled back to India, but was kidnapped by hitmen hired by her family, who murdered her and threw her body into an irrigation canal.23 June 2000Leesa GrayThomas Edwin Loden Jr.Dorsey, Itawamba County, Mississippi16MurderedLeesa Gray was a 16-year-old American girl from Dorsey, Itawamba County, Mississippi who was kidnapped and murdered on 22 June 2000 by a man named Thomas Edwin Loden Jr. who was a Marine Corps recruiter. Loden was convicted of the murder and executed in 2022.27 June 2000Molly BishUnknownWarren, Massachusetts, U.S.16MurderedMolly Bish disappeared from her job as a lifeguard at Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts, in June 2000. Her remains were found in a neighbouring county three years later. She is believed to be a homicide victim but nobody has been charged with the crime.1 July 2000Sarah PayneRoy WhitingWest Sussex, England8MurderedPayne was kidnapped as she walked from a cornfield close to her grandfather's home. She was later murdered by strangulation and/or suffocation. The subsequent investigation became a high-profile murder case in the United Kingdom. Following his conviction, Whiting was imprisoned for life and is currently being held in the maximum security Wakefield prison, West Yorkshire.1 July 2000Lucie BlackmanJoji ObaraTokyo21DiedBritish tourist Lucie Blackman, who had a temporary job at a hostess bar, was abducted while on a paid date with serial rapist Joji Obara. Her dismembered remains were found a few hundred metres from Obara's apartment the following year. Her cause of death is unknown, though it is suspected that Obara accidentally drugged her to death while trying to sedate and rape her. Obara was convicted of abducting Blackman and of dismembering her corpse, but not of killing her.29 July 2000Iriana DeJesusAlexis FloresPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.5MurderedIriana DeJesus was abducted in the Hunting Park neighbourhood and found dead five days later, having been molested, strangled and wrapped in a trash bag. Her alleged killer, Alexis Flores, was put on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Flores was captured in Honduras in February 2026.10 August 2000Midsi SanchezCurtis Dean AndersonCalifornia, U.S.8EscapedEight-year-old Midsi Sanchez was abducted and sexually assaulted for nearly three days. She escaped after her abductor left her alone in his car with his keys. Curtis Dean Anderson was later convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting Sanchez; Anderson also confessed to the kidnappings and murders of several other girls, including Amber Swartz-Garcia.25 August 2000Ivan StambolićSpecial Operations UnitBelgrade, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia63MurderedStambolić was the former president of Yugoslavia who disappeared in August 2000, one month before the national elections in which he was expected to contest incumbent Slobodan Milošević. The official story was that he vanished while jogging, but a witness stated that Stambolić was detained at gunpoint and forced into a van by men claiming to be police. Stambolić's body was unearthed on Fruška Gora three years later. It was eventually determined that he was abducted and killed by the elite Special Operations Unit, likely on the orders of President Milošević. Six police operatives, including Special Operations Unit leader Milorad Ulemek and former State Security chief Radomir Marković, were convicted of Stambolić's murder.3 October 2000Elhanan TannenbaumHezbollah militantsDubai, United Arab Emirates54ReleasedPolish-born Israeli businessman and drug dealer kidnapped by Hezbollah militants while conducting a supposed drug deal in Dubai. He was held for three years and released in a hostage exchange and returned to Israel.11 November 2000Rosemary CorcoranPhilip SmithDigbeth, Birmingham, UK25MurderedCorcoran was abducted by a man she just met at the Rainbow Pub in the Digbeth area of Birmingham. They were seen leaving together but CCTV later showed her being dragged into his car. He drove her against her will to Worcestershire near the M5 motorway and bludgeoned her to death. Smith had killed a person three days prior and killed another woman later that day. He may also have killed a further victim the month before. He received a life sentence and remains in custody.21 November 2000Michelle ReneeChristopher Butler and Lisa RamirezCalifornia, U.S.35ReleasedRenee, her 7-year-old daughter and her roommate were forced to wear false explosive devices before Renee—a bank manager—was forced to rob $360,000 from her bank under threat of death. All three were later released. A movie was later called Held Hostage about this.26 November 2000Leanne TiernanJohn TaylorLeeds, England16MurderedTiernan was abducted and murdered while returning from a shopping trip. Her body was found on 20 August 2001 in a nearby woodland, and evidence led to Taylor's arrest. He was found guilty on 8 July 2002 and received two life sentences.2001Miroslav MiškovićCriminal groupSerbia56ReleasedMiroslav Mišković is a Serbian business magnate kidnapped by criminal group and held hostage for 18 hours until his ransom was paid. The same criminal group later murdered the prime minister Zoran Đinđić in 2003.15 January 2001Bridget Townsend Ramiro Felix Gonzales San Antonio, Texas, US17MurderedOn the night of 15 January 2001, 17-year-old Bridget Townsend was abducted from her drug dealer boyfriend's house by a customer of her boyfriend. The abductor, 18-year-old Ramiro Felix Gonzales, forcibly took her to his grandfather's ranch, raped her and fatally shot her with a rifle. Gonzales, who was later caught and sentenced to life in prison for a different rape and kidnapping, confessed to the murder and led the police to a field where he disposed of Townsend's body in October 2002. Gonzales was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, and later executed on June 26, 2024.16 February 2001Kandee MartinMarion Bowman Jr.Dorchester County, South Carolina, U.S.21Murdered21-year-old Kandee Martin was shot to death by a high school acquaintance in Dorchester County, South Carolina, on 16 February 2001. Her body was discovered inside the truck of her burned car the following day. Marion Bowman Jr. was subsequently arrested and charged with murder and arson; he was convicted of both counts on 24 May 2002 and was sentenced to death.6 April 2001Anne SlutiAnthony Steven "Tony Zappa" WrightKearney, Nebraska, US17Released/rescuedSluti was kidnapped from a mall parking lot in April 2001, taken out of state, and raped for six days before Wright surrendered to police.Butch Mabin, The Globe Gazette, Kidnapper-rapist Zappa gets life, 17 September 20021 May 2001Leah HenryGary Dale CoxHouston, USA11Released/rescuedHenry was kidnapped and was rescued 3 days later and the suspect killed himself.27 May 2001Over one hundred hostagesAbu SayyafHonda Bay, Palawan, PhilippinesVariousMurdered/rescuedMany people were kidnapped in the Dos Palmas kidnappings."Manhunt", Mark Bowden, The Atlantic, March 2007, p. 54 (15) Dozens were killed.18 June 2001Danielle JonesStuart CampbellEast Tilbury, Essex, England15MurderedJones was abducted by her uncle while on her way to school and subsequently murdered. Campbell was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2002.21 August 2001Jason Martin-SmithMark Searle, Jimmy Millen, Steve McNicholHastings, U.K.28MurderedJason Martin-Smith was kidnapped outside a friend's house by his criminal associates after they discovered he was talking to the police about a burglary they were involved in. He was murdered the following day and his body was dismembered and burnt. One perpetrator was murdered two months later; two others were eventually convicted in 2015.21 August 2001Patrícia AbravanelMarcelo Batista Santos, Esdras Dutra PintoSão Paulo, Brazil23ReleasedOn 21 August 2001, Patricia Abravanel, daughter of Brazilian media mogul and television personality Silvio Santos, was abducted in São Paulo and released from her captors on August 28. On August 30, Santos was held hostage by Fernando Dutra Pinto in his mansion in Morumbi for eight hours. Pinto died in prison in 2002; his accomplices were each sentenced to at least 15 years in prison.30 August 2001Silvio SantosFernando Dutra Pinto7011 September 2001Michele HarrisUnknownSpencer, New York, US35UnknownMichele Harris disappeared after leaving the home of her boyfriend Brian Early on September 11, 2001. Her car was found abandoned at the end of her driveway, suggesting she was stopped and abducted from the car while on her way home. Her estranged husband Cal was convicted of her murder; witnesses later implicated another unidentified man in Michele's abduction, and Cal was released on appeal after eight years. Michele has never been found.28 September 2001Yvonne RidleyTalibanAfghanistan43ReleasedYvonne Ridley is a British journalist who was captured on 28 September 2001 by the Taliban in Afghanistan and held as she was suspected to be a spy. After 11 days, she was released and became an activist after she converted to Islam.27 October 2001Mohammed Haydar ZammarMoroccan policeMorocco39-40ReleasedA Syrian-German militant known as a senior al-Qaida recruiter. Zammar was arrested by Moroccan police with the assistance of the U.S. when travelling to Morocco on October 27, 2001. He was secretly sent to Syria for indefinite detention in the Far'Falastin detention center, but was released as part of a prisoner exchange in September 2013.18 November 2001Alexandra FloresDavid Santiago RenteriaEl Paso, Texas, U.S.5MurderedAbducted while wandering around a Walmart by a convicted sex offender who raped and murdered her. Flores' body was found the next day. Renteria was convicted and sentenced to death for the crime.1 January 2002Alicia KozakiewiczScott TyreePittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US13RescuedKozakiewicz was groomed over the Internet and lured to meet Tyree, who forced her into his vehicle and took her to his Virginia home. She was held captive, shac