Random Lost Children Who Were Eventually Found (18 items)

(#10) Shawn Hornbeck Was Seen Multiple Times Before Being Rescued

Kidnapped in 2002 at age 11, Shawn Hornbeck was found more than four years later living in a St. Louis, MO, apartment with a man named Michael J. Devlin. Devlin had abducted Hornbeck while he was outside riding his bike before brainwashing and abusing the child for years.

After Hornbeck was rescued, authorities learned he had often been seen, albeit unrecognized, in public. He had a girlfriend, often walked around a local shopping mall, and once spoke with a police officer when his bicycle was stolen. He even posted on a website his parents had set up regarding his kidnapping, asking how long they would continue to look for their son. He signed the post "Shawn Devlin."

Devlin was stabbed and wounded while awaiting trial. He has since been sentenced to three life terms.
(#7) Steve Carter Solved His Own Kidnapping

In 2012, 35-year-old Steve Carter clicked on a website that featured cases of missing children. Carter had always known that he was adopted, but he soon found a photo of himself under the name Marx Panama Barnes in the missing children database.

Carter's father had been looking for him for 30 years after he was kidnapped by his biological mother as an infant. When he was 4 years old, she put him up for adoption in an orphanage, then disappeared without a trace. DNA confirmed that Steve Carter and Marx Panama Barnes were the same person.
(#8) Elizabeth Smart Was Near Her Home For The Nine Months She Was Missing

In 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her bedroom by a man named Brian David Mitchell. She was held captive by Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Ileen Barzee, for nine months until someone noticed their strange behavior and police raided Mitchell and Barzee's home. Smart had been only miles away from her family's home for most of the time she was abducted.

Mitchell was sentenced to two life terms for kidnapping and sexual assault, while Barzee received a 15-year sentence for aiding in the crime. Smart wrote a memoir about her experience and has been a contributor for ABC News.
(#15) Natasha Ryan Was Missing For Five Years And Was Presumed Dead

In 1998, 14-year-old Natasha Ryan vanished from her home in Australia. When she was found alive in 2003, a man was already on trial for her murder. Leonard Fraser had confessed to murdering Ryan, and she was presumed dead. However, it was revealed that Ryan had purposely run away from home so she could be with her boyfriend, who was 21 at the time she ran away.

Ryan was fined $1,000 for causing a false police investigation, and her boyfriend spent a year in jail for lying about Ryan's whereabouts. Ryan would reportedly hide in closets and only go out at night to avoid being seen.
(#16) Connie McCallister Was Missing For Nearly A Decade After Being Drugged At A Party

Connie McCallister was a 16-year-old honor roll student when she vanished from her Wisconsin home in 2004. In 2013, she was located in Mexico, where she was married with three children. McCallister told authorities that she was drugged by her then-boyfriend and taken to Mexico in 2004. She described the relationship as abusive and eventually married another man.

McCallister was reportedly unsure of how to get home but eventually revealed her identity to a missionary in 2013. McCallister then made contact with her family and returned home after being missing for a decade.
(#17) Tanya Kach Was Missing For A Decade

Fifteen-year-old Tanya Kach thought she was developing a relationship with her school security guard, Thomas Hose, in 1996. Hose even offered to let her stay with him after she told him about having issues with her parents. Hose brought Kach to live secretly in the same house as his parents and son but kept her hidden from them for four years. She was forced to stay in his second-story bedroom and had to use a bucket as a toilet.

Hose later created a new identity for Kach and introduced her to his parents as his girlfriend who would be moving in with them. Kach was then able to leave the house with a strict curfew, but it took her another six years to escape with the help of a local grocery store owner in 2000.

Hose plead guilty to kidnapping and sexual abuse and was convicted to five to 15 years in prison.