2 Bountiful girls charged with making up kidnapping story


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BOUNTIFUL — Two Bountiful girls have been charged with making up an elaborate kidnapping story, claiming they were taken at knife point, tied up and held hostage for 19 hours before eventually escaping 75 miles from home.

The girls, ages 16 and 17, were each charged in 2nd District Juvenile Court with misdemeanor counts of 911 abuse and making a false police report, according to Bountiful police.

The teens claimed that while walking in their Bountiful neighborhood early on the morning of Sept. 9, they were approached by two men and a woman in a sport utility vehicle who forced them at knife point into their vehicle. They told detectives they were bound by duct tape and held in the back of an SUV for most of the day before they eventually escaped in Santaquin.

The girls flagged down a car in the middle of the street and made a frantic 911 call during which they sounded like they were crying. At least one girl even had duct tape still stuck to her head and arms.

But police say it was all made up. They said the girls actually purchased duct tape and put it on themselves.

Bountiful Police Sgt. Troy Killian, who investigated the case, said from what he could determine, the girls used public transportation to go from Bountiful to Santaquin. But once they found out that the bus from Payson to Santaquin was only one way, they were stuck.


I never really got the true story of why, why they did it. We tried to sit down and talk to them and get that from them. But they basically just said they didn't think we would believe them. It's hard to say why. They wouldn't give us a whole lot.

–Sgt. Troy Killian, Bountiful police


Killian said that was only his best guess because the girls still have not told police why they went to such lengths to make up a kidnapping story, why they left home in the first place or what their intentions were after they left.

"I never really got the true story of why, why they did it. We tried to sit down and talk to them and get that from them. But they basically just said they didn't think we would believe them. It's hard to say why. They wouldn't give us a whole lot," the sergeant said.

The girls apparently took a bus in Bountiful to a FrontRunner station and then took FrontRunner to Provo. From there, they took a bus to Payson. They spent extra time in Payson, which is where police believe they bought the duct tape, Killian said. Investigators later found surveillance video from a convenience store in Payson that shows the girls during the time they claimed they had been abducted.

The girls then took another bus from Payson to Santaquin, but discovered the commuter bus only went one way, he said.

"My theory is they got stuck there. Whether they were running away or just taking the day off, I don't know. But they got stuck in Santaquin and couldn't get back. But they wouldn't say if that was true or not," Killian said.

According to a search warrant, one girl told police "that she has no recollection of the events occurring from the point she and (her friend) were abducted to when she left the Santaquin Police Station with her mother."

Killian said he checked the girls' phones and does not believe they received rides from anyone else or went to anyone's house while they were out.

A search warrant served on the phones also revealed that "all history prior to the day of the alleged abduction had been erased."

The teens had allegedly sent messages on Snapchat earlier that night to friends saying that they thought they were being followed. Right before going on the walk in which they were allegedly abducted, one girl sent a Snapchat message that she was “about to go on a walk and it’s dark outside," according to the warrant.

The warrant also indicates that one of the girl's mothers was going through a "heated divorce" and said the girl's little sister "faked her own kidnapping the day after the girls were found. She told investigating police officers she was jealous of the attention her sister received from the kidnapping."

A sibling of the other girl told police that her sister "was not happy in the home because of a conflict she was having" with another family member.

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Pat Reavy

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