A kidnapped teenage girl who was a subject of Netflix's "Unsolved Mysteries" was found safe and alive in North Carolina this week.
The girl, now 15, had been missing since 2017.
Kayla Unbehaun was last seen with her mother, Heather, who was the noncustodial parent at the time. Ryan Iskerka, Kayla's father, previously said that Heather took their daughter to a parade and on a Fourth of July camping trip. However, the mother and daughter never returned to Ryan's home in South Elgin, Ill., and a warrant was issued for Heather.
"It was discovered that all of Heather's social media had been canceled and her phone turned off," Ryan said in a GoFundMe Page.
For five years, Heather and Kayla were off the radar. But in 2022, Netflix's popular "Unsolved Mysteries" revival featured Kayla's abduction, which brought fresh attention to the case and ultimately led to her safe retrieval in Asheville, North Carolina — 700 miles from where she was last seen.
Over the weekend, the Asheville Police Department were tipped off to a reported kidnapping at a retail store after a witness "believed she had recognized a woman who kidnapped a child in 2017″ from "well-publicized media." After responding to the store, police identified Heather and Kalya Unbehaun.
Heather was booked into jail and will be extradited to Illinois.
"I'm overjoyed that Kayla is home safe. I want to thank the South Elgin Police Department, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and all of the law enforcement agencies who assisted with her case," Ryan said in a statement Monday through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. "We ask for privacy as we get to know each other again and navigate this new beginning."