It is hard for many of us to imagine what a parent feels the moment his/her child goes missing. The case I chose was from the movie Ransom. This case involves the premeditated abduction of Sean Mullen, the son of Chairman Tom Mullen of Endeavor Airlines, and his wife Katherine. The case begins at the New York Science Fair in Central Park, where Katherine is a judge. As Katherine is preoccupied by the event and Tom is talking to a fellow associate, Sean is kidnapped by the crew of a dirty detective, Jimmy Shaker. Both parents panic and search Central Park for their son. When they realize he is nowhere to be found, they reluctantly go home. Once home, they receive an email from the kidnapper stating he wants two million dollars of unmarked bills in a suitcase for the return of their son. He advises them not to call the police, FBI, or alert the media or else Sean will be killed. Against the advice of the kidnapper the parents phone the FBI and they arrange for a look-alike to drop off the cash and a plan of action in order to get Sean back. Tom believes the kidnapping may be related to the Jackie Brown case, in which Brown (having been set up) is doing time for a pay-off from contract negotiations with another airline done by Tom. A sentence Tom should be fulfilling, but got away with. Tom takes matter in his own hands when the plans of the FBI fall through and decides that if he is to ever see his son again he needs to take a stand. He turns the ransom into a bounty on the head of the kidnapper; a plan he feels will be the most effective in getting his son back alive and well. The dirty cop manages to kill his associates and come out as the hero in the end, before the truth of his actions are discovered. .
The Canadian Police Information Centre statistics (www.ourmissingchildren.ca) relating to child abduction shows a total of 35 stranger abductions for the year of 2002. There are over twelve times more parental abductions as opposed to stranger/acquaintance abductions.
