An Arkansas mom allegedly orchestrated a staged kidnapping of her mentally disabled daughter as a scare tactic to stop her from speaking to a stranger posing as singer Luke Bryan online, according to authorities and reports.
Tamara “Tammi” Hamby, who formerly served on the Crawford County Library Board, turned herself in on Wednesday after allegedly enlisting three people to help kidnap her 22-year-old daughter, 5news reported.
On Nov. 17, deputies responded to a possible kidnapping of Hamby’s daughter, who has intellectual and physical disabilities, according to an arrest warrant and court records obtained by the outlet.
Hamby allegedly pioneered the scheme to teach her daughter a lesson not to talk to strangers on the internet, including someone reportedly pretending to be country singer Luke Bryan, the outlet reported.
An in-home nursing assistant, Shannon Yazmin Yvonne Childers, who helps care for the daughter, was informed by Hamby of the staged kidnapping, the warrant detailed.
Hamby allegedly planned for someone who pretended to be an associate of Luke Bryan to contact her daughter and arrange a meet-up.
After that, the person would pick up Hamby’s daughter, take her to a field, and demand money before tying her to a tree, the warrant alleged.
The mom was then supposedly set to show up and “rescue her” from the staged scheme, cops wrote.
Childers allegedly recruited two individuals, David Q. Quach and Nico Austria, to assist with the plan. The two showed up at Hamby’s home in ski masks and snatched her disabled daughter, the outlet reported.
Austria took a wrong turn and ended up in a different field than was planned, and ziptied Hamby’s daughter and tied her to a tree, the warrant stated.
Hamby’s frightened daughter eventually broke free and tried to run away, but was allegedly tackled by Austria and Quach, who re-tied her to the tree. Hamby had been watching the entire time, the outlet said.
Her daughter then escaped on her own and was able to contact 911.
“[Hamby’s daughter] was in fear for her life and clung tightly to a teddy bear the entirety of me speaking with her during her interview,” the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office deputy said in a narrative, according to the outlet.
Hamby resigned from her position on the library board on Nov. 24, after stating she was moving out of the district, the outlet said.
Hamby’s husband, Jeffrey Hamby, has since told the outletthat his wife was trying to do the right thing by having an intervention for their daughter after they grew concerned with her online activity.
“The predator developed a relationship with her, and he said he was Luke Bryan, the singer. And my daughter adores him,” Jeffrey told the outlet.
“So, over the last six months, he’s developed somewhat of a trauma bond, now that we’ve been able to see the chats and the messages, and he was attempting to obtain her or get her,” Jeffrey said.
Even after taking her devices away, she would find ways to communicate with the Luke Bryan poser, whose number had been traced back to Nigeria by the Arkansas State Police, Jeffrey claimed.
“We tried everything, and she has not stopped communicating with him, and he was going to get her. He was going to take her. And so, my wife, without my knowledge, with her aide and a couple of their friends, tried to do an intervention,” Jeffrey said.
The father admitted the plot was “ill-conceived” and “really poorly executed,” and bizarrely added that there was a practice run of the kidnapping to try to prevent Hamby’s daughter from being harmed.
“They had practiced earlier that day with these zip ties to leave them loose so she can slip them off. Instead, in the struggle to get away, she tightened the zip ties, and it bruised her wrists,” Jeffrey said.
Hamby has been charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, abuse of an endangered adult or impaired person, battery, and terroristic threatening, court records obtained by The Post showed.
Quach, Austria, and Childers were also arrested in connection with the staged kidnapping, according to court records.
County jail records show that all four of the individuals are not currently in custody.
Hamby will return to court on Wednesday.
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