04.01.2008 10:03 am

Baby snatcher got off easy, has some nerve

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

In this AP report, a woman who kidnapped a newborn 10 years ago says she had turned her life around and is happily married with two children. The story says:

Amanda Tull was 19 when she and her boyfriend, Buddy Hall, abducted newborn Carlie Shockey from the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., on Jan. 28, 1998.

The couple was arrested at Tull’s parents’ home in High Ridge, south of St. Louis, the next day, and the baby was returned safely to her mother, Trish Shockey.

Tull pleaded guilty to kidnapping and was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison, while Hall was sentenced to two years and three months in prison for being an accessory.

It’s great that Tull has turned her life around, but doesn’t five years in prison seem like a fairly lenient punishment for stealing someone’s baby? If she hadn’t gotten caught, would that baby ever have been reunited with her family? It takes a lot of nerve for a former kidnapper and ex-con to contact the AP and brag about her happy marriage and two children.

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading ...

Tags: kidnapping

3 comments

Comments are closed.

Blog Comments: Rules of the Road

It was the kidnapper’s parents that contacted the AP. Think about how Amanda’s mom must have felt when Amanda kidnapped that baby, and how she felt when Amanda went to jail. I would imagine that Amanda’s mom is very happy that Amanda DID turn her life around and is doing well. Kidnapping IS a serious offense and Amanda should have been sentenced accordingly, but I sumbit that she did spend almost 6 years in prison and that is a very long time.

— Andy

2:30 pm April 1st, 2008

I would argue that crimes against children do not get harsh enough sentences for the perps. And all we know about Amanda “turning her life around” is the word of her parents.
I’ve seen first-hand the anguish that parents of abducted children live. It’s not something to wish upon your worst enemy. Thankfully, the police caught this woman and her boyfriend or God knows if the baby’s parents would ever have seen their child again.
It’s sad when a nonviolent drug crime can net a longer sentence than stealing a person’s newborn.

— Aisha Sultan

4:41 pm April 1st, 2008

I do agree with you that people that commit crimes against children often do not get nearly harsh enough punishment (anybody the commits sex crimes against children in New Jersey for instance!).

I in no way wanted to come across as defending this girl for what she did–kidnapping a defenseless child and potentially depriving the child’s parents of their little one is despicable. Maybe the almost 6 years wasn’t enough. I have no idea if the girl has truly turned her life around and I don’t know anything about her parents. I had not even heard about this case until today. I guess I was just trying to point out how Amanda’s parents might feel about their daughter.

I guess since my mom is having health issues right now I am feeling a bit defensive of mothers. But then again, what the mother of the kidnapped child went through was terrible too–more so than that of Amanda’s mom I suppose.

I will say that drug crimes can and often do lead to violent crimes too. Even if the drug user does not themself commit a violent crime, think about all the violent crimes that may have happened in getting the drugs to the illegal market in the first place.

— Andy

7:12 pm April 1st, 2008