Note: in May 2023, we will republish this story that made history.
In an unexpected turn of events, the woman accused of abducting her daughter from an Illinois neighborhood six years prior was arrested, ending a story that garnered national attention. Kayla’s fifteen-year-old mother, Heather Unbehaun, is being held without the possibility of bond in the Kane County Adult Justice Center in Illinois due to charges of assault.
This unexpected development occurs a few days after Kayla was reunited with her guardian and found safe in the Caroline of the North. Unbehaun was arrested on Saturday in North Carolina, where she was, on a fugitive warrant out of Illinois, specifically for the kidnapping and abduction of young children. Unbehaun was initially detained on a substantial $250,000 bond, but was eventually freed after posting bail on Tuesday morning, according to Samantha Booth, the Asheville police department’s spokesperson.
The story begins on July 4, 2017, when Kayla, who was nine years old at the time, was allegedly taken by Unbehaun after she watched a parade in the Chicago neighborhood of South Elgin. The situation took a somber turn when Unbehaun told Kayla’s father-in-law, Ryan Iserka, that they were going camping after the parade. However, neither Unbehaun nor Kayla have returned, which has led to a judicial order for Unbehaun’s arrest on abduction charges.
The case was discovered when a vigilante in Asheville recognized Kayla from an episode of Netflix’s “Unsolved Mysteries” about parent abductions. This person quickly stopped the authorities, which helped to locate Kayla and result in Unbehaun’s arrest.
The legal battle between Unbehaun and Iserka reveals a turbulent point of view. At the beginning of 2017, Iserka had full custody of Kayla, while Unbehaun had only allowed unsupervised visits known as “parenting time.” The concerns about Kayla’s wellbeing were evident in the court documents because the judge had previously given Iserka the sole authority to make medical decisions due to a suspected interference by Unbehaun with the child’s health.
Iserka’s attorney, John Vojta, expressed his curiosity about Unbehaun’s release on the grounds of her being pursued for six years. Kayla and Iserka were reunited during this time, and they traveled back to Illinois together. Iserka has expressed her gratitude in a statement to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, law enforcement, and supporters on the Facebook group “Bring Kayla Home” for their assistance in securing her daughter’s return.
While the legal proceedings are ongoing, Unbehaun is scheduled to appear in court again on Tuesday morning at the Kane County Judicial Center. The unexpected events in this case are still holding the public’s attention.
