Stranger Abduction Homicides of Children

Researchers conducting a series of studies to determine the number of children missing annually in the United States have estimated that the number of children kidnapped and murdered by strangers is between 52 and 158 a year. These first findings from the National Studies of the Incidence of Missing Children are based on a detailed study of 9 years of data from the FBI's Supplemental Homicide file.

These figures represent, at most, a yearly average of fewer than 2 stranger abduction homicides per 1 million children under the age of 18. Teenagers between ages 14 and 17 have the highest rate of all age groups. These new estimates contrast sharply with earlier estimates that thousands of children are kidnapped and murdered each year by strangers. Until now there have been no official estimates of the number of children abducted and murdered by strangers.

source: Article 'Preliminary estimates developed on - Stranger Abduction Homicides of Children' by Verne L. Speirs (administrator); OJJDP, Juvenile Justice Bulletin; U.S. Department of Justice; January 1989