Bonnie Sweeten Abduction Hoax | 05/28/2009 8:15 am

Philadelphia Mom Who Claimed Abduction Found With Daughter at Disney World

Bonnie Sweeten’s whole story about being abducted with her nine-year-old daughter and stuffed in a trunk was all a lie; domestic problems the cause?

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

The suburban Philadelphia mom who told police she and her nine-year-old daughter were abducted after a traffic accident was lying.

Bonnie Sweeten, 38, and her daughter, Julia Rakoczy, were found — not in the trunk of a Cadillac, as she told police, but in Orlando’s Disney World. The pair apparently fled home with one-way tickets and $12,000 in their pockets, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. Family and friends said they can’t explain Sweeten’s off behavior — after all, who would ever falsely claim that she and her child were abducted in the middle of the day after a vehicle accident?

The only semblance of an explanation so far is, according to the Bucks County district attorney, Sweeten was dealing with domestic problems and was under investigation for theft. Before she left with Julia, Sweeten called her husband and told him to give her love to her other children in case she never saw them again.

"Right now, I don’t think anyone is in a position to discuss possible motives until we have talked to her," said FBI spokesman JJ Klaver.

Sweeten has now been arrested for making a false report, among other things. Click here to read more about the "abduction" hoax.

16 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

What the heck was this woman thinking? What kind of parent is she? She is certainly no role model for her young daughter. Not only that, but she tied up many police officers for hours and had friends and family in distress. Shame, shame on her.

By Maggie W on 05/28/2009 8:33 am

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Not only was it shameful behavior, but extremely stupid.

By DeBúrca obj on 05/28/2009 11:10 am

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I think she had a breakdown, though she is still responsible for her actions - very sad for all, really

By Chips AHoey on 05/28/2009 8:39 am

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I am so happy for the little girl that this turned out the way it did. As for the mother how dare she put people through this. Something about the story did not ring true for me from the start. But my first thought was that she had done something dreadful to her daughter.

By Deena B. on 05/28/2009 8:47 am

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I’m happy that they are both safe, but for the life of me can’t understand why she would make up that kind of a story. Especially using black men in their "story." All this did was tie up emergency services, news media, and God knows who else for hours if not days.

She should be charged for this and she should have to pay for the damages she caused. There are OTHER ways to get out of an abusive relationship without taking the whole country down.

By Sherry Dale on 05/28/2009 10:08 am

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The bit about the "two black men" was what raised a red flag for me, I think. Especially when one news report said her description of them was "pretty generic". The first thing I thought of was Susan Smith, which made me fear for the safety of the child. I believe she will be charged, and she should be. It was a despicable thing to do on every level.

By Deena B. on 05/28/2009 2:21 pm

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The woman also blamed the ‘abduction’ on two black men.

By DeBúrca obj on 05/28/2009 11:08 am

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I totally agree with everyone here. Gesh, what is this country coming too?

By Beth Cornell on 05/28/2009 1:39 pm

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There is a very recent case in CA where a mother said her child was abducted and then later the kid was found dead by the side of the road. Turns out the mother allegedly killed the child herself and ditched it.

Where does this come from? These people must have been raised by apes [no offense to the creatures].

It seems like this stuff started right around the time that bride-to-be [from Georgia??] ran off - a couple years ago. She had law enforcement combing the country for her. The cost was prohibitive.

These people have to learn to get hold of themselves and be responsible grown-ups. Somewhere along the way parents forgot to teach kids about responsibility and accountability.

By Andrea Brandon on 05/29/2009 1:11 am

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Andrea, was the Susan Smith case before or after the runaway bride? I’m thinking before but I’m not certain. That was the first thing I thought of when they said she claimed to have been abducted by two black men. And that thought made me very concerned for the little girl.

There does seem to be an rash of these cases in recent years. What I also don’t understand is, they hardly ever fool anyone for any length of time. Why do they think they will be the ones who get away with it?

By Deena B. on 05/30/2009 7:04 am

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Hi, Deena,

I had to Google Susan Smith because nothing came to mind. Whoa! How could I have forgotten? This case happened back in 1994, but even back then a story about a black man taking her car with her two small children in it. Here’s the story: http://crime.about.com/od/murder/a/susan_smith.htm Smith’s bio makes Peyton Place seem like Alice in Wonderland.

The "Runaway Bride" [2005] ran away and later told people that she had been kidnapped by a Hispanic male.

I don’t know much about the Runaway Bride’s state of mind - other than she obviously lacked the ability to stand up and say she didn’t want to get married. But Susan Smith was delusional and it appears to some degree narcissistic. In her very early life her father killed himself and she apparently had a lifelong compulsion about being loved by men. In spite of this, I think the court was too lenient on her when they sentenced her to 30 years in jail for the murder of her two young boys. [Is a child’s death only worth 15 years in jail? Sick.]

Why do they think they’ll get away with it? I think in Smith’s case her delusion was so great, as was her wish to be rid of her kids so she could be with the man she said she loved. Perhaps the Runaway Bride’s fear of displeasing family or boyfriend was great. [Probably more to that story than we know.] I’m thinking that anyone who lies to the extent that Smith and the Runaway Bride did about a serious crime are someone narcissistic - that is, they probably think they are smarter than everyone else and refuse to believe otherwise.

By Andrea Brandon on 05/30/2009 12:36 pm

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I guess narcissism must come into play, to think you can pull something like this off. They seem to think that no one will question their story if they blame it on a person of color. That is just offensive on so many levels.

By Deena B. on 05/30/2009 1:15 pm

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Definitely is offensive and horribly unfair. But if you think about it, narcissists believe they are SOOO much better than anyone else [of any color], so it probably wouldn’t matter to them whether they chose someone white, black, green, or purple. But they’re usually fairly smart people and know enought that the public would be more inclined to believe a story where the perpetrator is an ethnic minority. Goes to show how cunning the narcissist can be.

By Andrea Brandon on 05/30/2009 1:29 pm

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They may be smart but they’re also stupid. They think giving an ethnic designation is a complete description. Other than ethnicity they can’t describe anything-they’re completely generic.

Anyway this lady must have just snapped because this was a completely unworkable plan. Starting your new life at Disney with twelve thousand dollars? It doesn’t even make sense. I’m glad her daughter is safe. It’s better than snapping and shooting all your family.

By Sandy B on 05/30/2009 3:44 pm

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She’s a dispicable human being! … The mere fact that she felt comfortable enough to blame her crime on 2 Black males driving the stereotypical cadillac speaks volumes!

Can you imagine the fear and anger her racist claims may have generated in her community and around the nation?

Frankly, I could careless what happens to this monster! … She’s a liar, racist and thieve!

When I first heard she and her daughter had been kidnapped I feared for their safety and prayed! … When the truth came out I felt anger!

She reminded me of days in the south when a whitewoman screamed rape and countless innocent Blackmen were lynched!

By L. C. on 06/01/2009 5:31 pm