Abby Hernandez was 14 when she was kidnapped by a man who then held her captive for nine months before releasing her, but she never lost hope of being found
Emilia Randall GAU Writer
08:22, 23 Oct 2025
When she was 14 years old, Abby Hernandez was reported missing
A teenage girl who was kidnapped and disappeared without a trace, only to reappear at her family home nine months later wearing the same clothes she had on when she was taken, claims that ‘cooperating with’ her captor saved her life.
Abby Hernandez was just 14 when she was abducted while walking home from school in North Conway, New Hampshire, leaving the police completely stumped as to what had occurred.
The search in 2013 turned into one of the largest in the history of the state, as the community struggled to comprehend the fate of the Kennett High School first-year student. What they didn’t realise was that the responsibility rested solely with one local man.
The chilling truth was that Nathaniel Kibby had kidnapped Abby and hidden her just 30 miles north of Conway, keeping her captive in a storage container where she suffered relentless sexual abuse and torture.
Speaking to ABC, Abby said her survival instincts kicked in immediately after she was taken: “I remember thinking to myself ”Okay, I got to work with this guy’. I said (to him) ‘I don’t judge you for this. If you let me go, I won’t tell anybody about this’.”, reports the Mirror US.
Nathaniel Kibby, 34, was jailed for up to 90 years(Image: New Hampshire Attorney General/Handout via Reuters)
“I remember I never said ‘amen’ in my mind,” Abby said. “I never wanted to end my prayers because I didn’t want God to leave me. I just really wanted to live.”
Abby strategically formed a connection with her kidnapper. “I told him: ‘Look, you don’t seem like a bad person. Like, everybody makes mistakes. If you let me go, I won’t tell anybody about this’.”
This approach proved successful, and he grew more comfortable with her presence, even permitting her to produce counterfeit currency within his property.
She explained: “Part of how I gained his trust, I guess, was… I went along with whatever he wanted to do.”
Clinical psychologist Rebecca Bailey reckons Abby’s strategy was extraordinary.
She said: “It’s amazing that she was strategising. It is, again, very remarkable and, again, speaks of her ability to get out of her terror state and problem-solve.”
The tactic would prove invaluable for Abby when her captor started providing her with books to read, and one day, she stumbled upon her captor’s name scribbled in a cookbook he had handed her.
“I said, ‘Who’s Nate Kibby?’ And he just kind of breathed and he said ‘How do you know my name?'”.
Abby returned in exactly the same clothes she dissapeared in
Eventually, months later Kibby freed Abby fearing police were about to turn up at his property due to a counterfeiting probe.
Lauren Munday, who claimed she had encountered Kibby online, said he handed her three $50 notes to help cover a hotel room, telling police she discovered one of the notes was dodgy.
Munday told 20/20: “So, I told him, ‘Whatever you’re ——- making in your damn basement, you better clean it up right now, because they are coming for your —.”
Kibby made Abby vow not to disclose his identity to anyone, then drove her back to North Conway and freed her where she was snatched nine months earlier and she walked the remaining mile to her mother’s house in the exact clothes she left in. “I remember looking up and laughing, just being so happy,” Abby said.
“Oh my God, this actually happened. I’m a free person. I never thought it would happen to me, but I’m free.”
Abby told the police of Kibby’s name and whereabouts, leading to his guilty plea on seven felony counts, including kidnapping and sexual assault. He is now serving a life sentence of 45 to 90 years outside of New Hampshire.
“If I were going to write a textbook about how victims should deal with abductions… the first chapter would be about Abby,” stated former FBI profiler and ABC News consultant Brad Garrett. “It’s always about bonding to the bad guy.”
Despite admitting that her captivity changed her, Abby also acknowledges the new perspective on life it has given her: “Every time I go outside now, I really try to appreciate sunlight and fresh air. It really went in my lungs differently… I really try to never take that for granted.
“Just don’t lose hope… even when you feel like you’ve lost everything, hope is something that nobody can take away from you. And just keep that. And it’ll keep you going.”