A member of a county library board in Arkansas has been taken into custody, accused of orchestrating the kidnapping of her 22-year-old daughter, who has developmental delays, as a supposed “safety lesson.”
According to arrest affidavits, Tammi Hamby, along with three others, was charged on Wednesday with conspiring to commit kidnapping and for endangering the welfare of an incompetent person, as reported by KHBS.
Jeffrey Hamby, Tammi’s husband, who is not currently facing charges, expressed his surprise at the situation, stating that he only learned of the kidnapping plan after it happened. He criticized the authorities for arresting his wife.
“Our intention was to educate her about potential dangers, but instead, my wife was arrested,” Jeffrey Hamby remarked. “I am prepared to spend all my resources to support my wife and those who were trying to assist my daughter.”
Despite claiming ignorance of the plan, Jeffrey Hamby detailed the events leading up to the staged kidnapping to KHBS, explaining that it was meant as a cautionary measure for their daughter.
“For six months, an online predator has manipulated my special needs daughter, convincing her that he is the country singer Luke Bryan,” he explained. “She has been completely taken in by this deception, and we have been unable to break her belief.”
“These two young men who Jamie didn’t know were pretending to be with Luke Bryan, and they came to pick Jamie up because they had arranged that,” he said. “The first words out of my daughter’s mouth, I’ve got video of this, was, ‘I thought it was tomorrow you were supposed to be here.’ And they said, ‘Sorry, but Luke sent us today. It’s now or never.’ She gets in the car with them, with her guitar and her teddy bear, and goes with them willingly.”
Jeffrey Hamby did not say what, if any, other measures his wife considered before deciding on a kidnapping.
According to the arrest affidavits, Tammi Hamby orchestrated the kidnapping with nursing assistant Shannon Childers and friends David Quach and Nico Austria.
Investigators found the young woman in fear of her life on November 17 with with her hands zip-tied together tied to a tree in a field. She was clinging to her teddy bear as she described what happened.
Crawford County Sheriff Daniel Perry recused himself from the investigation because of his person relationship with the Hambys. Chief Deputy Brad Wiley spoke to KHBS, questioning how the Hambys could consider what happened a lesson.
“How would she understand? How could she differentiate between reality and a prank?” Wiley said. “I don’t understand how you could teach anybody anything through trauma, especially a crime or kidnapping. It doesn’t stand to reason.”
The daughter was placed in protective custody by te state. According to court records, Tammi Hamby was given a $125,000 bond, while Quach, Austria, and Childers were given bonds of $25,000.
Hamby resigned from her post with the Crawford County Library Board a week after the incident, saying in her resignation letter she was moving out of the county.
