the.com/kidnapper
Someone who unlawfully seizes and holds another person against their will, often to extort money or demands.
means Someone who seizes and holds a person against their will, usually to extort money or force some demand.
from Built from 'kid' (slang for a child) plus 'nap,' an old variant of 'nab,' meaning to snatch or seize — related to the dialect word 'nap' meaning to steal. The word surfaced in the 1600s–1700s tied to the grim trade of stealing children (and sometimes adults) to sell as servants or laborers in the American colonies. The 'kid' stuck even after the crime expanded well beyond children.
- legal origin
- from kid plus nap, old slang for steal
- ransom math
- most are caught contacting victims families
- common reality
- usually knows the victim personally
- movie myth
- strangers in vans are statistically rare