- NEWS RELEASE -

Date: January 3, 2006

Subject: Internet girlfriend's abduction hoax draws jail time, restitution

A Kentucky woman who told police she had been raped and left in a ditch near the Kansas City International Airport will spend 10 days in jail and pay the costs of the search for her. Laura E. Crews, 18, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, pled guilty January 3 to filing a false report on September 17, 2005 after she told police she had been abducted, raped, stabbed, shot, and left for dead along the highway.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said, “The defendant was wrong to tell this story to her Internet boyfriend. But to waste the time of police officers and public safety officials from eight different agencies by lying to police over and over is a crime.”

Crews pled guilty in Platte County Associate Circuit Court. The court imposed the sentence recommended by Zahnd’s office, which includes 10 days in jail, payment of $2994 for the search, 100 hours of community service, and a mental health evaluation. Crews will also be required to complete two years of probation to be supervised in Kentucky.

According to Zahnd, officers with the Platte County Sheriff’s Department spoke with Crews for several hours on September 17. She repeatedly told them she had been kidnapped, raped, stabbed, and shot. She also said she had been dumped along the side of the highway by her abductors.

Crews was supposed to arrive at KCI Airport that night to meet a boyfriend she had met on the Internet. When she did not arrive, the boyfriend spoke with Crews on her cell phone.

Crews told him she had been kidnapped from the airport and raped. The boyfriend’s mother then called police to report the alleged abduction.

The resulting search for Crews involved eight law enforcement agencies and other emergency personnel. The agencies involved included the Platte County Sheriff’s Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Kansas City Police Department, the Kansas City Airport Police, the Kansas City and Central Platte Fire Departments, ambulances from MAST and Northland Regional Ambulance District.

In addition, air traffic around KCI Airport was diverted during the search to allow a helicopter from the Kansas City Police Department to search an area near the airport.

Zahnd said, “This hoax diverted officers who otherwise would have been keeping the rest of us safe. It tied up air traffic around the airport. I hope she thinks about the impact of this crime with every restitution check she writes.”

Investigators became suspicious of Crews after she refused to dial 911 so officers could pinpoint the location of her call. Later that night, they determined Crews’ phone call had originated from Nicholasville, Kentucky.

An officer from the Nicholasville, Kentucky Police Department then went to Crews’ residence. Crews continued to tell her story to Platte County officers until the Nicholasville officer arrived at her residence and determined Crews had been safe in her home the entire evening.

The case was investigated by the Platte County Sheriff’s Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Amy Ashelford.