Story Archive

Stranger Than Stranger Danger

According to police, a 6-year-old boy was abducted in Lincoln County, Mo. Nathan Firoved, 23, waited for the boy to get off the bus after school, then allegedly lured him into his truck where he blindfolded the boy. Firoved told the boy, the child says, he would “never see his mommy again” and would be “nailed to the wall of a shed.” When the boy wouldn’t stop crying, Firoved allegedly bound his hands and feet with plastic bags and covered his face with a jacket. He then took the boy to a house, where Denise Kroutil, 38, allegedly removed the child’s pants and told him he could be sold into slavery. According to police, he was held for an undetermined amount of time and then released. The incident wasn’t discovered until the boy told his school about it. Police then arrested Firoved and Kroutil — the boy’s aunt. They also arrested the mother, Elizabeth Hupp, 25, and grandmother, Rose Brewer, 58. The four allegedly staged the abduction because the boy was “too nice” and needed to be taught about staying away from strangers. The four were jailed and the boy was taken into protective custody. (MS/St. Louis Post-Dispatch) ...Where he’ll learn that strangers can be nicer than your own family.