TN TN - Kristie Slater, 5, abducted from Chattanooga and returned, 13 Dec 1969

shadowangel · Aug 23, 2005

Red-haired, freckle-faced five year-old Kristie Lyn Slater disappeared from a shopping mall in Chattanooga, TN, on Saturday, Dec 13th, 1969. She was shopping with her mother in JC Penney's when, according to the mother, "I turned to look at some merchandise and when I turned back she was gone". THe FBI initiated a nation-wide hunt for the young girl.
On Monday evening, Dec 15th, 1969, Kristie was found wondering around a dep't store in an Atlanta, GA surburb. The only information she could give about her ordeal was that she was taken by a white male driving a car "a little bigger than daddy's" (a domestic mid-size station wagon).
This is ALL the info I can find. Googling reveals nothing. If anyone can find more information on the kidnapper, please post.

Paradise · Aug 27, 2005

I'm not pointing fingers...but where was Franklin Floyd in 1969?

shadowangel · Aug 28, 2005

Floyd was in prison. From '68 to '71, Floyd was in the state pen in Reidsville, GA. From there he was transferred to the federal pen in Atlanta, GA. Strange how things keep coming back to the Atlanta area though, huh....

Paradise · Aug 28, 2005

Yeah really...

But I find it really funny that she was just left wandering at another mall. I wonder why whoever abducted her left her there?

shadowangel · Aug 28, 2005

Its strange, the case was all over the newspapers when she was abducted, but after the report of her return there is absolutely nothing. This person, if not caught, most likely committed other similar crimes. Does it seem most likely that he went out of state to grab a victim and then returned to more familiar surroundings?

Paradise · Aug 29, 2005

If this person stuck once they had to have at least attempted to abduct other children...I wonder if they did and it hasn't been connected.

shadowangel · Sep 2, 2005

I did find this, which probably has nothing to do with the Slater case but was interesting to me nonetheless...

On Sept 14th, 1971, 7 year-old Dawn Sherman was kidnapped on her way home from school in Philadelphia. She was located on Sept 22 "strolling" down a street in Madawaska, ME, with her kidnapper, 37 year-old Lawrence Offer, an unemployed handyman. The two evidently knew each other from the neighborhood. Offer had taken Dawn, along with other children, on day-trips to local amusments. During the 8 days she was missing, Offer took Dawn "sight-seeing", even going so far as to send the family a postcard from NYC. Together, the two travelled nearly 1,000 miles in the eight days. "She was like my own child", Offer was quoted as saying. Police reported there were no signs she had been mistreated. Offer had given Dawn's younger brother a dollar and told him to "go away" so he could abduct Dawn. He was convicted of her kidnapping.

Paradise · Sep 2, 2005

All the more reason parents should keep a closer eye on who their kids talk to. I know this happened in 1971 but just the other week there was that story of the girl who was like 13 or 14 and she ran off with a guy that was 20 something. The parents definitely could've prevented it.

bugaboo · Sep 2, 2005

shadowangel said:
I did find this, which probably has nothing to do with the Slater case but was interesting to me nonetheless...

On Sept 14th, 1971, 7 year-old Dawn Sherman was kidnapped on her way home from school in Philadelphia. She was located on Sept 22 "strolling" down a street in Madawaska, ME, with her kidnapper, 37 year-old Lawrence Offer, an unemployed handyman. The two evidently knew each other from the neighborhood. Offer had taken Dawn, along with other children, on day-trips to local amusments. During the 8 days she was missing, Offer took Dawn "sight-seeing", even going so far as to send the family a postcard from NYC. Together, the two travelled nearly 1,000 miles in the eight days. "She was like my own child", Offer was quoted as saying. Police reported there were no signs she had been mistreated. Offer had given Dawn's younger brother a dollar and told him to "go away" so he could abduct Dawn. He was convicted of her kidnapping.

Oh my gosh! I don't know if anyone else is familiar with northern Maine, but Madawaska is far! There is a border crossing into Canada there. It takes me about 10-12 hours to get there from CT. Very few people go there unless they are from the area originally. Wow.

Lisahas2cats · Dec 21, 2006

I know this is a really old thread, but where did the information in the original post come from? Was it from a Chattanooga newspaper, or some other source?

Thanks!
Lisa

Boyz_Mum · Dec 22, 2006

Paradise said:
I'm not pointing fingers...but where was Franklin Floyd in 1969?

I just saw this thread and I didn't think of FF, but wonder where Otis Toole was at this time?

So glad that Kristie was returned unharmed!

Kymistry35 · Dec 22, 2006

Paradise said:
All the more reason parents should keep a closer eye on who their kids talk to. I know this happened in 1971 but just the other week there was that story of the girl who was like 13 or 14 and she ran off with a guy that was 20 something. The parents definitely could've prevented it.

I don't think the parents could prevent it at all. You can forbid your child from talking to or being around whoever you wish, but if they want to see that person, they will find a way!

Boyz_Mum · Dec 22, 2006

teonspaleprincess said:
I don't think the parents could prevent it at all. You can forbid your child from talking to or being around whoever you wish, but if they want to see that person, they will find a way!

I understand what you are saying to a certain extent, teens can be very tricky when they want something or someone. I do think that as parents though we can just pay closer attention to some of our kids activities and prevent some of these things from happening.

With the particular crime on this thread, I don't think abduction was even something most parents thought of when shopping or otherwise. Today I cringe when I see unattended children at the store.

KarlK · Feb 7, 2007

bugaboo said:
Oh my gosh! I don't know if anyone else is familiar with northern Maine, but Madawaska is far! There is a border crossing into Canada there. It takes me about 10-12 hours to get there from CT. Very few people go there unless they are from the area originally. Wow.

I actually lived in Madawaska between 1970 and 1975. It's a one-company town of about 5,000 but looks bigger because there's a larger city called Edmundston on the Canadian side of the border. My father was an engineer and he was sent there to supervise the installation of a new boiler at the pulp and paper mill. It's a typical small town where nothing ever happens so the Dawn Sherman story was a big deal, adults used it for years to frighten us kids into not staying out late. I was the same age as Dawn and so were most of my friends so it impressed us quite a bit.

Madawaska's a 5-hour drive from Boston via US1 and I-95. It's hard to believe it takes you 10-12 hours to get there from CT though, you must be driving quite slow!

AMP1979 · Jan 19, 2009

This is an ancient thread, but I ran across this case while researching Mary Little's case. Here is a newspaper story from the UPI after she was found. This is an article from before she was found.

Floyd was apparently in prison when this girl was abducted and ended up in Atlanta- but what the hell was going on in Atlanta? Floyd was based here, and poor little Sharon Marshall spent part of her life here. Kristie was found in an Atlanta mall just a few years after Mary Little disappeared.

I wish I could find WHAT mall she was found at in Atlanta. The articles just say she was found at a Rich's Department store in a mall. Rich's had branches at Lennox Square, Cobb Center, Belvedere, Greenbriar, North Dekalb, and South Dekalb in 1969.

There's just something that seems hinky about Atlanta in the late sixties.

bugaboo · May 2, 2009

KarlK said:
I actually lived in Madawaska between 1970 and 1975. It's a one-company town of about 5,000 but looks bigger because there's a larger city called Edmundston on the Canadian side of the border. My father was an engineer and he was sent there to supervise the installation of a new boiler at the pulp and paper mill. It's a typical small town where nothing ever happens so the Dawn Sherman story was a big deal, adults used it for years to frighten us kids into not staying out late. I was the same age as Dawn and so were most of my friends so it impressed us quite a bit.

Madawaska's a 5-hour drive from Boston via US1 and I-95. It's hard to believe it takes you 10-12 hours to get there from CT though, you must be driving quite slow!

My grandmother lived in St.Francis, so I just based it on that. Mapquest puts Madawaska at about 9.5 hours from me. After Houlton it's all a blur anyway.

MrsTigglesworth · Nov 5, 2013

I just found this article about the man who kidnapped Kristie. I actually found this while looking at the Kathy Jones case. Kathy was abducted the same day as Glenda Sirmans a few hours apart, and I saw an old article that mentioned both Kristie and Glenda together. The man arrested for Kristie's kidnapping "says" he has kidnapped 20 people and killed three teenagers (one in tennessee) so I just wanted to mention it.

The article is from 1993:

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-06-29/news/1993180046_1_kidnapping-ohio-girl-columbus

snippit below

"In May 1970, he was arrested by the FBI and charged with kidnapping 5-year-old Kristie Lynn Slater in Chattanooga, Tenn., and driving her to Birmingham, Ala., and finally to Atlanta. She was released there three days after the kidnapping.

After his arrest, Mr. Sherrill, described in newspaper articles as a professor and part-time construction worker, claimed to have kidnapped 20 people.

He also claimed to have killed three teen-agers, one in Maryland, one in Tennessee and one in Texas. Information was not available as to the validity of those claims."

Oh boy, ETA:

He traveled in GA TN TX KY MD OH all the way up to NY.
He died during a chase in a car stolen from Shelby Co, TN in 1993

"Molester perishes in fiery collision"
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-07-07/news/1993188002_1_kidnapping-sherrill-maryland

...One down

TN TN - Kristie Slater, 5, abducted from Chattanooga and returned, 13 Dec 1969

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