A Chinese exchange student in Utah who vanished last week was the victim of an international “cyber kidnapping,” according to police.
Kai Zhuang was found by search teams on Sunday “alive but very cold and scared,” according to a press release issued Dec. 31 by Riverdale City Police Chief Casey Warren.
Zhuang was “isolating himself at the direction of the kidnappers in a tent” in a wooded area, the release says. He had “no heat source inside the tent, only a heat blanket, a sleeping bag, limited food and water and several phones that were presumed to be used to carry out the cyber kidnapping.”
“The victim only wanted to speak to his family to ensure they were safe and requested a warm cheeseburger, both of which were accomplished on the way back to Riverdale PD,” it says.
Zhuang was reported missing on Dec. 28, when his parents in China contacted his high school with a photograph “of their child that would indicate he was abducted,” according to the release. The parents said the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of $80,000, the release states.
The FBI briefed Riverdale cops on “a disturbing criminal trend called cyber kidnapping,” the release says.
“Cyber kidnappers have been targeting foreign exchange students, in particular Chinese foreign exchange students,” it says. “The kidnappers threaten the young foreign exchange students and their family, and they demand ransom. They tell them to isolate themselves and they monitor them through Facetime calls and/or Skype. The cyber kidnappers convince the victim under duress to take photos of themselves that make it appear they are being held captive and send the photos to their parents. The victims comply out of fear that their families will be harmed if they don’t comply.”
When investigators showed up at the home where Zhuang was living in Riverdale, his host family said they were unaware he was missing, according to the press release. He had been home the night before, and the host family heard him that morning, and there were no signs he had been forcefully abducted.
By the time he vanished, Zhuang had already been under the cyber kidnappers’ control for eight days, police believe. Cops dove into bank records and cellphone pings. They also investigated an unexplained purchase of camping equipment and a recent incident in Provo, about 70 miles away, in which concerned police officers intervened when they spotted a person who turns out to have been Zhuang attempting to set up a campsite.
They followed those clues to the Brigham City Canyon area and launched a search on the ground and in the air. Eventually, a Riverdale PD sergeant who was hiking up a mountainside within the search area came across Zhuang’s tent. He was “relieved to see police,” the release says.
“I want foreign exchange students to know they can trust the police to protect them and to work with police to ensure their safety as well as their family’s safety abroad,” Warren said in the release.
The investigation is ongoing. Riverdale City PD officials did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment on Monday.
