How Kayla Unbehaun's Abduction Case Ended With Her Mother's Arrest

Kayla Unbehaun didn't disappear under the most mysterious of circumstances: The 9-year-old's father, Ryan Iskerka, told police that Kayla had been taken by her mother, Heather Unbehaun.

Ryan said Kayla had spent the night with her mom on July 4, 2017, but neither of them were at Heather's home in Wheaton, Ill., when he arrived to pick his daughter up the next day per the terms of their court-issued custody schedule. 

"[Heather's] family was having dinner at her house," Ryan told WXIA's 11 Alive a year later, "and they told me she hadn't come back from a camping trip and they didn't know where she was."

A warrant was issued for Heather's arrest on suspicion of felony child abduction on July 28, 2017, according to the South Elgin, Ill., Police Department, and Kayla's name was added to the national database of missing persons.

Five years later, Kayla was still missing, and Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries took note: An age-progression image of Kayla, juxtaposed with her 9-year-old self, was one of several pictures of missing children shown toward the end of the season two episode "Abducted by a Parent," which premiered Nov. 1, 2022. Also onscreen: a photo of Heather, stamped "WANTED."

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7prvNpaCnnV6YvK57zZ6urGdhaIR4fpNuZq6mo6S5t7HDZqSyq6Sav6qx0mafqK9doK66uMBmrKealZ2utrrSZpibnKWYwaq7zWaamquVYrKvsMSdZLChpJ16qbHRZqSorJiav7R5wKupnquk