Should this woman be charged with a crime?

I was just watching Missing Persons Unit which featured a woman who disappeared for 17 years. She had some financial problems so she staged her disappearance. She even left a ransom note behind. The police found her in Florida eventually. She was charged with filing a police report and fined. I think she should be charged with a crime. Valuable resources were spent just because she did not have the courage to come clean to her family.

NO, I don't think she should be charged with a crime!!! YES, I think she should be responsible for the expenditures it took to look for her!!! All I know at this point is how the press has perceived this case & I think you know me well enough to know I'm NOT that impressed with most press coverage!!! When I first saw this on the news, I thought what a rotten person. Then after she was found, her husband spoke with the press & said anybody could make a mistake & he forgave her. The look in his eyes reminded me of my first husband & suddenly I NO longer looked at the rotten side of this woman. My thoughts were "What if... ...he abused her & she just couldn't take it any more??? ...he had told her, you leave e & I'll kill you??? ...he told her...you'll NEVER take my baby away from me. You can leave, but you will NOT take my baby??? ...he knew where she was ALL the time & just waiting for the cops to bring her home??? My ex would hug me in public & say "I love you" loud enough for everybody to hear & then whisper to me "I'll beat your asss when I get you home" if I did ANYTHING he didn't like. Anything could be smiling or saying hello at a time he didn't like. Maybe her parents didn't see this in her husband & she feared they would tell him where she was!!! There are SOOOOO many unanswered questions, I don't know why she did what she did. I do know the police department said they couldn't come up with a crime to charge her with , but they do plan on her reimbursing the department the $5,000 it spent looking for her. $5,000 does NOT equate to hundreds of hours. So, there is a LOT here that reeks of smelly fish!!! I'm sure we'll NEVER know the true story, but I still don't think she deserves to be charged with anything nor spend any time in jail for running away from home. If they do decide to prosecute, just think of the tax dollars wasted on such a frivolous case!!!

I think that she could be charged with child abandonment at the least, and if she took money out of her husband's own checking and saving account, with theft. It depends on whether she took some of the property that both her and her husband shared. Since they were not divorced, that would be most likely. Unfortunately I do not think that the crime of alienation of affection is still on the books for today.

Yes, she should be charged. She misled the police and distracted them from working on REAL crimes. She cost the taxpayers who knows how much for all the hours of searching they did. She caused her family emotional distress. She abandoned her child. She should have to pay for the whole dam expense!

Hi, dragon54u. This is a big mess here! How can she just leave her family to run off with some man? This is pitiful! And I here I am thinking that she murdered or just kidnapped.. I tell you, this woman is very wrong for what she did. I think that she should be expected to pay back any money that was used for the search purposes to find her. She put this on her own self. This was very careless of her to up and leave her family. She has a child that is still an infant.. And her husband was probably worried sick about her. Shame on this woman! It does not play to commit adultery!

Gosh, it's funny how love can make a person act so stupidly! Look at it this way: If someone picks up the phone and calls the bomb squad and tells them that there is a bomb in a building, and the bomb squad move in, preparing all their equipment and calling in all their experts and all their manpower, and they go to the building and start searching it from bottom to top, and then right at the top, they find a woman standing there and laughing, and she tells them that it was just a joke, there is no bomb... Is that a crime? would the woman be liable to pay the city for all the the work it took to search the building for a non-existent bomb? I think so. And I think that is EXACTLY what this woman did... she played a joke or prank on the police (even if she consciously didn't do it intentionally). And the same punishment for a prankster should be applicable to her. Look on the reverse side... what if while the police was busy with this manhunt, real crimes were taking place and there were not enough policemen to handle them because they were all looking for this 'lost' woman? I think she should be held responsible for her actions, so that it will also serve as an example to others.

If she knew that the police was involved, she should have gotten a hold of them and let them know. I don't think she should be in trouble for leaving, but if she was aware there was alerts out about her missing, she should have to repay some of the expenses.

This is weird, suing someone for the expenses of their police department. I don't think she should be charged for this, but I do think that the woman has to do some legal action because she is still married.

I don't think she should be charged with a crime but I do think she should be held accountable for the costs incurred in the manhunt (womanhunt?). It was morally and ethically wrong for her to leave without a word and then hide when she knew they were looking for her. It's obvious that she didn't care at all about those she left behind since she so easily abandoned her own baby. I can't imagine leaving your own child behind! I hope her husband nails her in court!

Could she be charged with child abandonment since she left her with the child's father but didn't tell him she was leaving?

yes especially since she had a small child to be concerned with. she should have left a note or something. how stupid. she should have to do community services and pay a few dollars a week or month back to the authorities for the search bill. its not about wanting to get away. she should have concidered leaving some sort of explaination to someone even if it wasnt her husband.

Hiii there dragon Well it think so yes.she should be fines and that man as well.There should be alert for him as well.so both of them should be fined as police wasted their lot of time for searching them. But she should not be punish for adulatory.Its not the crime and people shuld not be punish for such a reason.

When I see the first two lines, I thought that the woman is missing for kidnapping. I could not understand why the woman adopt such kind of means to run away. It is illegal for such behaviour from the morality. A person can not disappear in the community without any reason. From the perspective of the law, I don't think the woman should be charged with a crime as there is not written record in the regulation. Now her lover and she are discoverred and she would deserve the moral punishment. If she did not get along well with her hub, why not just have a divorce to end up the relationship.

This is ridiculous, she should be charged. I am sensing a psychological problem here, no one in their right mind would be leaving their baby at home to run off with another man. I can never understand how people can do that, maybe I am biased since I was left at the hospital by my birth mother who lied on every document she signed, but that's so cruel. Charge her! let her pay!

I dont think she or they should be charged with a crime since one really wasnt committed from what i can see BUT I think that a lawsuit may be a possibility...I mean what CRIME did she commit really? Yes she sucks as a wife, mother, woman and human being but none of htose things are illegal ya know

Yes I do and I also think she should have to pay every penny back for the costs incurred searching for her. What a nasty piece of work she must be!

This really depends...was she so afraid of her husband that she was afraid to tell him of her plans? Was he abusive? THere has to be more to this story than they are saying////

Definitely and they should also throw her in jail and throw away the key. She needs to be taught a good lesson. So does the man she ran away with. She wants to run away with her lover,fine, but then she should have left a note or called the police to let them know so that everyone knew what she had done. But to disappear and worry so many people is inexcusable. Sorry but I have no pity for such stupid and insensitive people and selfish people!

State is maintaining police force on taxpayer's money. She did not invite them to come after her; they went looking for her because they wanted to know whether a crime is involved. After they found her, they found she has not done anything wrong. She left on her own accord and I think adultery is a crime, only in a Muslim country. Police and prosecutors are wrong in leveling a charge against her.

Isn't wasting government or state dollars a crime? In any case she shoud foot the bill for irresponsibility. How hard is it to contact your local police dep't when one chooses to adandon your family so they have a head's up?