Trio accused of wild plot to kidnap Mennonite children now fight to stay in Scotland
One night in 2018, as darkness settled on acres of neatly tended farmland in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, two men and a woman approached the steps of a Mennonite family’s home armed with a .45-caliber pistol.
Within seconds, prosecutors said, the trio had forced their way inside, tied up the father in the basement and gone in search of his two daughters — a 2-year-old and 8-month-old who were sleeping upstairs. His wife, in a frenzy, grabbed their cordless phone and fled into a cornfield, where prosecutors said she called 911.
When law enforcement arrived a few minutes later, she was reportedly standing outside with two of the suspects — a man and a woman.
In a tale of several unexplained twists, they were never arrested. Instead, the government said, the pair escaped to Scotland with another woman who had been waiting for them in Maryland. Left to the take the fall for the failed kidnapping was the man holding the Mennonite father hostage in the basement.
More than three years later, the trio who fled are stuck in a drawn-out battle for their freedom — which hit a road block recently, when Scotland’s supreme criminal court denied their appeal seeking to block extradition to the U.S.
“I am grateful to see the extradition process proceeding,” U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said in a Jan. 31 news release. “This community was shocked when these events occurred and the underlying plot was uncovered. Although we expect further appeals, the Department of Justice will never stop working to bring those charged back to the United States to face justice.”
Prosecutors said 41-year-old Valerie Perfect Hayes, her boyfriend, 58-year-old Gary Blake Reburn, and friend, 36-year-old Jennifer Lynn Amnott, face a slew of kidnapping, witness tampering and firearm offenses if they are ever returned to the U.S.
None could be reached for comment, and information regarding their defense attorneys was not immediately available.
Jennifer Amnott’s husband, Frank Jesse Amnott, was arrested on the night the others escaped. He pleaded guilty in December 2019 to conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiring to kill a witness and brandishing a firearm in a crime of violence.
Court filings show Frank Amnott has not yet been sentenced.
“Frank Jesse Amnott is being held in federal custody and is anxiously awaiting his sentencing date,” a defense attorney appointed to represent him told McClatchy News on Feb. 2. “The news of the extradition is welcomed as it signifies that the time is nearing for Frank’s opportunity to explain particulars that he has not yet been able to discuss.”
‘Bring our son’
The Amnotts, who lived in Florida, first met Hayes in 2015, according to court documents. They reportedly became such close friends that they shared matching tattoos on their arms.
Prosecutors said Hayes, who lived in Maryland, held herself out as a member of the intelligence community with various advanced degrees who was employed by MI6, the United Kingdom’s foreign intelligence service. The Amnotts, meanwhile, were trying to start a family but had not succeeded after several miscarriages.
Frank Amnott told federal investigators that Hayes claimed she could help.
At one point, she told them she had a child they could adopt — a baby she was carrying, prosecutors said. Then, shortly before her due date, the Amnotts were told Hayes had been stabbed and lost the baby. Hayes had reportedly fought back by stabbing and killing the attacker. About a year later, court documents state, she sent them what she said were the baby’s cremated ashes in the mail.
Sometime in 2018, prosecutors said, Hayes told the Amnotts that three of her children had been kidnapped and were living with Mennonites in Virginia along with several other kids. If they helped her get them back, she reportedly promised the couple they could keep a child in exchange.
According to court documents, Hayes said her kids were named Ronan, Zippy and Leona. Ronan was living in a Mennonite family’s home with a baby girl, she said, while Zippy and Leona lived with a little boy at a second family’s house. Hayes offered the little boy to the Amnotts, who they wanted to call Caleb.
The five children lived in the small community of Dayton, Virginia, home to roughly 1,500 people — many of them members of the Old Order Mennonite community, according to the town website.
Prosecutors said the group exchanged thousands of text messages in which they referred to the children as “my” or “our” babies — despite having no discernible connection to them — and discussed buying them clothing and going on shopping trips.
On the morning of the foiled kidnapping attempt, Jennifer Amnott reportedly told her husband, “Just make sure you come home. And please bring our son.”
A botched kidnapping
Hayes looped in her boyfriend, Reburn, a former high school lacrosse coach, to help with the kidnapping, prosecutors said. Hayes, Reburn and Frank Amnott spent a few days surveilling the Mennonite families beforehand, using drones and even breaking into one of the residences while the family was at church, court documents state.
They discussed drugging the children to get them out of the house quietly, the government said, and they intended to shoot and kill their parents to eliminate any witnesses.
Hayes, Reburn and Frank Amnott planned to hit both homes while the fathers were out milking the cows in the early morning, according to court filings. Prosecutors said they planned to “secure” the children before executing the parents, starting with the home where Ronan was reportedly being held.
Frank Amnott later told investigators that plot failed when a hired hand showed up to help with the milking, and they decided to strike at night instead. His wife remained at Hayes’ house in Maryland watching her other children, prosecutors said.
On July 29, 2018, sometime between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m., the trio reportedly approached the first house with Hayes disguised as a Mennonite woman. They forced their way in, bringing the father to the basement where they tied his hands.
“God is in control,” he reportedly said.
“This gun is in control,” Reburn said in response, according to court documents.
Frank Amnott stayed with the father in the basement while Hayes and Reburn went to kidnap the two children, prosecutors said. The wife, however, escaped and was able to call law enforcement.
Hayes and Reburn reportedly went after her in their car. When they pulled up alongside her, she didn’t recognize them as the intruders and got inside, the government said. By the time they took her back to the house, law enforcement had arrived.
The woman later told investigators she was scared Hayes and Reburn would shoot the deputy if she told him they were the intruders. According to court documents, the deputy then asked the pair to take the woman to the Krossroads Kountry Store down the road for safety, which they did, before fleeing.
Frank Amnott, meanwhile, was still in the basement with his gun trained on the Mennonite father. Prosecutors said he lowered the weapon when law enforcement arrived and was arrested without incident.
Fleeing to Scotland
Text messages show Jennifer Amnott texted Hayes two days later on July 31, 2018, that she was “boarded.”
“See you soon in Glasgow,” Hayes reportedly replied.
Following Frank Amnott’s arrest, investigators were able to identify the other suspects by tracing his phone call from jail to his wife and submitting search warrants to cell phone carriers for their phone numbers. They interviewed the Amnott’s family in Florida, and a witness described in court documents as Hayes’ ex-husband eventually came forward to say he had visited them in the UK. Court filings show he relayed what they told him about the kidnapping plot to investigators.
Hayes, Reburn and Jennifer Amnott were charged in November 2018 with eight counts of conspiring to commit kidnapping, kidnapping, attempted kidnapping and brandishing a gun in a crime of violence. Prosecutors filed a request for extradition shortly thereafter.
Federal charges against Frank Amnott followed in May 2019, court documents show.
Hayes, Reburn and Amnott have fought the government’s bid for extradition, appealing a lower court’s decision in Scotland finding they should be sent back to the U.S. to face charges.
Their argument in defense rested on the severity of their sentence — life in prison — if they are convicted, saying the sentence was disproportionate to the crime.
But they lost that fight on Friday, Jan. 28, at the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland.
“There will no doubt be some cases in which it can be said that a sentence is grossly disproportionate,” a Scottish judge said in his opinion denying their appeal. “This is not one of them.”
It wasn’t clear if the trio will face immediate extradition, as prosecutors said future appeals are “possible.” They are currently in custody in Scotland, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Virginia said.
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 12:43 PM with the headline "Trio accused of wild plot to kidnap Mennonite children now fight to stay in Scotland."
