You do know the odds are astronomical against any of that happening?
Really not trying to be snarky, but astronomical.
eeehhh... I'm not so sure I'd personally classify it as "astronomically high":
Kidnapping Statistics
The rate of reported missing children in the United States is 11.4 per 1,000 (Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children, October 2002; National Crime Information Center)
Of the 800,000 children reported missing annually, approximately 69,000 are abducted:
Non-family abductions account for 12,000 of these reported cases (18 percent)
Of non-family abductions, 37 percent are by a stranger
(Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children, October 2002)
Of child victims of "stereotypical kidnappings, "40 percent are killed, 4 percent are never found, 71 percent are by a stranger and 29 percent are by a slight acquaintance. (Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children, October 2002)
Of non-family abductions, 32 percent take place on a street or in a car and 25 percent take place in a park or wooded area. The percentage of abducted children taken to another location totals 75 percent. These locations include: vehicle (45 percent), perpetrator's home (28 percent), building (13 percent) (Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children, October 2002)
In 46 percent of non-family abductions, the child was sexually assaulted. In 31 percent of the cases the child was physically assaulted. In 40 percent of the cases, the perpetrator used a weapon (Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children, October 2002)
In 80% of abductions by strangers, the first contact occurs within a quarter mile of the child's home. In many cases, the abduction does, too. - 1990 U.S. Justice Dept.(Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children, October 2002)
In 1988 there were as many as 114,600 attempted abductions of children by non-family members, 4,600 abductions by non-family members reported to police, and 300 abductions by non-family members where the children were gone for long periods of time or were murdered. There were as many as 354,000 children abducted by family members, 450,700 children who ran away, 127,100 children who were thrown away, and 438,200 children who were lost, injured or otherwise missing. - 1990 U.S. Justice Dept.
Each year 3,600 to 4,200 children are abducted by someone outside the family; 1/2 of them are age 12 or older; 2/3 are female; at least 19% of these abductors are not strangers to their victims. -Finklehor, p. 10. *The chance of a minor being kidnapped by a stranger is 1 in 560, by a family member 1 in 180. - Discover Magazine as reported by Gannett News Service 5/28/96.
I feel I am qualified to say that Nerf footballs are made of light sponge material (similar to the kind of man made sponge you might use in the shower) and they are meant for indoor use. The fact they are so soft and light presumably means they will not break anything - which is not true grrrr. I think the reporter said the football was taken as a potential scent item? Because they are so porous and spongy I can't see that it would be any use for fingerprints, but may be ok for DNA or traces from sweaty hands.
