Last year, a mother, Natalie Millett, took to Facebook to share something she found terrifying. As it went viral, it kickstarted another terrifying experience, this time for the accused. In November 2025, Millett called 911, claiming that a stranger had taken her shopping cart at a Costco in Idaho Falls with her 4-week-old baby inside. Her claims recently picked up traction again when it was reposted by Crime Videos and Sailing Doodles on TikTok.
The community reacted with an interesting mix of anger and sympathy. One TikToker noted, “I’d call this a death wish.” Another mused, “he made a mistake I’ve done this a few times grabbed someone else cart once there was a purse but nothing was stolen I simply went back to the area where I had grabbed the cart so this is understandable but u never know these days that’s the problem there’s so many different types of ppl out there some good some bad..u just never know.”
According to EastIdahoNews.com, Millett told the police that she put her month-old baby and their car seat in the shopping cart when she reached Costco. While in the book section of the store, she felt a sudden urge to check on her cart and realized it was gone. She eventually found a man pushing the cart away in a nearby snack aisle. Millett confronted the man, who reportedly apologized profusely, saying, “I’ll never do that again, I promise.”
Two sides of the tale
The investigation soon zeroed in on Michael Garrison Raine, a 24-year-old BYU-Idaho student. The outlet noted that the police soon tracked the account to his roommate. When detectives interviewed Raine, he initially claimed that his trip was absolutely ordinary. However, when pressed about the incident, he said, “Oh! That! I am so sorry. I remember that now.”
Raine maintained that he was browsing books and, while distracted, accidentally grabbed the wrong cart without realizing the baby was inside. In the post, during his interrogation, he told officers, “I really must have been completely out of it. And I know that’s like, not, I don’t know that’s probably not what you want to hear, but I, I, just … I don’t know.” Raine was eventually arrested and charged with felony second-degree kidnapping.
Then the legal narrative shifted with new evidence. Local News 8 reported that Bonneville County Prosecutor Randy Neal and the Idaho Falls Police Department dropped the kidnapping charges against Raine on December 11, 2025, less than a month after the charges were filed. The decision was made after new video evidence from a different angle was made available.
Prosecutor Neal told the outlet, “There are unquestionably ethical duties of the prosecutor not to go forward on a case that doesn’t meet the legal standard. The analysis is really ‘Is there a rational basis for someone to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that they are to a moral certainty that this was a crime?’ And, I don’t think that we can say that.”
The Post Register reported that the new video footage showed Raine’s own cart was positioned immediately behind the mother’s, suggesting a potential mix-up rather than a calculated abduction. Idaho Falls Police Chief Bryce Johnson noted that while the initial evidence looked “really suspicious,” the follow-up investigation, which included a 15-point plan and re-enactments, did not support a finding of criminal intent.
“We have a fairly definitive narrative now of what happened after he turned that corner… it certainly seems inconsistent with an intent to take the baby and leave the area,” Neal concluded. However, a key aspect in how this case was investigated was Millett’s Facebook post.
“I think that we have really come to a place, on social media, where there is a lot of thoughtlessness before posting, before the facts were known, even to law enforcement,” Neal stated, per Local News 8. “We had plenty of people who had conclusions based on the most limited of information, and they were criticizing and making all kinds of statements that impacted this mother. I’m sure it impacted Mr. Raine, and that’s not our system. That’s not America.”
Per the outlets, Natalie Millett released a victim impact statement following the dismissal, expressing that she was displeased with the outcome. “My life changed significantly on 11/20/25 when my 4-week-old infant was taken by a stranger in Costco,” she wrote. “I believe it was miraculous that I ran in the right direction and recovered my baby swiftly, but the outcome could have been so different had I not listened to my intuition and impressions that day.”
“This is the way it’s supposed to work,” Johnson told Post Register. “You are innocent until proven guilty, so he has a presumption of innocence. This is how the system is designed to work.”
Published: Sep 17, 2026 02:52 pm