Woman’s holiday turns into nightmare after she is kidnapped and manages to escape – only to get abducted again, by a completely different kidnapper

An Australian traveler recently shared that she went through a terrifying ordeal in Italy. She claimed that she was kidnapped twice within the span of a few hours by two separate men. Stephanie, a 36-year-old executive from Melbourne, found herself in this nightmare situation while visiting Sicily last October.

Per the NY Post, Stephanie stayed behind after her friends returned home from their European trip. She had been drawn to the region to explore Italy’s famous one-euro house programs, which offer dilapidated properties for a symbolic price. On TikTok and Instagram, Stephanie has built a community around her DIY and renovation work, and in a video, she admitted that an Italian house was a dream. She also stayed to enjoy kiteboarding in Lo Stagnone, near Marsala.

While in the area, she reportedly attended a meet-up with fellow kiteboarders. The gathering initially seemed harmless, but it quickly turned dangerous when she accepted a ride from a foreign expat who was part of the group. She expected to head to another bar, but the driver allegedly sped away from their companions instead.

The car ride was just the beginning

“I got into the car, and he starts driving. We go 300 meters (about 984 ft), 400 meters (about 1312 ft); and he says, ‘let’s see if we can get this car to 160,’” she claimed. When she asked for clarification, the situation escalated rapidly. “And I’m like, ‘Sorry, what?’ He starts driving faster and faster, and I’m like, ‘No, please don’t. I want to get out.’”

According to NY Post, the driver ignored her pleas. “I’m terrified. So I start pleading, begging, and the car goes faster. Screaming, yelling, and the car goes faster. And these are small Sicilian roads.” Earlier this year, an Ohio man abducted a dealership employee by driving away with her in the car. 

As reported by The Mirror US, Stephanie eventually went silent and managed to text her location to her kiteboard instructor. Steph noted that a friend of the driver was in the passenger seat and seemed confused about the situation. When the passenger asked if everyone was coming back to the driver’s place, Steph claimed that the driver insisted that nobody was following them. According to Steph, they traveled about 12 kilometers, or 7 miles. 

That is when the vehicle pulled into a gated compound. Realizing the man’s passenger lacked the resolve to intervene, Stephanie checked the car door. Discovering it was unlocked, she made a break for it. “It opened, and I just ran and ran, for as long as I could, before I found an object to hide behind and check if I was being followed, and I wasn’t.” In another case, this is how a woman escaped when a man posing as a cop kidnapped her.

Per the outlet, after running for a couple of kilometers, she reached a small town where she spotted a security guard’s vehicle with its lights flashing. She approached him and used a translation app on her phone to explain her situation. She claimed that the guard offered to drive her back to her accommodation.

“He just pulls over into this alleyway, and he’s determined to translate on my phone. So I finally gave him the phone when he’d stopped driving, and he typed on the phone: ‘What are you going to do for me for driving you home?’” Steph alleged. Recognizing the danger, she repeated her previous escape tactic. “So I just did the same thing. The door was open, and I ran into a vineyard.”

The outlets reported that Stephanie managed to walk toward her hotel, hiding whenever she saw headlights to avoid further risk. She stopped at vending machines along the way to purchase drinks, ensuring that if she needed to track her movements later, there would be a digital record of her transactions. 

Steph stated that she eventually made it back to her accommodation safely, though she spent the following day crying. When she finally reunited with her kiteboarding crew, they were reportedly beside themselves upon hearing about her ordeal.

According to The Mirror, Steph is now speaking out to caution other travelers. “It’s absolutely not an Italian thing,” she stated, emphasizing that her first abductor was a European expat. 

She told the outlet, “Unfortunately for me and a lot of my girlfriends, much worse things have happened to us here in Australia. I think we’d like to say it’s isolated to other countries. But we can see by domestic violence rates and the amount of women being unalived in Australia that it’s not safe here either.”

She reportedly mentioned that her Italian plans are on hold.  “I don’t think I’ll be going to Italy to work on a project unless I have someone that I’m doing it with now.”