Parents Go Public With Son's Ransom Kidnap
FBI probes April 1 vanishing after ransom payment fails to return young man.
April 28, 2008 — -- The owners of a large airline maintenance firm have gone public with their son's kidnapping nearly a month after meeting a ransom demand -- and getting only silence in return.
Thomas and Pamela Wiles went to the cops last week after they complied with a ransom demand for the return of their 26-year-old son Robert Wiles.
On Friday the FBI held a news conference to delicately lay out some details of the case and the frightened parents pleaded for their son's release.
"Robert was," Thomas Miles began, then quickly correcting himself. "Is, is. He's a pilot with multiengine instrument ratings. He's a diver, athlete and a journeyman fisherman."
Robert Wiles was last seen at his job at the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport at 6:30 p.m. April 1. Lakeland is about 35 miles east of Tampa.
Wiles works as the business development manager for his father's company, National Flight Services, which performs repairs and maintenance at airports in Florida, Ohio, San Antonio and Toronto.
Robert Wiles' business also took him to Thailand and other overseas destinations.
On April 3, two days after he disappeared, Thomas and Pamela Wiles, who live near Toledo, Ohio, received a ransom note. The kidnappers demanded cash with specific instructions that Wiles' parents met.
Since then, there has been no additional correspondence from the kidnapper or kidnappers and the parents said they fear the money may never have made it to their son's captors. They also have said that they do not know of anyone, including business associates, who may have a problem with their son.
"Although the parents had been following the directions in the ransom demand, the communication stopped with the parents from whomever is responsible for Robert's disappearance," Dave Couvertier, special agent and spokesman for the FBI's Tampa office, told ABC News. "By going to the media, we agreed that we could try to get a message out to the person responsible for that ransom note in hopes they would continue communication with the family and we can get Robert home safely."
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