Crime Blotter: Woman Lies About Kidnapping to Avoid Date

Oct. 6, 2005 -- -- A woman allegedly lies about being kidnapped to get out of a date; the command "freeze" takes on new meaning with one man who fled Ohio police; and a woman allegedly uses her young daughter to steal electricity. Freeze! You're under arrest and must read this week's "The Crime Blotter" -- without fear of frostbite.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Authorities say an 18-year-old Kentucky woman lied about being kidnapped to get out of a date with a man she met on the Internet.

Missouri prosecutors said Laura Crews told her Internet acquaintance on Sept. 17 that she had flown to Kansas City from Kentucky. When the man — whose name has not been released by authorities — couldn't find her at the airport, he called her cell phone and Crews allegedly told him she had been abducted, raped, and stabbed and left bleeding along the highway.

The man called 911, and authorities from Kansas City and Platte County, Mo., spent several hours looking for the woman along Interstate 29 near the airport. Authorities began to realize that the kidnapping was a hoax when police traced the call to Crews' cell phone in Kentucky.

The manhunt cost thousands of dollars as police helicopters were deployed, investigators conducted a massive foot search and air traffic was diverted out of Kansas City International Airport. Crews' mother, Jennifer Brooks, told ABC News affiliate KMBC-TV in Kansas City that her daughter has a history of stretching the truth, but that she did not mean any harm.

"She has a very hard time being truthful about situations ... None of it was malicious; she's told a lot of tall tales in her life, but none of it has been malicious," Brooks said.

Brooks said she's baffled and heartbroken by her daughter's alleged actions and attributed her behavior to immaturity.

"We spent 10 hours in a car on the trip here, and I asked a lot of questions and didn't get a lot of clear answers," Brooks said. "Just because someone has an 18-year-old body doesn't mean that their mind is 18 years old, too."