Seventeen-year-old Lily Burk was running some errands for her family on a sunny Los Angeles Friday afternoon when she crossed paths with the monster that would shortly take her life. July 24th was like most summer days for the popular teenager as she prepared for her senior year of high school. As she walked back to her Volvo she had an armload of paperwork that she was to deliver to her mother. Walking in the same area was 50-year-old Charles Samuel, a man who had been in and out of jail for somewhat minor offenses most of his life, and who also had arrests, but no convictions, for assault, kidnapping and robbery. He had just walked out of a local drug treatment facility, apparently wanted money and Burk looked like a logical victim, so he struck.

Samuel first forced Burk to use her credit card in an attempt to get money out of a nearby ATM, but the card wouldn't work, so her captor forced Lily to call her parents to tell them she needed money to buy shoes. Her father indicated Lily's credit card was not set up to allow cash withdrawals and without a hint of panic or fear in her voice, she indicated she would be home soon. She never made it. Samuel allegedly slashed Burk's throat, murdering her within the hour, and parked her car, with her body still inside, in a nearby lot. Samuel, convicted in 1986 of another assault and robbery related to an ATM in which he beat an elderly man in an attempt to get money, was arrested the following hour on unrelated drug charges. When Burk's car, and her body, was recovered the next day, Samuel's fingerprints were quickly matched to the unidentified latents found inside of the abandoned car. Her believed killer was arrested before he could strike again, but Lily Burk would never attend her senior year of high school, her high school prom, or get the chance to attend college.

Meredith Emerson was a smart 24-year-old martial arts student who knew her way around the north Georgia mountains, but when she was nice to an older man she met along a hiking trail, she too became a victim, in her case of a 61-year-old monster passing as human. Gary Michael Hilton, the so called "Appalachian Trail Serial Killer," is believed to have killed at least six or more people, to include Emerson. In speaking of his kidnapping of Meredith, Hilton said he confronted her with a knife and demanded her ATM card. Hilton, who stated after kidnapping Emerson he "never had any intention of letting her go," said his victim fought for her life, taking both his knife and his collapsible baton from him until he began pounding her in the face with his fists, blackening her eyes and fracturing her nose. He then carried her to his van where he kept her chained for four days while he assaulted her, eventually chaining her to a remote tree after telling her "she was going home." He hit her several times with the metal handle from his car jack and then decapitated her because, as he said, "her hair was full of fibers" that could be forensically linked to his van. When asked why he didn't kill Emerson's dog, Hilton unbelievably said, "you gotta remember we had spent several good days together." Meredith Emerson is one more person whose full potential in life will never be realized because of the random actions of a human monster.

Georgia authorities are now entering their second week of searching for missing 38-year-old Kristi Cornwell. She disappeared shortly after 9 PM last Tuesday night, this while walking alone along a rural northern Georgia road that ran past her parent's home. Cornwell, a former probation officer, was talking to her Atlanta boyfriend on her cell phone as she walked. He says she indicated a car was slowing down, perhaps stopping near her. She then allegedly said "Please don't take me!" and the call was terminated. (Some have suggested this phrase could indicate that Cornwell knew or recognized her assailant and was pleading to be left alone, but if so, would she not have communicated something about her assailant to her boyfriend?) After calling Cornwell's mother first, her boyfriend then called the county sheriff's office who, along with Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agents, quickly began a search for the missing and presumed kidnapped woman. One or more personal items, believed to include a shoe thought to be hers, were quickly found along the roadside and on Friday, this three days after her disappearance, her cell phone was found on a lawn almost three miles from the assumed kidnap site. The location of the victim's cel phone suggest to authorities that her kidnapper may have throw the phone out of his car as he headed out of state (North Carolina) with his victim.

Hundreds of investigators have searched along the roadside where Kristi walked and near the location where her cell phone was found; to no avail. All of the usual suspects, in this case her three ex-husbands and her current boyfriend; dozens of local sex offenders and known sexual predators; recent prison releasees, and people she had supervised when she was a parole officer (she left that job in 2002) have been located, interviewed, and accounted for. Local residents have reported two suspicious vehicles that were seen the night Cornwell disappeared, to include a white SUV and a tan or gold Toyota-like car. These vehicles were not known to be owned by any local resident. At this time these cars and her cell phone (call records and possible latent fingerprints and/or DNA of her suspected kidnapper) appear to be the best tips going for police, but, as investigators have indicated, in a case like this time becomes the enemy of searchers and the chances of Kristi's survival lessen with each new day. Authorities must consider three scenarios in Cornwell's disappearance:

1) She was a victim of herself, the equivalent of Jennifer Wilbanks, "the real life Runaway Bride" who faked her own kidnapping in April 2005 just prior to her planned marriage. Investigators have so far found nothing about Cornwell's life that would lead them to suspect her involvement in her own disappearance.

2) She, like Lily Burk and Meredith Emerson before her, was a random victim of opportunity for a predator, i.e., someone who just happened to be driving along that dark, lonely road, saw the victim walking alone, and made an instant decision to "take her." This is obviously possible, but would, like in the referenced cases, require two totally distinct lives to happen to cross at the same time with potentially deadly results.

3) She was the victim of a stalker, i.e., someone who had specifically targeted her for abduction and who knew, by his surveillance of her, that she would likely be walking alone along the dark country road that night, something she regularly did for exercise. Some investigators believe this to be the most likely scenario, but if there was such a person in Cornwell's life, he should come up in the law enforcement investigation concerning her social and professional background.

No matter the reason for her disappearance though, investigators, civilian searchers, and Cornwell's friends and family members have not given up hope. After all, some say, it was just 1 1/2 years ago that Meredith Emerson was kidnapped and she vileantly managed to survive for days. Police were just hours behind her kidnapper, but by the time they found him Emerson was already dead. Then there was Elizabeth Smart, the Salt Lake City teenager whose kidnapper held her for almost a year before she was identified and rescued by authorities. It's almost impossible to ever give up hope when you know in your heart that your loved one could, just could be the one who, like Elizabeth Smart, beats the odds and survives her ordeal. As Beth Holloway Twitty, mother of still missing Natalee Holloway who disappeared on a high school graduation trip to Aruba in May 2005 once told me, "You gotta have hope."

Sometimes, though, the victim first willingly accompanies her assailant and later becomes a victim. This was apparently the case in the 5/29/07 disappearance of 22-year-old John Jay College graduate Stepha Henry. She went to a bar with a man she had limited knowledge of and she soon became one of the missing. Kendrick Williams, the 32-year-old man who said he lost Henry in the bar also indicated his car was missing. Police later found her car and in it enough blood that was identified as Henry's to support the theory that even though her body had never been found, we could not have survived the massive blood loss. Kendrick has been arrested and charged with Henry's murder.

How to Escape a Kidnapping

To escape a potential kidnapping, you must think in advance what you would do if confronted, this to insure you are ready to act as opposed to freeze up like "the proverbial deer in the headlights." Here are some points that anyone, child, man or woman should consider if the unthinkable happens and someone attempts to kidnap you:

1) Carry yourself as if you are savy citizen of the world. If your hands are full, if you appear lost or frustrated or otherwise carry yourself like an easy victim you may just be targeted for a crime, to include a kidnapping.

2) Never allow a kidnapper or carjacker to take you with them. Anyone who tries to take you to another location is more than a robber, and if he gets you to a remote location, he can have his way with you, including assault and murder. Make a stand where you are and do not, under any circumstances, allow your assailant to take you away with him.

3) If your assailant demands your purse, your wallet, and/or your car keys, give them to him. Consider throwing them on the ground in one direction while you run the other way. Make him choose between your money, your car, or your life. If walking with a friend, you should run away in opposite directions, making your assailant know that should he chase one of you, the other will escape and notify police, likely causing him to simply flee the area.

4) When you run from a potential kidnapper, run the opposite direction from his vehicle. By this, if his car is parked facing north, then you should run south (unless help is obviously nearby). This forces your assailant to turn his car around to pursue you, drawing even more attention to himself. Many potential kidnappers will just drive away in the direction their vehicle is facing, allowing you to escape. Yell for help as you run to draw further attention to yourself and your desperate need for help.

5) If your assailant has a knife or a gun, give up your purse, wallet and/or car and run from him. Don't trust him if he says "Just come with me and I won't hurt you!" Anyone who confronts you with a weapon would likely be willing to assault and even murder you. Some statistics suggest that police officers miss their first shot up to 75% of the time and criminals miss at least 95% of the time. In the worst case, I would rather be shot than surrender to an assailant who could easily shoot me later in a much more remote location. And even if shot at the scene of the confrontation, your assailant is not likely to continue his attempts to kidnap you, but will instead flee the area, allowing you to seek aid and assistance.

6) If forced into your own car or your kidnapper's vehicle, try to jump out the passenger door, or, if you are forced to drive, intentionally wreck the car before you allow your kidnapper to take you away.

7) If inside a vehicle, attempt to force your kidnapper to wreck the car by violently turning the steering wheel, or by stepping on his foot while he presses the accelerator pedal, or throw the gearshift into reverse, or pull the keys out and throw them out the window, hopefully while in view of people who witness your plight and help you in your escape. You can also jump from the front seat to the back seat of the vehicle, open a rear door and jump out. If forced into the trunk of a car, look for the glow in the dark handle that will allow you to open the trunk lid from within, or pull out every tail light wire you can find, thereby allowing police to perhaps make a traffic stop based upon inoperative tail or brake lights.

8) Have a family code word that if used immediately tells other family members that you are under duress and in danger. Something, perhaps like "remind my sister Joan that we're going shopping tomorrow," knowing you don't have a sister named "Joan," can quickly alert your friend or family member of your dire need for help.

Remember, you are thinking and fighting for your very life. Be prepared for such a situation, plan out your actions in your mind so you will know instinctively how to react, and you too will likely beat the odds and survive alive. All of the above can be situationally based, and your own escape plans may be different, this based upon your own unique situation. The bottom line, though, is that you are responsible for your own initial safety in a potential kidnapping situation and the plans you make today can help to save your life or the life of a loved one tomorrow.

To obtain a copy of our free DVD, "Protecting Children from Predators, please see www.Live Secure.org for quality proven personal and family safety related items that could help to save a life.