Abstract
Offender motivation for child abduction determines both the nature and final outcome of the abduction. Research has identified victim characteristics, offender characteristics, and sexual motivations as factors influencing child abduction and child abduction homicide. We examine 565 child abductions identified through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to determine the characteristics of victim, perpetrator, and crime and their influence on whether the child is murdered. Central to this research was the finding that 88.6% of the abductions involved a sexual motivation for the crime, and sexual motivation was significantly more likely when the victim was female and when the victim was post‐pubescent. Of 581 child victims for whom the outcome of the abduction was known, 281 (48.3%) were found alive and 300 (51.7%) were found dead or presumed dead. There was a significant interaction between motive for the crime and the final abduction outcome, with victims abducted for sexual purposes being at higher risk of being murdered.