How Could You? Hall of Shame-Amanda Hellman and Cindy Fortner

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Vestal, New York, two teenaged sisters who were in foster care, Ky-lea Fortner, 16, and Shaeleen Fitch-Fortner, 14, were kidnapped “on April 27, 2015, when they never returned home after school. The girls were last seen waiting for the school bus, police said.”

They “were found Wednesday night and a family acquaintance has been charged with their kidnapping, according to New York State Police.” They “were held against their will in the home of Amanda Hellman, 29, until they were located by police on Wednesday.”

“On Wednesday night, police found the girls less than 10 miles from their home.

Hellman was charged on Thursday with second-degree kidnapping in connection with their disappearance. Officials described Hellman as a family “acquaintance.”

“The girls are healthy today,” Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell told the paper. “The allegation is they were kept in the defendant’s house without their consent.”

“During the course of the next 11 months, Hellman, who is not related to either child, conducted numerous acts to prevent law enforcement from returning the two children to their foster parents,” police said in the complaint, according to the paper.

Hellman is being held without bond at the Broome County Jail. She pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Authorities have not released any information on the motive behind the alleged abduction or any details on the girls’ captivity.

The girls are now in the custody of Child Protective Services.”

http://wtvr.com/2016/03/11/2-teens-missing-for-nearly-a-year-found-alive-family-acquaintance-charged-in-kidnapping/

[WTVR 3/11/16]

“New York State Police were led to the girls after a caller tipped them off to Hellmann, who is being held in the Broome County jail following her arrest.

Cornwell said that she is considered as the only suspect at this time and would not provide a motive or details surrounding the sisters’ captivity.

He explained the next step in the legal process is either a plea agreement or an indictment from a grand jury.

‘State police have honestly been working this case every single day. They didn’t give up.’

Anyone with information regarding the case is being asked to call New York State Police at 607-775-1241.

A Facebook profile appearing to belong to Hellmann features several photos of the two sisters prior to when they were abducted.”

“The mom of two kidnapped upstate New York sisters was charged Friday with helping her girlfriend abduct them from foster care last year.

Cindy L. Fortner, 46, sobbed as she pleaded not guilty to second-degree kidnapping at a Friday night arraignment in Broome County.

Her daughters, 15-year-old Ky-Lea Fortner and 13-year-old Shaeleen Fitch-Fortner, were found Wednesday night in Vestal. The pair of teens was reported as runaways when they went missing from their foster family’s home in April 2015.

But police changed the story Wednesday and said the girls did not leave on their own will. Instead, Fortner’s girlfriend, 29-year-old Amanda Hellman, kidnapped the sisters on their way to school and held them hostage in the home she shared with Fortner for 11 months, police said.

The house is less than 10 miles away from the girls’ foster home and a half-mile away from Vestal police headquarters.

“The allegations are that Cindy Fortner, along with Amanda Hellman, arranged for the two girls to be picked up and not return to their foster parents,” Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell said.

Investigators have not detailed how the girls were treated in captivity or what prevented them from leaving.

Officials declined to discuss what caused Fortner to lose custody of her daughters.

During the 11-month hunt for the girls, investigators interviewed Fortner multiple times — and each time she gave police false information to prevent cops from finding the siblings, Cornwell told Binghamton’s Press & Sun-Bulletin newspaper.

The sisters are now in the care of the county’s child protective services.”

Mom of New York sisters kidnapped from foster care accused of plotting abduction with girlfriend [NY Daily News 3/12/16 by Meg Wagner]

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