On Halloween, My Mother-in-Law Got My Daughter Taken by Traffickers—So I Made Sure She’d Rot in Prison

On Halloween, our family went on a day trip. But somewhere along the way, we realized our daughter was missing. I called the police in a panic. When the officers arrived, I had barely explained what happened before my mother-in-law contradicted me. “You didn’t even bring your daughter. You left her at your mother’s house. Why are you calling the police?” The officer paused, then his expression turned stern. “Ma’am, what exactly is going on? Filing a false police report is a crime.” Sweat broke out across my forehead as I rushed to explain. “My daughter came with us. My mother-in-law loves playing Halloween pranks. She’s lying. Please don’t listen to her!” The officer nodded and was about to start searching when my mother-in-law interrupted again. “Officer, what you don’t know is that my daughter-in-law is mentally ill. She’s made false reports several times before.” I shook with anger. I wanted to tape her mouth shut. My mother-in-law loved Halloween pranks. Every year, she used them to turn our entire household upside down. Before we left, I had warned her over and over not to pull anything. I never imagined she would start again at a time like this. Thinking of my daughter, who was still missing, I stepped forward and shoved her. “How can you still be thinking about your stupid Halloween pranks? If we don’t find my daughter, I will never forgive you!” I barely touched her, but she stumbled backward as if she were about to fall. “You saw that, officers. My daughter-in-law really does have mental problems.” “Before we left, I specifically asked her mother to take good care of my granddaughter. Here, see for yourselves.” She pulled out her phone and showed them a screenshot of a conversation. It showed her telling my mother that morning that my daughter wanted scrambled eggs for lunch. I stared at my mother’s reply in disbelief. Impossible! My daughter was allergic to eggs. My mother-in-law had never cared enough about her to know that. But my mother knew. She would never have agreed. I immediately tried calling her to confirm. Unfortunately, her phone was switched off. I paced frantically, telling myself to stay calm. Then something occurred to me. I snatched my mother-in-law’s phone. The screenshot’s timestamp said eight o’clock the night before. But the conversation was supposedly from this morning. “Officer, look! She faked this screenshot. Please don’t believe her. Please help me find my daughter!” My fingers trembled as I begged. “She has asthma. If she has an attack and none of us are there to help her, she could die!” The officer looked between us suspiciously. Seeing how desperate I was, he finally nodded. But just as they were about to start searching, my mother-in-law spoke up again. “Oh, officer, I can’t watch this anymore. I only faked that screenshot because I didn’t want her to fool you.” “The ‘daughter’ she keeps talking about is actually a dog!” She even showed them a picture of our dog. The officer’s face darkened. “What is going on here? Calling the police is not a joke. Stop wasting our time!” By then, a thick crowd had gathered around us. After hearing my mother-in-law’s story, people began criticizing me. “You called the police over a dog? And lied about your daughter going missing? That’s disgusting!” “Exactly. She’s old enough to be a mother. She should know better.” “At least her mother-in-law has some sense. This woman is unbelievable!” My vision blurred with rage. “How can you still be lying? Even Halloween pranks have limits!” I turned back to the officer, struggling to keep my voice steady. “Yes, we have a dog. But I really do have a daughter. Look!” I found a photo of the two of us. In it, my daughter had her arms around me, smiling brightly. Only then did the officer nod. He turned angrily toward my mother-in-law. “Ma’am, stop lying. You could face legal consequences if something happens!” She laughed, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. “Sorry, everyone. It was just a Halloween prank. I didn’t realize you’d all take it so seriously.” I had barely started to feel relieved when, just two steps later, she spoke again.“But there’s something I have to tell you.” Tears even welled up in her eyes. “She’s the child’s stepmother. She’s been abusing my granddaughter for years. I’m an old woman. I wanted to stop her, but there was nothing I could do.” “I had no choice. I secretly sent the child back to her real mother.” A crushing sense of helplessness washed over me. She did this every Halloween. No matter where we were or what was happening, she had to lie. The Halloween after my daughter turned one, she called and told me my little girl had suffered an asthma attack and was dying. I was so terrified that I could barely think. I drove home as fast as I could. In my panic, I got into a car accident. It left a long, ugly scar on my left arm. Looking at me in the hospital bed, my mother-in-law had only shrugged. “Halloween is supposed to be about tricks. How was I supposed to know you’d be stupid enough to believe me?” “Besides, it’s your own fault you crashed. You should have watched the road.” After that, I kept my daughter as far away from her as possible, especially on Halloween. But today, she had clung to the car door and insisted on coming along. I told myself that as long as I watched her carefully, nothing serious would happen. Instead, everything fell apart almost as soon as we got out of the car. After hearing her accusation, the officers moved to take me in for questioning. “Child abuse is a serious crime. You’ll need to come to the station with us!” People were practically spitting in my face. “Disgusting! She doesn’t care because the kid isn’t hers. What a monster!” “Cuff her! A few days in jail might teach her a lesson!” As an officer took my arm, I felt like my head was about to burst. I pictured my daughter alone, unable to find us. I pictured her collapsing during an asthma attack, struggling to breathe. My heart felt as if it were being torn apart. Tears streamed down my face as I looked at my mother-in-law’s solemn act. I wanted to rip her lying mouth apart. I forced myself to stay calm. “Officer, I swear she’s my biological daughter. Whatever else you need to investigate, please find her first.” “I can provide all the evidence afterward!” My mother-in-law rushed between us and yanked up my sleeve. “Don’t let her fool you! She just wants to keep abusing my granddaughter.” “Look at this scar. I gave her that when I fought her off to protect the child.” Everyone gasped at the ugly scar. The officer’s face hardened. “What is going on? If you two keep giving us conflicting stories, we’ll take you both in!” I stared at my mother-in-law, fury burning in my eyes. “I got that scar in the car accident your lie caused! You keep saying you’re a helpless old woman. Do you really expect anyone to believe you hurt me like this in a fight and walked away without a scratch?” “Officer, please believe me. If there are any consequences later, I’ll take full responsibility.” Given the urgency and the risk to my daughter, the officer nodded and arranged for us to split up and search. My mother-in-law kept talking, trying to interfere. “You’re not very good at your jobs, are you? You can’t even tell which of us is lying!” But nobody listened. We got into the police vehicles and left her behind. The officers took me straight to the security office. But when we watched the footage from the moment my daughter disappeared, everyone’s eyes widened.The footage showed me stopping the car and gathering our things while my daughter hopped out. A second later, my mother-in-law grabbed her and pulled her behind the car. After that, my daughter never appeared again. My chest heaved. A loud buzzing filled my ears. Just then, my mother-in-law arrived and opened the door. I lunged at her and grabbed her collar. “Tell me where you hid my daughter! Why would you do this?” Her expression changed before she forced herself to look calm. “Oh, I just put her in the trunk to give you a scare. I thought I’d test how well these police officers do their jobs while I was at it.” “It’s Halloween! Can’t any of you take a joke?” I had no time to argue. I let go of her and ran outside. My daughter had asthma. Being trapped in a trunk for that long could kill her! But when I reached the car and threw open the trunk, gasping for breath, it was empty. My knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the ground. The others arrived a moment later. Their expressions changed when they saw the empty trunk. I lunged at my mother-in-law, ready to tear her apart, but an officer held me back. She slapped her thigh, dropped to the ground, and began wailing. “You can’t blame me! I only hid her in the trunk as a joke.” “How was I supposed to know she’d disappear? She has legs. She must have run off somewhere!” An officer tried to reassure me. “Mrs. Bennett, we’ll keep searching. We’ll do everything we can to find your child.” “We already have officers reviewing the security footage.” A call came through soon afterward. Unfortunately, the back of our car had been in a blind spot. The cameras hadn’t captured anything that happened there. To trace my daughter’s movements, they would have to keep checking cameras in the surrounding area. The world seemed to spin around me. My daughter was missing, and she had asthma. Every minute we lost put her in greater danger! I turned to my mother-in-law and softened my voice, hoping she still had a conscience. “Margaret, haven’t you had enough? I’m begging you. Stop lying and tell me where my daughter is!” “If you locked her in the trunk, how could she possibly get out?” My mother-in-law curled her lip and looked away. “I left after I put her in there. Maybe I didn’t close it properly and she climbed out.” “I told you that little brat was ungrateful. Maybe she left you to find a richer family.” I glared at her. Something in my eyes frightened her enough to shut her mouth. As everyone struggled to figure out where to search next, something occurred to me. I looked toward the back of the car.