On Friday, November 20th, the Albers family put their two year old daughter Lyndon Albers to bed. Around 7AM Lyndon’s parents reported her missing to the Hamilton Police Department.  Her parents told police that they last saw Lyndon around 3AM.

About six hours later Lyndon was found 8 miles from her house on the side of Newbury Road in Rowley. Tom and Marge Crosby, a couple from Ipswich, found Lyndon alive, naked, and bruised. She had cigarette burns, her head had been shaved, and road rash covered her body. “I wrapped her up and I put her in my car because it was warm, because she was just sitting there shivering,” said Tom Crosby. “I was caring for the child while my wife was on the phone with 911.” Investigators didn’t know how she had gotten there.

Lyndon was admitted to Beverly Hospital. She was then transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital. Lyndon was reunited with her family, but remained hospitalized for the next few days.

“We have suffered a horrific ordeal. We are grateful to have our daughter back. We are extremely thankful for the incredible efforts to rescue our daughter by the police and all emergency responders. We are extremely grateful to the kind couple who found our daughter. We are extremely thankful for having the best family, friends and community supporting us through this difficult time,” the Albers family said in a statement.

Abigail Hanna was the Albers’ former babysitter. Hanna is twenty one years old and lives in Topsfield. According to her Facebook profile, Hanna studies English Literature at Gordon College. She also claimed to be a counselor there; however the college said she had only been there for one semester.  Hanna had just gotten engaged to Nathan Wolters on November 5th, a little over two weeks before Lyndon was kidnapped. Hanna was fired from babysitting Lyndon after only one night. As more evidence came to light, Hanna quickly became the primary suspect.

Investigators showed up to Abigail Hanna’s house in Topsfield on Friday. When investigators were searching her house for clues, they noticed the former babysitters hands and face were dirty. Police also found a pink, toddler sized jacket in a bag at Hanna’s house. When they started to question Hanna her responses were erratic. She seemed panicked and restless. After investigating the house police arrested Hanna. She was later charged with assault and battery of a child, breaking and entering during the nighttime, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Hanna was held without bail pending an evaluation.

When evaluated, Hanna looked very guilty. “She’s experiencing multiple psychotic symptoms,” Newburyport Court clinician Tammy Howe said. Hanna has a history of suicide attempts and memory lapses. She did not appear to understand the allegations against her or where she was. A court psychologist testified that Hanna was hallucinating and had also expressed suicidal thoughts. Hanna is now ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation to see if she’s competent to stand trial. Police have not given a statement with the motive of the crime.

How do parents know who’s safe to watch their children? Concerned parent Nancy Janvrin said,  “there is no way to know who is safe and who isn’t.” There are numerous ways try and prevent this type of situation. You can start by hiring someone you know or someone a trusted family member knows. This helps you learn more about the babysitter before you entrust them with watching your child. You should also do background checks on anyone over the age of eighteen. If you hire anyone under the age of eighteen, you should meet with their parent(s). By following these guidelines, we can  prevent incidents like the one in Hamilton.

What happened to the Albers was a tragedy. Luckily,  Lyndon will make a full recovery. It is scary to think something so horrible could happen so close to home. This story makes us rethink who we leaving our kids with when we aren’t home. The only thing left to do now is learn more ways to keep our kids safe.