Little Girl Spots Herself On Milk Carton, Has No Idea What “Missing Child” Means.

It’s not every day someone discovers that they’re missing. In the case of Bonnie Lohman, it was a milk carton that led to the startling discovery.

It was the 1980s and seven-year-old Bonnie didn’t even know what the words “missing child” meant. Bonnie asked her step-father (who was, in reality, one of her abductors) about the picture on the milk carton.

His response, oddly enough, was to buy the milk and let young Bonnie keep the photo. What he didn’t realize until later was that this simple action would ultimately be his undoing.

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99% Invisible

According to 99% Invisible, Bonnie was abducted by her mother and step-father at the age of three from the care of her birth father. For years, the family moved around, traveling from Saipan to Hawaii. But it was when Bonnie saw that milk carton that everything changed.

Bonnie cut her picture out of the milk carton, promising her step-dad she’d keep it a secret. However, she accidentally forgot the “missing child” image in a box of toys over at a neighbor’s house. When the neighbor spotted it, they immediately called the police.

Thankfully, Bonnie was soon reunited with her father.


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Although some view the “milk carton kid” campaign as largely unsuccessful, it changed young Bonnie’s life and eventually gave way to the Amber Alert system we use today.

Share to spread Bonnie’s extraordinary story.

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