246: Fugitive Mom, Dorothy Lee Barnett | USA/Australia

246: Fugitive Mom, Dorothy Lee Barnett | USA/Australia

In 1994, a custody dispute in South Carolina ended with a mother vanishing with her infant daughter. Dorothy Lee Barnett, accused of violating a court order, disappeared without a trace — along with 11-month-old Savannah.
For nearly two decades, the pair lived under new identities across the world — first in Europe, then South Africa, then Australia — as authorities searched for clues. In 2013, an international investigation finally uncovered the truth. Dorothy had been living as Alexandria Maria Canton, and Savannah, now a young woman, had grown up unaware of her past.
The case became one of the most remarkable parental abduction stories in modern history — a tale of love, fear, deception, and the long reach of justice.
Listen now to hear the full story of the mother who fled across the world — and the daughter who never knew.
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Resources
Documentaries
NBC Dateline: "Finding Savanna"
CBS 48 Hours: "Dear Savanna"
Web
Family Abduction Watch
Articles
Dorothy Lee Barnett: Where is the Kidnapper Today?
Savanna Todd: Where is Dorothy Lee Barnett's Daughter Today?
Woman who kidnapped her own daughter during bitter divorce shares tales of nearly 20 years on the run
48 Hours' to feature baby Savanna abduction from Isle of Palms
Unsolved Mysteries Wiki: Dorothy Barnett Case
Created & Produced by Sonya Lowe
Narrated by Noel Vinson
Music: "Nordic Medieval" by Marcus Bressler
Background track: Doblado Studios: https://www.youtube.com/c/DobladoStudios
This True Crime Podcast was researched using open-source or archive materials.

Episoder(270)

251: The Wanda Beach Murders | Australia

251: The Wanda Beach Murders | Australia

On a windy January day in 1965, two fifteen-year-old best friends walked into the sand dunes at Wanda Beach near Sydney. They never came home. What followed was one of the largest investigations in Au...

25 Jan 18min

Nordic Campsite Killings 4: The Shadow Between the Cases

Nordic Campsite Killings 4: The Shadow Between the Cases

Between 1959 and 1987, a series of brutal attacks in the forests and lakesides of Finland and Sweden left multiple victims dead – and investigators haunted by their similarities. From Tulilahti and La...

21 Jan 19min

Nordic Campsite Killings 3: The Tent Murders at Lake Appojaure - Revisited

Nordic Campsite Killings 3: The Tent Murders at Lake Appojaure - Revisited

In July 1984, beneath Sweden’s midnight sun, a remote campsite near Lake Appojaure became the scene of a brutal double murder. Dutch tourists Marinus and Janny Stegehuis were stabbed to death as they ...

19 Jan 39min

Nordic Campsite Killings 2: Lake Bodom Murders - Revisited

Nordic Campsite Killings 2: Lake Bodom Murders - Revisited

In the summer of 1960, four teenagers went camping at Lake Bodom. In the pre-dawn hours, an unknown assailant attacked them inside their tent, slashing them with a knife and hitting them with a blunt ...

12 Jan 38min

250: Nordic Campsite Killings 1: The Tulilathi Murders

250: Nordic Campsite Killings 1: The Tulilathi Murders

July 1959. Two young women on a cycling holiday vanished from a Finnish campsite. Eine Nyyssönen, 21, and Riitta Pakkanen, 23, were found buried in a bog three weeks later, marked by a sharpened stick...

5 Jan 22min

249: The Mysterious Murder of Julia Wallace

249: The Mysterious Murder of Julia Wallace

On a winter evening in 1931, a soft-spoken insurance agent was lured from his Liverpool home by a strange telephone message. The address he searched for didn’t exist. By the time he returned, his wife...

29 Des 202518min

The North Pole Slaying Plot - Foiled | Alaska (Revisited)

The North Pole Slaying Plot - Foiled | Alaska (Revisited)

Every December, thousands of letters addressed to Santa are sent to North Pole, Alaska. Boxes full of letters are then sent to North Pole Middle School, where they are included in the 6th Grade curric...

24 Des 202518min

248: The Orderud Murders | Norway

248: The Orderud Murders | Norway

In May 1999, three members of the Orderud family were found shot to death in their home in rural Norway. The victims — Kristian and Marie Orderud and their daughter Anne — had been killed in the dead ...

14 Des 202520min

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