Police Skeptical on Report of Abduction of 2nd Infant

A couple whose infant daughter was found dead in 1986 after they reported her abducted by a masked gunman now claim another baby has been kidnaped under virtually identical circumstances, police said.

“What are the chances of somebody breaking into your house and taking your small infant child once in your life? You figure out the odds and then figure out the odds that it could happen a second time in a completely different city,” said Police Sgt. Billy Lawrence. “But I’m not trying to say anything.”

Robert and Paula Sims reported that their 6-week-old daughter, Heather, was missing after a masked gunman confronted Paula Sims outside the family’s home Saturday night, according to police.

She said the man ordered her inside and struck her unconscious.

Authorities said Sims reported that he returned home from work and found his wife unconscious. They said he revived her, found Heather missing from her bassinet and discovered that their 15-month-old son was asleep in his room.

In the previous case, the mother reported that a masked gunman entered her home on the night of June 17, 1986, ordered her to lie down and took her 13-day-old daughter, Loralei.

Loralei’s remains were discovered five days later in woods about 150 feet from the couple’s home in the Jersey County town of Brighton, about 10 miles from Alton. No cause of death was ever determined and no one was ever arrested, authorities said.

At the time of both abductions, Sims was at work, the couple told police.

Jersey County Sheriff Frank Yocom said investigators took the first case to a grand jury, and the Simses both invoked their rights against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.