My Dad Kidnapped Me — Then Miranda Lambert’s Family Helped Me Hide from Him | PEOPLE

When Lauren Burns was 7 years old, her father picked her up to go trick-or-treating, promised her a surprise vacation and instead abducted her, fleeing the United States for his native Jordan. “No little girl ever would think that their father would do anything to harm them,” Lauren says. She was enrolled in school where class was conducted in Arabic, prevented from speaking freely with her mother on the phone and forced to say that she was happy. “From the moment that my father took me, that is where the lies began and the manipulation began.”

In this powerful interview, Lauren and her mother, Cathy Mahone, recount the kidnapping and the daring international mission to bring her home. With no extradition treaty between the United States and Jordan, Cathy recruited a special forces team to help locate Lauren, even after being warned, “We would not have the protection of the U.S. government, period. We were on our own.” Cathy ultimately surprised Lauren on her school bus and fought her way aboard to retrieve her daughter. Back in the United States, they changed their names and hid with close friends Rick and Beverly Lambert — Miranda Lambert’s parents — whose private investigation company helped with the rescue effort. Decades later, Lauren reflects on reclaiming her story, building a family of her own and the extraordinary courage that brought her home. Lauren's book "Stolen: A True Story — Kidnapped, Rescued, Redeemed" is available now.

0:00 - My Kidnapping Story
2:22 - Discovering Lauren Was Missing
4:05 - The Day of the Kidnapping
6:38 - A Mother’s Plan to Bring Her Daughter Home
9:53 - Rescued from a School Bus in Jordan
13:31 - How Miranda Lambert’s Family Helped
16:05 - Confronting Her Father
18:23 - Healing After Childhood Trauma