SALEM, N.H. - A Maine couple
upset that their 19-year-old daughter was pregnant tied her up, loaded her in
their car and began driving to New York to force her to get an abortion, police
said.
The daughter, Katelyn Kampf, escaped Friday at a shopping center and called
police, who arrested her parents, Nicholas Kampf, 54, and Lola, 53, of North
Yarmouth, Maine.
The parents were arraigned Monday on kidnapping charges. The judge set bail
at $100,000 each and ordered the Kampfs to have no contact with their daughter.
Prosecutors had argued for a higher bail amount, saying the parents
repeatedly "threatened to kill the victim, the unborn child, the father and his
family." Defense attorney Mark Sisti objected, saying there was no evidence of
any threats.
"What we're dealing with here is a terrible family tragedy with some
unfortunate misunderstandings and some overreaction, perhaps on all sides but
not an attempt to terrorize anybody," he said.
The Kampfs were upset that their daughter was pregnant by a man who is now in
jail, police said, and before leaving Maine on Friday they had an argument at
the parents' home.
"Katelyn stated to me that upon her parents finding out that she was
pregnant, they told her she had no choice but to get an abortion," Salem Police
Officer Sean Marino wrote in his court affidavit.
"Her parents chased her out into the yard, grabbed and tied her hands and
feet together," Marino wrote. "Katelyn states that her father then carried her
to their car and they headed toward New Hampshire."
Katelyn Kampf escaped from her parents in Salem after persuading them to
untie her so she could use a Kmart bathroom. After her father went into the
men's room, she used a cell phone she had swiped from her father to call for
help, then ran to a nearby Staples store, where police found "a hysterical
female hiding in the back of the store," according to the affidavit.
She got into Marino's cruiser while Sgt. Kristin Fili pulled over her
parents.
"They told us initially they did take her here against her will, but they
denied tying her up initially," Fili said. "Obviously what happened was a crime.
She was taken against her will."
Investigators said rope, duct tape, scissors and a .22-caliber rifle were
found in the Kampfs' Lexus and Nicholas Kampf had a loaded .22-caliber magazine
clip in his pants pocket.
Authorities in Maine said the parents apparently thought that, in light of
their daughter's stage of pregnancy and the different abortion laws in each
state, the abortion should be performed in New York. Fili said she did not know
how many weeks pregnant she was.
Maine law prohibits abortions once a fetus is able to live outside the uterus
unless the mother's life or health is at stake. The law does not specify when
that is, but it generally is 20 to 27 weeks, said Dr. Dora Ann Mills, director
of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. New York law prohibits
abortions after the 24th week of pregnancy unless the woman's life is at
stake.
