What is clear is that five people -- one man and four women, three adults and two youths -- were found naked in a car following a crash on a rural road near Nisku, south of Edmonton AB. Three other people, barefoot but otherwise clothed, were also at the scene, having been picked up by the driver of a pickup truck (of course) who thought they needed help. (Duh!)
What is not clear is whether the pickup truck hit the BMW full of naked people, or the other way around. Even more of a mystery is what caused the five naked people to abduct the other three from their nearby home and take them for a ride. Charges of kidnapping have been laid by the RCMP, but no conviction is possible without proof of mens rea -- "the guilty mind", or criminal intent. So the question arises: What were they thinking??!!
A relative, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the minors (who have been released without charge) thinks he's got it figured out. He reckons that the Naked Nisku gang may have "unknowingly" drunk some hallucinogenic tea over breakfast! "It's absolutely crazy," said the relative. "It’s a scary thought thinking, 'Oh, let's try this tea that we purchased,' and then all sit down thinking they're just going to have a nice morning and end up in that circumstance."
The relative said he wants everyone to know the accused are not bad people. They just had some trippy tea. He said his two daughters, who are 13 and 15, and his ex-wife were having breakfast with two friends -- a man and his wife. The man had recently travelled overseas and brought back some tea from India. The relative did not know the name of the tea, which he said "kicked off the whole crazy spell."
The Mounties' version of the story is that a man, woman and baby were forced against their will from a home in Leduc County into a BMW. Inside the car were five naked people. While the car was being driven, the abducted man, who was in the trunk, managed to escape. The woman and her baby then managed to get away. The trio were picked up by a passerby, but his work truck was rammed from behind by the car. When officers arrived, they pulled out the five naked people. The adults, who were 27, 30 and 35, were arrested, but two teenaged girls were not charged.
The 35-year-old woman, who had already been released from custody, made a first appearance Thursday in Leduc court. She is charged with two counts of kidnapping, mischief damaging property over $5,000 and resisting a peace officer. The 30-year-old woman has been charged with three counts of kidnapping and one count of resisting a peace officer. The 27-year-old man, her husband, faces the same charges.
The relative said he laughed about the case when he heard it on the news, then was shocked to learn that his straight-laced daughters were involved. "I was just like, what the heck?" He visited his youngest girl in hospital, where she had been taken with some of the other suspects for treatment. They don't remember what happened, the man said. "Whatever potency that stuff had obviously is making it so it’s just a big blur," he said, adding blood tests were also taken at the hospital. "“Nothing came back like illicit drugs, so they figure it may have been some type of herbal drug or something."
He said the three people who were forced from their homes are also family friends and aren't holding any grudges. They probably opened their door that morning trying to help, he suggested. He also believes their car rammed the truck because the tea made those inside think the family had been abducted by the truck driver, not the other way around. "They were under the impression that they were saving that guy and the woman and the little girl."
Another plot twist was revealed today by Global News, from whom we got the original story. In spite of charges now being before the court, the abductees want to talk. In "Alberta family abducted by naked kidnappers frightened and baffled", they are quoted as telling Canadian Press they know the accused as neighbours, on top of which they are all members of the same Jehovah's Witnesses church. Curiouser and curiouser!
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