A former Crawford County library board member is facing felony charges after investigators concluded she helped orchestrate the kidnapping of her own 22-year-old developmentally delayed daughter in what she claimed was a safety lesson gone wrong.
Tammi Hamby of Van Buren was arrested on Wednesday along with three others. She now faces charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and endangering the welfare of an incompetent person, according to arrest affidavits. Hamby resigned from the Crawford County Library Board on November 24, saying in a letter that she was moving out of the district. Her husband, Dr. Jeffrey Hamby, is not facing charges.
Investigators say he did not know about the alleged plan until afterward. Speaking to 40/29 News, he said the family believed their daughter needed a warning about dangerous people. “We’re trying to teach her that there are people who will hurt her, and instead of helping us, they arrest my wife,” Dr. Hamby said while waiting for her release.
“I’ll spend every dime I’ve got to help my wife and those people who are trying to help my daughter.” The couple became alarmed, he said, after learning their daughter had been sending money and private messages to someone she met online, local ABC affiliate KHBS, “For the past six months, my special needs daughter has been affected by an online predator who has developed a trauma bond with her and now has her complete control,” he said. “She believes it’s Luke Bryan, and we cannot talk her out of it.”
According to investigators, deputies responded on November 17, 2025, to reports of a kidnapping. They found the young woman frightened, with marks on her wrists, clutching a teddy bear. Affidavits state that Tammi Hamby arranged the abduction and recruited their certified nursing assistant, Shannon Childers, along with friends David Quach and Nico Austria, to carry it out. Authorities say the daughter’s hands were zip-tied and she was left tied to a tree in a field.
Dr. Hamby defended the scenario, saying two men pretending to be connected to the country singer arrived to pick her up. “The first words out of my daughter’s mouth, I’ve got video of this, were, ‘I thought it was tomorrow you were supposed to be here.’ And they said, ‘Sorry, but Luke sent us today. It’s now or never.’ She gets in the car with them… and goes with them willingly.”
Crawford County Sheriff Daniel Perry recused himself from the case due to knowing the family personally. Chief Deputy Brad Wiley questioned the logic behind the alleged plan. “How would she understand? How could she differentiate between reality and a prank?” he said. “I don’t understand how you could teach anybody anything through trauma, especially a crime or kidnapping.”
The daughter has been placed in state protective custody. Court records show bond for Tammi Hamby was set at $125,000, while the three co-defendants each received $25,000 bonds.
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