Kidnapping scam targets mom of missing teen

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A south-side mother narrowly avoided becoming the victim of a cruel scam when someone on Facebook contacted her and said her missing daughter had been kidnapped and held for ransom. 

Kaylae Nicolay, 17, is a senior at Southport High School, according to her mother Mary Armstrong. She loves to play with her younger siblings and take care of young children and is one semester away from graduation. 

“She’s all about school work. She’s been working her bottom off,” Armstrong said. 

Nicolay was born premature and has battled health issues throughout her life. Armstrong says the week before Nicolay disappeared was difficult: Nicolay was in and out of the hospital struggling with mental health issues. Armstrong said Nicolay was on the living room couch the evening of May 23 and wasn’t there by morning. 

“Not hearing your child’s voice is a horrible thing,” said Armstrong. She set to work immediately with her family putting up missing person signs, posting on social media, and working with officers from Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to investigate Nicolay’s disappearance. 

“I feel like I’m at a loss. I feel like I’m at a standstill,” she said.

Then on Wednesday, Armstrong thought she got a valuable tip from a Facebook message. 

“She says she has info about my daughter,” she said. “You look at the picture and you think this looks like a nice lady, I’m going to see what’s going on.”

The woman, whose name is listed as Mathilda Bmann on Facebook, said she was a mother, too, and had just been reunited with her daughter, who had been kidnapped. 

“She was like, ‘He has your daughter. He had my daughter. He wants $1,000, and when I paid $1,000, he gave me my daughter back. Call this number and he’ll want the ransom,’” Armstrong said. 

The woman continued in her Facebook message, explaining that her daughter had met Armstrong’s daughter in the room where the kidnapper kept the girls he’d taken. She said Nicolay gave her daughter Mary Armstrong’s name and asked to contact her if she got out. The woman on Facebook told Armstrong the kidnapper had connections in law enforcement, would know if she contacted police and would kill her daughter. 

“So, I advi(s)e you give him what he wants and take any legal action after you have your daughter back,” read one message. 

Initially, Armstrong said she came close to believing it. 

“At first I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s going on, what do you mean?”‘ she said. 

So she copied the number and texted the alleged kidnapper. 

“They were very vulgar, cussing and all that,” she said. “He said ‘I have your daughter, if you want her you have to pay me $1,000.’” 

Armstrong asked the man for a photo of Nicolay, and he told her that every three days, he checked on the 11 girls he was holding captive. He said he checked on them the day before and didn’t have gas in his car to go that day and that he would need gas money. 

“He told me to pick up a $100 gift card,” she said, then read from her phone: “Would I risk losing $100 for my daughter? What a mother I am. ” 

“I’m ready to go get money and go send it because I didn’t know (if it was a scam),” she said. 

Armstrong’s husband and family members started investigating online and discovered Mathilda Bmann had done the same thing to another woman with a missing cousin. Armstrong also never got a straight answer out of the alleged kidnapper about where to send money. The person continued asking for smaller and smaller amounts through iTunes gift cards. 

“What they did to us is gave me false hope. There’s my baby. I have to go pay to get her? I’d pay anything to get her if it was real,” she said. 

The Indiana Attorney General’s Office says scams like this are common, although targeting a person actively searching for a missing loved one is a new twist. 

They point to several key signs: asking for untraceable money, asking to not contact police, delivering threats and offering no proof. 

Our team at News 8 investigated, texting the alleged kidnapper that a reporter from WISH-TV was looking for information about Kaylae Nicolay. Right after the text was sent, we received a call from a local number, but the caller hung up. When we tried the number again, the phone rang once and went to a busy signal. 

Armstrong says now she knows it’s a scam, but that doesn’t change the fact that her daughter is still missing. 

“It’s not fair. I just want to know where my little girl is,” she said. 

If you know anything about Kaylae Nicolay’s whereabouts, you’re encouraged to call IMPD at 317-327-6321. The case number is #I181440735/PD18054107.

If you suspect someone is trying to scam you, the Attorney General’s Office says to call 911 immediately.