A Best-Selling Author Arrested in the Bahamas: A Twisted Tale of Kidnapping and Run
Barbara Stcherbatcheff, a 42-year-old American expat, and author of the Sunday Times bestseller “Confessions of a City Girl,” has been arrested in the Bahamas for allegedly kidnapping her eight-year-old son, Valentin Stankowski, and going on the run for nearly two years.
According to authorities, Stcherbatcheff picked up Valentin from his father’s home in Zurich, Switzerland, but failed to return him at the end of a scheduled week-long visit. The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued a yellow notice for the missing person, listing multiple countries as possible locations where the fugitive mom and son may have relocated.
After a nearly two-year search, authorities finally located the pair in an exclusive gated community on the island of New Providence, where Stcherbatcheff was living with a local man described as her new boyfriend. The 5,000-mile journey took them to an estate worth up to $70 million, where Stcherbatcheff was arrested.
Valentin, who has dual Swiss and British citizenship, was found unharmed and is being cared for by authorities while his father, Daniel Stankowski, travels from Switzerland to the Bahamas to be reunited with his son.
Stcherbatcheff, a former columnist for The London Paper, has written a provocative book that exposed the excesses of life in finance, drawing on her own experiences as an investment banker. She has also claimed a Guinness World Record for running a marathon in an animal costume and has been open about her views on the dark side of the financial industry.
In a recent interview with Der Speigel, she stated, “Most people imagine me to be a bit crazier. As a city girl, for example, I swore when I lost money. But my male colleagues were much worse. They banged on the tables, threw the mouse across the room, and smashed the monitors when things weren’t going well.”
For now, Stcherbatcheff will remain locked up in Nassau’s Fox Hill prison, pending extradition to Switzerland, where she faces charges of kidnapping and child stealing.
