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In this episode, retired agent Kelly Liberti reviews her investigation to identify and apprehend the unknown male who abducted a six-year-old girl from her home and abused her before releasing her in a different neighborhood 17 hours later. Kelly also discusses the FBI’s national Child Abduction Rapid Deployment, CARD team.
Through historical cellular analysis and familial DNA, also known as investigative genetic genealogy, the unknown male was identified as Justin Christian. This case marked the first use of familial DNA in Ohio.
Special Agent (Retired)
Kelly Liberti-Gardner
11/1995 – 3/2019
Kelly Liberti served in the FBI for over 23 years.
She spent her entire career in the Cleveland Division, where she worked primarily in violent crime and violent crime against children, specializing in child exploitation, child abduction and child sex trafficking.
When investigating the Justin Christian, she was one of two agents assigned to the Elyria Resident Agency (RA). She spent six years in the RA working all violations until the Elyria RA closed in 2016 and she was transferred back to Cleveland Field Office.
Kelly was a crisis negotiator for 20 years and for seven of those years served as the team coordinator. In 2006, she was selected for the newly minted CARD team and deployed on cases across the country. During the last three years of her Bureau career, she was the Central Team Leader for CARD.
She was also an adjunct instructor for the FBI, certified in the areas of crimes against children and negotiations. Kelly, a former broadcast journalist before joining the FBI, also taught media relations.
After her retirement from the FBI, Kelly spent three years working as a child forensic interviewer, interviewing close to a thousand children for law enforcement or children’s services.
Currently, she works as a contract investigator on cold cases for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Kelly is also an instructor for the National Criminal Justice Training Center for Child Abductions and teaches negotiations for a private company.
The following are links to articles about the abduction case and the investigation of Justin Christian for the crime and the FBI’s CARD Team:
Cleveland.com – 10/13/2016: FBI baffled by mysterious Cleveland and Elyria child abduction cases
ABC News (VIDEO) – 10/14/2016: Ohio Investigators Still Searching for ‘Fearless’ Serial Kidnapper Targeting Young Children
Cleveland 19 News – 9/14/2017: New DNA technique credited with helping lock child rapist up for 35 years
Cleveland.com – 9/14/2017: Decades in prison for man who kidnapped and raped Cleveland girl, tried to abduct Elyria girl
People – 9/18/2017: ‘There Are Monsters in This World’: Ohio ‘Serial Abductor’ Gets 35 Years for Kidnapping Girls From Bedrooms
Cleveland 19 News – 9/15/2017: Child rapist scolded and sent to prison for 35 years with no chance of parole
FBI Website – 5/9/2014: Investigating Child Abductions – FBI CARD Team Plays a Vital Role
FBI Website: Violent Crimes Against Children
FBI Website: Parents, Caregivers, and Teachers: Protecting Your Kids
Listen to more FBI Retired Case File Review episodes featuring child abductions here.
To learn more about historical cell phone analysis and familial DNA, listen to these episodes:
332: Bill Shute – Murder of LaToyia Figueroa, Historical Cellular Analysis
306: Steve Kramer and Steve Busch – Investigative Genetic Genealogy, Golden State Killer
307: Steve Busch and Steve Kramer – Investigative Genetic Genealogy, Cold Case Murders, Indago
The following are case related images:
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