Police say Maine couple kidnapped daughter, intent on forcing abortion
Katelyn Kampf did not subscribe to her parents' vision for her life, police said. The 19-year-old Maine resident secretly dropped out of college and moved in with a family that her parents disapproved of, authorities said.
After she became pregnant by a man who is now in jail, her parents allegedly resorted to extreme tactics: Police say they tied her up with rope, gagged her with duct tape, and put her in the family Lexus and drove her across state lines, intent on forcing her to have an abortion.
The parents -- prominent Portland, Maine, property owners Nicolas Kampf, 54, and Lola Kampf , 53 -- were arrested Friday at a strip mall in Salem, N.H., after their daughter escaped and called police.
The parents were held over the weekend on $100,000 cash bail each and are scheduled to be arraigned today on kidnapping charges in Salem District Court .
``Nobody has any legal right in this country to hold a kid against her will," Salem police Lieutenant Fred Rheault said. ``The words `pleasure trip' did not come up."
Other than the red marks left by the duct tape, the younger Kampf was uninjured, said police .
Katelyn Kampf , a former honors student and graduate of the Waynflete prep school in Maine , was removed from Boston College sometime last year because her parents disapproved of her current love interest, said Rheault.
The woman was forced to transfer to George Washington University , in Washington, D.C., where her parents paid for her apartment, said Rheault. But upon visiting the region, they learned she had quit school, he said.
``They did their own investigation and found she wasn't going to school, and that led them back to Maine, where they found her living [in Portland] with the family of a young man they had prohibited her from being with," said Rheault.
The man, whom police did not identify, is believed to be the father of the unborn child. Salem police said he is in prison in Maine, but details were not available.
Friday morning, the elder Kampfs took their daughter from their home in North Yarmouth, Maine, police said. After binding and gagging her, they starting driving toward New York or Massachusetts, where they planned to force her to have an abortion, said police, who added that the parents later admitted to the plot.
About 3 p.m. Friday, Nicolas Kampf stopped at Kmart in Salem, where Katelyn Kampf convinced her parents to let her use the restroom.
She fled when she and her father became separated, then dialed 911 from the Staples next door , authorities said .
Police found the parents driving around the parking lot, looking for their daughter. Police said they found a .22 caliber rifle, rope, and duct tape in the car. In Maine, a license is not required to carry a firearm, unless it is concealed.
Friends and former classmates of Katelyn Kampf said the relationship between the teen and her parents was strained.
``She always had a really weird relationship with her parents," said Ella Stiler-Cote , another honors student from Waynflete who attends college in the Boston area. ``She was always running away in high school."
Boston College officials said Kampf is still a registered student in the class of 2009 in the school of arts and sciences. Friends at Boston College said they were unaware that she was pregnant.
Robert H. Prince , a prosecutor for the Salem Police Department, said Nicolas and Lola Kampf could also face charges in Maine .
Mark Dion, sheriff in Cumberland County, Maine, said the case was being investigated and charges could be filed at the discretion of the district attorney.
Records show the Kampf family owns or owned several Portland-area businesses, including the State Theatre and the Oak Leaf Inn, Salem police said.
Abortion procedures are available in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, states the parents could conceivably drive through on their way to New York or Massachusetts, where they allegedly planned to meet with a medical professional, whose name was not disclosed.
Betty Jo Kampf , an in-law of the Kampfs from Maryland, was stunned when she learned of the charges.
``I'm just sitting here with my mouth hanging open," Kampf said. ``I can't imagine a doctor who would perform an abortion on someone who is bound and gagged. I understand being upset if your daughter is pregnant, but to force her abortion?"
Adrienne P. Samuels can be reached at asamuels@globe.com 