The family at the centre of one of Melbourne’s most disturbing kidnapping cases are today begging for help to find their missing girl all over again.
Montana Barbaro was kidnapped from a shopping centre in Deer Park, 17km west of the Melbourne CBD, when she was three weeks old in 2004.
She was found in an abandoned and derelict house in North Melbourne two days after when a passer-by heard her cries and reunited her with her desperate parents.
Her kidnappers, Cheryl McEachran and husband Mark McEachran, could not have a child of their own so decided to steal somebody else’s. They were jailed for four and seven years respectively.
The case gripped Melbourne and sent chills down the spines of mothers everywhere. Fifteen years on, Montana is missing again.
Police confirmed the 15-year-old was last seen seven days ago on January 18 after disappearing from a home in Truganina, 22km west of the Melbourne CBD.
Her family says she went outside about 9pm to get reception on her phone and did not come back.
“Police and family have concerns for her welfare due to her age and the length of time she has been missing,” a police spokeswoman said.
“She was last seen wearing a blue zip-up jumper, grey track pants and white shoes.”
Montana’s parents — her mother Anita Ciancio and her father convicted criminal, Joe Barbaro, have “concerns for her welfare”, police say.
Mr Barbaro told the Herald Sun his wife was beside herself with worry.
“She’s going mad. I can’t concentrate, I can’t do nothing — she’s an absolute mess,” he said.
“Come home … We love her, we miss her.”
On the day Montana was kidnapped in 2004, her mother was attacked with capsicum spray in the carpark of the shopping centre. The attackers grabbed the little girl from her car seat and took her to a caravan park to a relative’s house.
They told friends and family Montana was their daughter but, following extensive media attention, they dumped her at the property in North Melbourne.
Anyone who sees Montana is urged to contact Wyndham North Police Station on 8734 1100.
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