Author Barbara Stcherbatcheff Reportedly Arrested for Kidnapping Son

Virgin Books

Bestselling author was arrested for allegedly kidnapping her own son, 10-year-old Valentin, according to multiple reports.

Stcherbatcheff, 42, was arrested in The Bahamas on Tuesday, December 10, and appeared before a local magistrate several days later following a provisional warrant for extradition, according to local newspaper Nassau Guardian. Stcherbatcheff was subsequently remanded to prison and is set to return to court on Monday, December 16.

Valentin had been reported missing in his native country of Switzerland. According to the Guardian, Stcherbatcheff lost custody in 2021 and was first accused of kidnapping the child in February 2023. She allegedly failed to return Valentin to his father, Daniel Rene Stankowski, after a weeklong visit, authorities told the Daily Mail.

Valentin is currently listed as a missing person on Interpol’s website, which states that he disappeared from Zurich in February 2023 when he was 8. Since then, it is suspected that Valentin has “likely” visited Croatia, the United States, Costa Rica, Belize, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Ireland and other undefined countries, per the entry. It is categorized as a “yellow flag” notice, spanning multiple countries.

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Stcherbatcheff, who is an American-born author with British citizenship, is wanted in Switzerland on charges of kidnapping and child stealing. According to the Daily Mail, Stcherbatcheff was found in the Bahamas at a residence with her apparent boyfriend. (The outlet claimed that she referred to herself as Barbara Murphy and hadn’t used Stcherbatcheff in several years.)

Further details have not been publicly shared. Us Weekly has reached out for comment.

Stcherbatcheff started her career as a newspaper writer for The London Paper, covering the financial industry via her “City Girl” column. Stcherbatcheff wrote her newspaper column anonymously in 2008, revealing her identity one year later. The experience later inspired her 2009 book Confessions of a City Girl.

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“When City Girl first stepped into the Square Mile she had no idea of the fight for survival she would face over the next five years,” a book summary reads. “But despite lap dancing clubs and million-dollar losses; divorce in the City and the worst recession since the 1930s, City Girl was still standing. She’d taken on the boys at their own game—and won. Fresh from writing the thelondonpaper‘s City Girl column, Suzana S. gives us the inside track on life in the financial capital of the world. This is her story. Confessions of a City Girl tells us what really went wrong—and explains why girls are the only ones who can put it right.”

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Confessions of a City Girl is a U.K. Sunday Times bestseller and has been translated into German and Polish.

If you think a child is missing or in danger, you can call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

 

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