Rumors have gone viral online that dozens of children have gone missing and have potentially been abducted in Virginia, in a situation that sounds eerily similar to the 2025 Zach Cregger horror movie, Weapons.
Virginia State Police, however, have debunked these claims, stating, “Virginia State Police is not investigating any reports of a ‘mass kidnapper’ in the Commonwealth,” according to Virginia news outlet 13 News Now.
There has been an increase in the number of children reported missing in a different state, but there, too, authorities have said there is no evidence to suggest the cases are connected or that there is a mass kidnapping taking place.
“Weapons” also involves mass child disappearance
@bookendpicks man, I’m so tired of this week. no there are not 50 missing children and no people aren’t kidnapping your kids in ice cream trucks #virginia #news
♬ original sound – Megan •+
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In Weapons, 17 third-grade students vanish simultaneously from their Pennsylvania home, except for one. In mid-August 2025, the same month Weapons was released, alarming TikTok and Facebook videos went viral, suggesting that a mass abduction of dozens of children had occurred, all within a matter of days. One video even claimed a suspicious ice‑cream truck was cruising late at night, luring children.
Nearly 100 children were reported missing in early August, but those numbers are consistent with the state’s weekly average of around 98 cases. Most of the reported cases involve runaways.
Meanwhile, only two AMBER Alerts have been issued statewide in 2025, and both led to safe recoveries. At the same time, 25 Critical Operations for a Disappeared Child Initiative (CODI) alerts — another alert system for endangered children — were also issued, all resulting in safe returns.
Virginia does report more missing‑child cases to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) than any other state. That’s not because more children are missing: Unlike other states, Virginia forwards every case.
Missing children in North Dakota
Elsewhere, though, there has been a “concerning” increase in missing children reported in North Dakota around the same time, but authorities have said there is no sign the cases are connected.
According to the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office, nine juveniles are currently listed as missing, with the earliest disappearance recorded on July 28, 2025. Two more cases were added as recently as August 17, including that of 16-year-old Alexa Taylor.
Investigators believe most involve individual circumstances, such as runaways, rather than a coordinated abduction scheme. “It’s concerning,” said Agent Steven Harstad of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, noting that unreported runaway activity could be driving some of the numbers.
Over half of the missing are from tribal communities, underscoring the disproportionate impact Indigenous families continue to face when it comes to missing persons cases.
Despite the apparent lack of a link, officials stress that every disappearance is treated as a high-risk case. Even habitual runaways, they caution, may be vulnerable to trafficking, exploitation, or harm.
