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Heroes

Heroes

This quick-thinking teen cleverly befriended a woman's kidnapper to rescue her

Malyk Bonnet did a very brave thing: He listened to his gut.

YouTube | CBS News

Malyk Bonnet recounts his clever rescue.


You've probably been there. You're out and about and you see something that just feels...off.

"Should I step in? ... But it's not really any of my business. ... And I'm not even sure they need my help..."

Our gut tells us to speak up, to ask questions, to tell someone. But often, we don't.

This happened to Malyk Bonnet in 2015. The then 17-year-old from Montreal saw a strange situation, and instead of ignoring his instincts, he acted brilliantly. It may have saved a woman's life.

Bonnet had been having a relatively normal day until he spotted something suspicious on his way home.

He'd been waiting for the bus after a shift at the restaurant where he works when he saw a man and woman arguing. He sensed a red flag.

"The guy was screaming at her, the girl," Bonnet told CBC News. "He wasn't really gentle with her, and I started watching, because I thought he would hit her, so I approached them a little bit."


The pair asked Bonnet if he could lend them bus fares to nearby Laval, a city about 25 miles away from downtown Montreal.

Bonnet felt uneasy about what was happening. But instead of declining, he decided to get more involved. He helped the man and woman with their fares and told them he was also traveling to Laval (which was not the case).

"My plan was to keep them in a public place where he wouldn't hurt her," Bonnet told Dateline NBC. "I decided to be friendly with the man and have him think I was his friend. I played my game and he seemed to trust me."

After arriving in Laval, Bonnet suggested they grab a bite to eat. At the restaurant, he gave the pair $50 for food and excused himself to use the restroom. Finally having the opportunity, he called the police and told them "someone had been kidnapped." Officers arrived minutes later.

What Bonnet hadn't known at the time was that police were already looking for the perpetrator and his victim.

The abusive man Bonnet reported had abducted his ex-girlfriend just hours beforehand.

"We were looking for a 29-year-old woman who was kidnapped by her former boyfriend earlier that day," Laval police Lt. Daniel Guérin told CBC News. "We believed that man was very dangerous."

Previously, the abuser spent time behind bars for assaulting his ex and sending her death threats.

Bonnet told Dateline NBC that while he didn't speak with the woman after police arrived, he could see how relieved she was. "We made eye contact and she had tears in her eyes. She was really happy."

Unfortunately, this type of tragic experience isn't all that rare.

While this particular story unfolded in Canada—where roughly half of women have experienced at least one incident of sexual or physical violence since the age of 16—you'll find similarly alarming statistics in the U.S.

woman with her head down on a table while man with clenched fists stands behind her.

1 in 4 American women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.

Photo via Thinkstock.

1 out of 4 American women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. What's more, female victims of homicide are far more likely than male victims to be killed by a current or former partner.

Although it may seem easy to simply leave an abusive relationship in the dust, take it from some women who've been there—it's much more difficult than it seems from the outside looking in.

Instead of passing judgment, you can learn more about how you can help friends and family members who may be experiencing domestic abuse.

Watch Bonnet recount the story in his own words:

- YouTube

Bonnet has become a local hero for his selflessness.

"His quick actions may have saved this young woman's life," Guérin said. The officers made sure to collect money so Bonnet could be reimbursed for the bus fares and food he purchased while trying to save the victim. "He now has 500 new friends in our department."

Thank you, Malyk, for reminding us that sometimes the bravest thing we can do is simply listen to our gut when it's trying to get our attention.


This article originally appeared nine years ago.

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Heroes

Two moms found missing baby just in time using their intuition and a bit of classic sleuthing

A wild ride with the best possible ending.

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Two moms find missing baby in abandoned car just in time

There's a prime market for crime documentaries and it's typically moms. This is totally based on personal observation and not hard data. Flexing your sleuthing skills on a case that's already solved and being aired on multiple networks is easy. Doing it when you're faced with a situation in real life is a bit harder and should likely be left up to the professionals.

But what happens when you're face to face with someone that is accused of kidnapping a baby? Well, two women in Indianapolis put on their detective hats when alarm bells went off after buying toys from a woman who was in front of a gas station. Shyann Delmar and Mecka Curry's hunch led them on a wild ride fit for a Lifetime movie.

On December 19, 2022, Kason and Ky'air Thomas, 5-month-old twins were in the backseat of their mother's running car in Columbus, Ohio when she ran inside to pick up a Door Dash order. In the short amount of time it took her to retrieve the order and return to the car, Nalah Jackson had hopped in the vehicle and taken off with the boys inside.

Jackson left Ky'air at the Dayton International Airport the following morning but the hunt was still on for his twin brother Kason. When it comes to missing children, the clock is ticking immediately for a safe recovery. Unlike adult missing persons, the FBI steps in from the moment an Amber Alert is placed for children of "tender years," which is considered 12 and under. So there was no shortage of people looking for Kason and Jackson.

Delmar purchased toys from Jackson in front of an Indianapolis gas station and gave the woman, who claimed her name was "Mae" a ride to the dollar store when the woman began to act strangely, according to News5 Cleveland. Because the passenger began behaving in an odd manner, Delmar recorded her and exchanged numbers before dropping "Mae" off at the store.

Something felt off to Delmar and when she was surfing social media, she got her first clue. Delmar told News5 Cleveland, "I was scrolling on Facebook and saw a mugshot, of this girl with... blonde hair, and I'm like... she looks familiar." After her grandmother informed her that it was possible for the woman in the mugshot to be someone else, Delmar contacted her cousin Mecka Curry who ultimately helped find the child.

Once the two cousins started working together, they devised a plan to help have the woman apprehended. Since Delmar had exchanged numbers with the woman, when she called to ask if Delmar was interested in buying more toys, that's when the women's plan was set in motion. They were able to get the woman in the car but their attempts to alert the police resulted in them getting the runaround as the police stations didn't believe them.

Eventually someone listened, Curry told New5 Cleveland, "Now the police know what kind of car we in, the police know who we got in the car, the police know what to do, they know where our location is," and the plan worked. They got pulled over with Jackson being none the wiser on who alerted the police as she was being apprehended. But the baby wasn't with Jackson so the cousins went off of their only clue.

Jackson dropped a bus schedule in the backseat of Delmar's car so the ladies retraced the stops on the schedule looking for a snow covered vehicle that had not been touched. The idea was, if Jackson abandoned the car, it would be covered in fresh snow. They were right. The two saw the abandoned car and looking in the window they saw Kason's legs. He was rescued just in the nick of time because Indianapolis was supposed to reach sub zero temperatures that night.

Of course the family is beyond grateful that these ladies didn't ignore their intuition and wouldn't stop until they followed their gut completely. Kason made it home just in time for Christmas to be reunited with his twin brother and both of his parents.

Watch his family's reaction to this incredible rescue below:

This article originally appeared two years ago.

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Heroes

Toddler falls into pool and becomes his own hero thanks to survival swimming classes

He immediately knew what to do until help arrived.

Photo credit: Canva

17-month-old saves himself after falling in pool

There's nearly nothing more terrifying than your small child falling into a body of water when you're not looking. It's something that parents have nightmares about while some parents are left grieving that nightmare becoming reality. Accidents around pools are very common, resulting in massive public safety announcements about ways to keep kids safe around bodies of water.

There are initiatives ranging from discouraging parents from using Puddle Jumpers to making sure parents know to avoid putting blue bathing suits on children. Blue bathing suits makes it harder for people to see if a child has gone under water and the popular Puddle Jumpers give kids false confidence and teaches them improper form for swimming. But one of the most important message to parents has been to make sure your children know basic water safety skills and learn to swim.

Typically when small children fall into a pool while briefly unsupervised they panic causing them to quickly become submerged, sinking to the bottom of the pool. The drowning child is then only rescued if a parent, caregiver, older sibling or family dog sees them and jumps into action. But for one San Diego family, their 17-month old knew exactly what to do when he was running by the pool and fell inside. The entire thing was caught on home surveillance camera, piquing interest in the life saving swim lessons.

girl in white tank top on swimming pool during daytime Photo by Rendy Novantino on Unsplash

Little Frankie had been taking Infant Self Rescue (ISR) water safety training for months where the instructor teaches babies how to prepare for falling into water before righting themselves and floating. Watching the video you can see the training immediately kick in as the boy realizes he's going into the water. He immediately takes a deep breath as he's falling. While his little feet were above his head he didn't panic, he maneuvered his body until he could safely turn over to take a breath.

The baby floats on his back until his father sees him. Frankie's dad runs to his side only to stop for a minute in shock that his son was perfectly fine. He saved himself from a possible deadly situation by doing exactly what he was taught to do through those survival swim lessons.

boy in red t-shirt playing with water Photo by Yianni Mathioudakis on Unsplash

"I immediately thought, 'oh my gosh, he did exactly what he was taught to do," Frankie's mom says in part to Fox 5 San Diego. "He did what he was supposed to do and those lessons were invaluable."

The instructor for the ISR classes says he has been inundated with class sign ups after the story of Frankie got out. Witnessing the training save a small child in a real-life situation that could've ended in tragedy encouraged parents to take this type of training more seriously. Thanks to the toddler's months of training, falling into the pool didn't cause him any fear around falling into the pool. The little guy might have thought it was just another part of his training, especially since his dad didn't panic and pulled the boy out of the pool quickly.

ISR lessons can be cost prohibitive but community centers and places like the YMCA offer swim lessons for people of all ages, including infants. They're not the same type of lessons but they all teach water safety, including floating. Learning how to be comfortable in and around water to include some basic water survival skills will help children have safer experiences around water.

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28-year-old buys cruise ship apartment because it's less than renting and he can see the world

An all-expenses-paid life for about $50,000 a year? Sounds like a deal.

via Pixabay

A cruise ship floating on azure waters.

Living the rest of your life on a cruise ship seems like the dream of the ultra-rich. You wake up every morning and have an all-you-can-eat breakfast. Spend the afternoon hanging out by the pool or touring a fantastic city such as Rome or Dubrovnik. At night, have a drink in the lounge watching a comedian or a jazz band, then hit the sack and do it all over again the next day. Seems too good to be true for the average person, right? Think again.

Twenty-eight-year-old Austin Wells of San Diego told CNBC that he can make it happen because it’s cheaper than living onshore in Southern California and he gets to see the world. “The thing that most excites me is I don’t have to upend my daily routine, in order to go see the world,” Wells told CNBC.


“I’m going from this model where you want to go somewhere, you pack a bag, you get on a flight, you rent a room, to now my condo, my gym, my doctors and dentists, all of my grocery stores travel the world with me,” he added.

Wells purchased an apartment on the MV Narrative, which is currently being built in Croatia and sets sail in 2025.

The rough math for Wells' dream makes perfect sense. He purchased a 12-year lease on the ship for $300,000. That comes to about $2,100 a month if he didn’t have to take out a loan. By comparison, most apartments in San Diego cost more than $2,100 per month in rent.

The ship charges an additional $2,100 a month for all-inclusive services, which include food, drinks, alcohol, gym membership, routine healthcare check-ups, onboard entertainment and laundry.

So, it could cost Wells as little as $4,200 a month to live an all-expenses-paid life. Plus, there’s no need to pay for a car or waste time shopping for groceries or traveling anywhere. It’s all on the ship.

Wells can work from the ship because his job with Meta is fully remote.

"What I'm probably most excited about is going to places that ships can only uniquely go,” he told CNBC, adding that cruise ships can travel to “unique ecological parts of the world or beautiful dive spots that are a few miles off land or caves to dive through and the ship will do a number of overnight stays in those areas."

Wells isn’t the only person who’s decided to live on a permanent vacation. Upworthy spoke with a couple in their 50s earlier this year who live on cruise ships because it’s cheaper than their mortgage.

Richard Burk and his wife, Angelyn, are living their best life hopping from ship to ship for around $100 a night, depending on the cruise. "Cruise costs vary quite a bit, our goal is to average about $100 per night, for the couple, or less across an entire calendar year," Richard told Upworthy.

The Burks keep the costs of cruising down through loyalty memberships. “We love to travel and we were searching for a way to continuously travel in our retirement that made financial sense,” Angelyn told 7 News.

People like Wells and the Burks may be outliers in society. They’ve chosen to give up the comforts of home for the comfort of living a life being catered to 24/7. While most of us probably won’t opt to make the big leap and live life out at the sea, their stories are a wonderful reminder that with a little creative thinking, we can create the perfect lives for ourselves whether on land or at sea.

This article originally appeared two years ago.

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