The Abduction of Nefertiri Trader

I don’t usually write about recent crimes--it feels like prying, somehow.  I also rarely cover cases where it seems indisputable that the victim was kidnapped, simply because there’s usually not much to say about it.  However, the following mystery is so peculiar--not to mention creepy as all hell--that I have made an exception to both those rules.  Besides, it’s a case that hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention as it deserves.

33-year-old Nefertiri Trader lived with her three children in New Castle, Delaware, where she worked in the housekeeping department at Christiana Hospital.  From the little that was reported, she was an outgoing, energetic person who was generally liked.  Around 3:30 a.m. on June 30, 2014, Trader, who was on medical leave from her job (the nature of her illness was not made public) went to a nearby 7-11.  The clerk knew Trader by sight, as she often visited the store, although he didn’t recall her ever coming by at such an odd hour.  She bought a pack of cigarettes, a loaf of bread, and two cups of coffee.

She never made it into her home.  At 4 a.m., a neighbor of hers heard some sort of commotion outside.  When he looked out a window, he saw a man dragging a woman he later identified as Trader to a car, where she was placed in the back seat.  The neighbor assumed she was merely being taken to the hospital, so he shrugged off the incident and went back to sleep.  The car is believed to be Trader’s own vehicle, (a 2000 silver Acura RL with the license plate 404893) as it disappeared with her.  Nefertiri’s 17-year-old son also heard noises, but by the time he went out to the front porch, he saw nothing.  

It was not until about 4:30 on the following afternoon that Nefertiri’s family, concerned that they were unable to contact her, phoned police.  When officers arrived some two hours later, they found in the front yard a loaf of bread that had been stepped on.  On the front porch were the rest of Trader’s purchases from the night before.  There was also an unopened condom.  Trader’s flip-flops were by the front door. 

Unfortunately, that appears to be all anyone knows about Trader’s disappearance.  The police investigation failed to find any suspects, or any indication where the unfortunate woman was taken.  Her car was also never seen again.

There is one possible clue regarding Trader’s abduction.  In February 2014, Trader was drinking at a bar called Club Rebel with a man named Radee Prince.  The two were sitting in her car outside the club when five or six men pulled Prince out of the car and beat him up.  Trader later told police that she didn’t see much of the attack, and could not identify the men responsible.  Prince believed that one Jason Baul hired these men to assault him. 

Although Prince told police he “had no idea” if Trader played any role in his beating, the fact that an unknown man kidnapped her a few months after the incident is, to say the least, intriguing.  However, I have found no indication that police pursued that angle.  If Prince--who was convicted in 2020 of gunning down five people, including Baul, killing three of them--had any notion about what had happened to Nefertiri, he kept that to himself.

As usually happens in unsolved crime cases, there are a lot of unanswered questions.  Why did Trader go to 7-11 at such an unusual hour?  Why did she buy two cups of coffee?  Was she expecting to meet someone?

This was probably not a random abduction.  Trader was most likely kidnapped by someone who knew when she left the house, and when she would return.  But who could that have been?  And considering that her assailant used Trader’s car to take her away, how did this person arrive at her home?  (No strange cars were found in her neighborhood.)

There is yet another thing that puzzles me:  If I approached my front door, only to have someone suddenly appear and drag me back to the car, I would shriek loud enough to wake the dead.  I bet you would, too. But although Trader’s neighbor and her son heard noises, neither mentioned hearing any screams.  This suggests that Trader’s abductor was someone she knew, and someone she did not initially see as any serious threat.

The abduction of Nefertiri Trader is one of those crimes that, given dogged police work and a bit of luck, should have been solved.  Perhaps, it still can be.