• A former Crawford County Library Board member was charged in a plot to kidnap her own daughter.
• The mother allegedly staged the kidnapping as a scare tactic to teach her daughter about the dangers of talking to strangers online.
• The daughter escaped her captors and ran to a nearby home for help, leading to the investigation.
• The former board member, Tami Hamby, was previously involved in efforts to remove LGBTQ+ books from the county library.

Former Crawford County Library Board member Tamara “Tammi” Hamby turned herself in Dec. 3, 2025, on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping and endangering the welfare of an incompetent person in the first degree stemming from a plot to kidnap her own daughter Nov. 17, 2025.

Tammi Hamby targeted her daughter, Jami Hamby (age 22, listed as mentally incompetent on the arrest warrant), to have her “kidnapped” as a scare tactic due to Jami talking to strangers online.

Jami Hamby escaped her kidnappers and fled to a nearby home in Rudy, Arkansas, where the county sheriff was called and arrived at the scene.

Through the investigation, it was learned that Tami Hamby spoke with Shannon Childers, who is the Hambys' certified nursing assistant, who assists in the care for Jami, to help stage the kidnapping. The plot was to have someone pretend to be associated with country singer Luke Bryan and get Jami to go with them, drive her to a field up the road, tell Jami they’re not with the singer, demand money, and tie Jami to a tree. Tammi could rescue her daughter and use it as a lesson as to why she shouldn’t talk to strangers online.

Tammi asked Childers if she knew anyone who could assist with the plan. Childers recruited David Quach and Nico Austria.

Childers drove Quach and Austria to show them where Jami lived and the field in which to tie up Jami. Tammi would be nearby watching.

Austria showed up at the Hamby residence and said he was with Luke Bryan and that if Jami wanted to meet him, she needed to go with him. Quach was hiding in the vehicle's trunk. When they arrived at the field, Austria let Quach out of the trunk, and both demanded money from Jami. When she said she had no money, the duo zip-tied her wrists and tried to tie her to a tree. Jami broke free but was tackled by the duo. They threatened to harm Jami if she ran again or yelled for help. The pair got back into the vehicle and drove to meet Tammi.

After Austria and Quach left, Jami broke free and ran to the nearest home, and 911 was called.

According to the arrest warrant, Jami’s wrists were observed to have red pressure marks on both wrists with bruising on both arms.

Hamby posted a bond of $150,000 and was released from the Crawford County Justice Center by the evening of Dec. 3. The County prosecutor, Kevin Holmes, stated that since it’s an ongoing investigation, he was unable to comment on the specifics of the case, but did say that more charges could be pending.

Crawford County Library settlement

Tami Hamby and her husband, Dr. Jeffrey Hamby, were instrumental in the past year in pushing the county library to remove LGBTQ+ books from the library, citing harm to children. The library system was sued and eventually lost the appeal at the Arkansas Supreme Court, costing the county and the library nearly $500,000 in lawyer fees.

She resigned from her position on the library board Nov. 24, 2025, citing her move out of the county.

Crawford County Judge Chris Keith didn’t respond to a request for a comment about this latest development. None of the county’s 13 Justices of the Peace respond, except for one, who replied, “no comment.”