Audrey was abducted from the New York City borough of Staten Island in May 1988. She was taken by her mother, Marcia Brenda Bloom Leinoff. A photograph and vital statistics for Marcia are posted below this case summary.

Marcia and Audrey's father, Lawrence Steven "Larry" Leinoff, married in 1978. They had a troubled relationship and separated in 1986; Lawrence moved back in with his parents while Marcia remained in their home on Forrestal Avenue in Staten Island with Audrey. They agreed that Lawrence would be allowed liberal visitation with Audrey, but Marcia did not want Lawrence or his parents to be allowed access to Audrey and stated that Lawrence terrorized Audrey and contact with him was harmful to her psychological well-being. She sent Audrey to several counselors to address this, and kept Lawrence and his parents from seeing the child for nearly a year, until they all filed for court-ordered vistation. Lawrence stated that he wanted to get custody of Audrey since Marcia would not allow them to have a relationship, and that if he was given custody, he would allow Marcia to see the child, as he believed she was better off having contact with both parents.

Psychological evaluations were done for both parents and the evaluations found that Marcia was overly possessive of her daughter, very anxious, and possibly had a mixed personality disorder, with narcissistic, obsessional and compulsive characteristics present. Lawrence was judged to be essentially normal. In January 1988, it was recommended that custody of Audrey be given to her father and that Marcia be allowed visitation only.

In May 1988, Marcia accused Lawrence of sexually abusing Audrey. She was supposed to present evidence of this in court in mid-May, but failed to appear. The child abuse complaint was dismissed as unfounded. Marcia applied for a passport in Audrey's name in California in June 1988; she stated that she planned to travel to Tel-Aviv, Israel for two to three weeks. It is known that she and Audrey arrived in Israel on June 18. Lawrence gained custody of Audrey in the United States afterwards. He also sued for custody in Israeli courts and it was automatically granted him, as Marcia failed to appear to defend her rights to Audrey.

Marcia and Audrey have not been located and are believed to still be in Israel. They are probably still in touch with Marcia's parents, Sylvia and Seymour Bloom. A family court warrant has been issued for Marcia's arrest. Lawrence continues to search for his daughter. Her case remains unsolved.