Leigh and her sisters Karen and Laura disappeared from Middletown, Delaware on August 26, 2007. Their mother, Christine Belford, dropped them off at the home of their non-custodial father, her ex-husband David Matusiewicz, for a visitation period. David told her he and his mother, Lenore F. Matusiewicz, were taking the girls on a two-week vacation to the Disney World theme park.

Two days later, Belford got a call from Laura. Laura told her mother she had been in the car for a very long time. Belford was confused by this, because David had told her they would be flying to Disney World. He never brought the children home and they have never been heard from again.

David was an optometrist and a prominent member of the community at the time he abducted his children. He may still be working in the optometry field. He is a gun enthusiast and owned at least a dozen guns. Belford believes he may have taken them so he could get alternative treatments for Leigh's autism; he believed biofeedback and intravenous chelation might cure her. He allegedly forged Belford's name on a loan document for $249,000 before he disappeared. He sold his optometry business for $625,000, and liquidated most of his stocks. He may have as much as $1 million to pay for his flight from authorities.

Photographs and vital statistics for David and Lenore are posted below this case summary. A felony warrant for kidnapping was issued for David on September 25, 2007 and for Lenore on February 1, 2008. They may have traveled out of state, possibly to Texas or West Virginia. Laura, Leigh and Karen's whereabouts are unknown and their cases remain unsolved.