Jennifer Lea Settle, born January 30, 1971, in Elkton, Maryland, is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in connection with the parental kidnapping of her daughter, McKenna Butcher, born November 14, 2007. According to court records and FBI statements, Settle previously took McKenna from the girl's father, Michael Butcher, when the child was an infant and raised her for years without his knowledge before he located them in Greenville, South Carolina, and pursued visitation rights. A family court awarded Butcher full custody in 2019, and on April 25, 2019, days after that ruling, Settle allegedly took then-11-year-old McKenna from Taylors, South Carolina; neither has been seen since. Investigators believe the pair may have been traveling in a 2005 Chrysler Town and Country bearing South Carolina license plate 7810MC, and note that McKenna may go by the surname "Settle."
A South Carolina state warrant charges Settle with custodial interference, and a federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution was issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in June 2019. The FBI's Columbia Field Office and the Greenville County Sheriff's Office have led the investigation since that time. Investigators have said Settle does not let McKenna out of her sight and reportedly told acquaintances in Maryland that she intended to disappear; authorities have not ruled out that the two left the country. As of an October 2024 update -- the Greenville County Sheriff's Office's oldest open missing-child case -- investigators said they believe someone in the Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson, South Carolina area may have helped Settle establish a new identity or hide there or elsewhere. Neither Settle nor McKenna has been publicly reported located as of this entry. Anyone with information is asked to contact the FBI's Columbia Field Office, the nearest FBI office, or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.
