Heidi Russo, 44, now a registered nurse in Denver, made the heart-wrenching decision to place her baby Colin in the care of the Kaepernick family back in 1987. Ms Russo has been following her son's growing celebrity status from the stands at football matches but longs for a deeper relationship with him and regularly comments on Kaepernick's Twitter profile.

The footage captures the emotional moment the high school teenager learns that her dad, who has just returned from his deployment, is lurking in the wings. She stares slack-jawed as her father, identified only as Michael, comes on stage, before running into his arms. 'This moment was so moving there was not a dry eye in the room,' her mother explained. 'We really pulled off!'

Jason DeJesus and Chanelle Troedson (pictured) are a Californian couple who have been arrested for kidnapping a handyman for seven hours and forcing him to do work on their home earlier this week. Authorities in San Jose said the 50-year-old man's ordeal began on Monday morning when he was called to a home in the affluent suburb of Morgan Hill by Jason DeJesus, 36 and Chanelle Troedson, 33 and beaten until he performed 'minor repair work around the house.'

The three dogs are being trained to drive a specially modified Mini as a stunt for the New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The attempt will be broadcast live on the internet.

Gretchen Molannen, of Tampa Bay, Florida and pictured on her Facebook page wearing a gas mask, committed suicide after battling a debilitating condition where her genitals were constantly aroused. The 39-year-old woman had suffered from the disorder for 16 years, and had twice tried to go on disability because PGAD made it impossible for her to hold down a job. But she was twice denied.

This is the woman with whom Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher reportedly spent his final few hours - before he went home, shot dead his girlfriend and then took his own life. Brittni Glass, pictured as she walked to work at an Armani Exchange in Kansas City, enjoyed drinks and dinner with the NFL star, who was found sleeping in his car outside her home hours later.

Eight Spruce Street, in Manhattan, a stunning 76-storey tower, designed by Frank Gehry, (centre right) picked up the Emporis Skyscraper Award where judges chose the best buildings which were completed in 2011. F&F Tower in Panama City (left), Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi, (Centre left) and Victoria Tower in Stockholm (right) were among the other winners.

When Jodi and Larry Dillworth (right, with daughter Bobbie), from Tacoma, Washington, were left with extra embryos following IVF treatment, they felt uneasy that they would not be used, so put them up for adoption. They were donated to Rachel and Diony Victorin (left, with daughter Esther), who gave birth to a daughter in September 2011. Now the couples' two daughters - who are biological sisters - have brought the families together.

The family of Jack Culolias (right) an Arizona State University freshman missing since Nov. 30, has pleaded for help in finding the 19-year-old. The mother of the student, Grace Culolias (second from left) has revealed that her son was worried about rough hazing from the fraternity he planned to join in the hours before his disappearance.

With one heartwarming gesture of sportsmanship, a teenage boy has become an internet sensation after letting a severely disabled opponent defeat him in a wrestling match. Video posted online shows cerebral palsy sufferer Jared Stevens, 13, (left) fulfill his dream to fight in a competitive wrestling match and beat big-heated Justin Kievit (center) in front of his cheering classmates in Franklin, Tennessee.

R. Umar Abbasi (center) says he was running toward Ki Suk Han (bottom right), 58, but was too far away to reach him before he was crushed between the platform and the oncoming train. Mr Abbasi says he was returning from a Post assignment in Times Square and had his camera in his hand when Naeem Davis (top right) allegedly pushed Mr Han onto the tracks.

These rare photos capture an African python consuming a wildebeest calf whole - the first known-instance of the reptile swallowing such large prey. The snaps, taken in the South African bush, left photographer and game reserve manager Rudi Hulshof 'speechless'

The protestors stripped in a courtroom and were led away by sheriffs. They are angry that legislation to ban nudity has been approved. Protesters, one wearing only rainbow knee socks and another sporting black nylons, chanted 'body freedom' and 'shame on you' as they were escorted out. But some residents and business owners say nudists have gone too far.

Emily Bracamontes (main picture) had been receiving chemotherapy at Phoenix Children's Hospital when her mother removed an IV drip from her arm and walked her out of the facility (below right). Her father Luis (top) said this week she is now being cared for by doctors in Mexico. The parents said they had taken their daughter to Mexico because she had contracted an infection while in the Arizona hospital which led to her arm being amputated.

Fire Station 63 in Venice, Los Angeles, were blasted for allowing their trucks to be used in a porn movie shoot in 2008 and are in hot water again for allowing Hoopnotica shoot the video with their fire trucks and pole. The video shows a young girl in denim hot pants, heels, tight black bodysuit and yellow fireman's hat gyrating around the fireman's pole with her hoop.

Savanna Marie MacMullett (left), from Radnor, Pennsylvania, was found at a bus stop in Washington D.C. with Ashley Ryan Hareford (right), who has a history of trying to pick up girls online. She was found after police received a tip that they had been seen together boarding a bus. Public Facebook posts dedicated to Savanna reveal his feelings for the teenager - feelings that her father called 'disgusting'.

The shamed former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was caught on camera brazenly posing with the attractive young women during a night out with pals in the French capital. Strauss-Kahn hit the town with five friends on Saturday after reaching the £3.8 million deal with New York hotel cleaner Nafissatou Diallo to settle her civil action for sexual assault. They are both expected to appear before a judge in the Bronx on December 7 to sign the papers that will end all legal action against him in the US.

The world's first ever transsexual has been revealed as a former GI called George in the US Army in rare film footage. Christine Jorgenson underwent gender reassignment in Denmark in 1953 and was the first person to go public after the surgery.

Chateau de Bellevue, 12km east of Bordeaux, once boasted 140,000-square-feet of grand reception rooms, ornate fireplaces and winding marble staircases. But then its new owner, a Russian millionaire businessman, employed a team of Polish builders to renovate the manor to its former glory, including the removal of one small building.

Jordan Jones, 22, told a judge in Valparaiso, Indiana, that she receives her college tuition from a trust fund established by the late popcorn magnate. Redenbacher, who died in 1995, was a beloved Valparaiso native who became the friendly face of popcorn for millions of Americans thanks to his appearance in commercials for his company for decades.

These haunting images were taken in the early 1990s by photographer Sergei Vasiliev after he gained access to some of Russia's toughest prisons at the peak of the post-Soviet Union gangland power struggle.

Inmate Rafael Valadao, who weighs a hefty 16 stone, ended up surrounded by giggling guards after a botched attempt to break out of jail in the Brazilian city of Ceres. Firefighters stepped in around 2am this morning after the two inmates waiting their turn behind failed to push him through the hole they had made with a metal bar.

The new model has been created for oil rigs and off shore buildings so that workers can climb aboard and be launched to safety in the event of an emergency. The GES50 MKIII was designed to fall from 154ft, but during the test drop it was hurled from the top of a crane, giving it a much greater height to ensure it was safe. The successful test means the lifeboat has now passed safety regulations and it will soon be used worldwide.

Eitaro, left and inset, who is Japan’s only male geisha, performs in the role as a female dancer and is the master of an ‘okiya,’ a geisha house in Tokyo’s Omori port district. The traditional dancing girls of Japanese tea houses have become something of a rarity outside major cities and hot spring resorts in recent years. The changing economy and corporate entertainment policies have made geishas unaffordable and the number of working performers has fallen from 80,000 to 1,000 over the course of the last century.