Archive for Family Abductions

Fugitive Mother Facing Custody Charge Arrested In Florida

Police Say Woman Wore Disguises After Fleeing With Children

A nationwide search for a New Hampshire mother wanted on a custody offense has come to an end.

Erika Ahearn was arrested in Florida. Police said she has gone by different names and changed her look to keep her children hidden.

Investigators said her cell phone and debit card use allowed police to track her down.

This article which I just recently found about the Rowe children indicates that their mother was also wanted on gun charges and was apparently considered armed and dangerous. I didn’t know this before posting the case, but am glad it was resolved without incident. That information alone is another indication of family abduction not being a harmless crime.

No comment »

Very bad family abduction news

They found Jorge Sanchez Aguilera. But not his son.

They found Eileen Sams Clark. But not her kids.

I will tell myself they’re just being stubborn for not revealing where the kids are. If I do so often enough, maybe it can become true. (Yes, I think it’s possible all four are alive, but this sort of news makes me feel cold.)

Comments (1) »

Missing Alaska girl found mother arrested in Missouri

Link here

ST. LOUIS – An Alaska woman suspected of kidnapping her daughter two years ago was arrested in Missouri during a routine traffic stop after police noticed she and her young passenger appeared far too nervous for only missing a license plate, authorities said Tuesday.

Mary Joe Burgener, 44, of Wasilla, Alaska, was being held in Lincoln County while she awaits extradition, Troy Police Chief Jeff Taylor said. Her 13-year-old daughter, Noel Tara Burgener, has been reunited with her father in Alaska.

This article about Noel Burgener states that they were in fact in Missouri, which a commentator on this blog stated they were. Whether or not this person did in fact see them, it is good Noel is back home and I wish her and her father the best in reuniting.

No comment »

Houston man accused of abducting his kids in 2003 arrested in Pennsylvania

Link here

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — A man wanted for allegedly abducting his two children seven years ago in Texas has been arrested in Pennsylvania.

State police say 41-year-old Froylan Ocampo Nava was arrested Sunday night in Orrstown, about 30 miles southwest of Harrisburg. Authorities say he had been living in Shippensburg.

I found this article about Felipe and Jose Nava Jaimes on a web search. It is short on details but gives the surprising news they were in Pennsylvania, rather than Mexico as originally thought. This reinforces the fact that an abducted child can literally be anywhere. I wish them and their mother the best in reuniting.

No comment »

Mother Finds Kidnapped Daughter On Facebook

Story here

A father is behind bars, arrested for allegedly kidnapped his own children from California 14 years ago, and bringing them to Central Florida to live.

For years, investigators have been searching for him, but it was the social networking website Facebook that delivered the break it took more than a decade to get, MyFoxOrlando reports.

Faustino Utrera is now charged with two counts of kidnapping, and two counts of violating child custody orders.

The story indicates that the mother first found her daughter on facebook, and they conversed a few times before her daughter said she wanted nothing to do with her. The father might have used the “mom died” excuse to take them, but he clearly was engaging in some form of parental alienation. For those who think that is because of the arrest, I’ll note that mom tried to reconnect with her daughter before the father was arrested. The mother as far as I know has not been accused of anything by the father, so that can be ruled out as an alternate explanation of why her own children don’t want anything to do with her. It’s an all too common outcome of a parental kidnapping case.

Comments (13) »

Bijanjon Kavoossi: Anatomy of a family abduction recovery

Child Find of America offers a series of yearly PDF files on their site that summarize some of the cases they have dealt with that year. I just recently found them, and one, although from 2006, shows a very good example of what can and should be done in a family abduction recovery.

Bijanjon Kavoossi was abducted by his mother from Ohio in 1996. Ten years later he was found in Greece. Child Find and NCMEC were working together to help with Bijanjon’s reunion with his father in the United States. They asked his mother not be arrested in front of him, and mentioned that a “domestic violence” situation in Greece may complicate matters. (The file is not more explicit about that and I am not sure the precise complications that may have resulted.) He was flown into JFK airport, where individuals with both organizations met with him and took him to the hotel where his father awaited him. The father had been told to bring pictures and familiar toys to make the reunion easier. Bijanjon reacted in a typical manner for most family abduction situations. He felt bad his mother had abducted him, but he was also concerned about whether he would see her again. He also wondered where his father had been, whether he loved him, and whether he had been looking for him. He met with his father again in an emotional reunion, and they began to build a relationship again both on what was in the past and what they might share in the future.

The whole situation was well thought out and gave attention to what would be a difficult situation. If not all family abduction recoveries have these circumstances, many should. It should stand as an excellent example.

Comments (4) »

Yet another bizarre missing persons connection

I was doing some web research for the case file of Gabriel Johnson, who I’ve posted about several times before and plan to add to the site in June. I learned that Elizabeth Johnson’s mother was Rosslyn Puckett. And her aunt (Rosslyn’s sister) was… Jane Puckett. Who went missing in 1977, believed to have been abducted, and was found safe last year.

Does it mean anything? Well, no, probably. But this is even weirder than the Shannon Dedrick/Paul Baker connection.

No comment »

And another family abduction victim

Zara Malani-Lin Abdur-Raheem. I had known about her case for some time but I was unaware her father was also charged with kidnapping her. She will be added to the victims list, and I am now too drained for tears.

No comment »

Boy missing from Madison for six years found in Tennessee

Article here

A boy missing and endangered for six years after his mother fled the county with him has been found safely in Tennessee.

Madison County Sheriff’s Detective Mike Boone said Bryan Braswell was recovered Saturday by officers of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department after an anonymous caller told dispatchers that the boy and his mother were in the town of Sneedville.

The article states that Bryan Braswell’s father had custody of all their other children, but not Bryan when his mother fled with him. I’m not sure why that was. I am at least somewhat relieved that they were not hiding in the mountains of North Carolina, as that would have been very rough living in the wilderness. I wish him and his father the best in reuniting.

No comment »

Why do kids go missing? A survey with all the wrong answers

During some google searches for several missing persons’ cases, I came across a web poll that asked: “Why do you think kids go missing (excluding runaways)?” A reasonable question. Two of the potential answers were “Parent wants to get back at other parent” (the one I voted for) and “Parent feels they have rights” which both address the fact most missing kids are runaways and family abductions. Over forty percent of respondents, however, answered “Abductor wants sex with child” which is one of the least common reason kids vanish. And while approximately four thousand kids are abducted by a non-family member per year, I am sure the people who answered that were thinking of the stereotypical stranger abductor and not the person well known to the child as they most often are. The media’s dramatization of stranger abductions probably has a part in it. And of course no one wants to think of abductors as being people they know, and the mysterious stranger who does so is the most comforting thought. NCMEC has tried to reframe the issue of missing kids and points out stranger abductions are rare, but that gets little attention. Some do hear of a stranger abduction and then realize the true extent of the problem. Many people who heard of the case of Sean Goldman commented they had no idea how many parents abducted kids until they heard of his case. It’s a start.

Comments (3) »