Above: Isaac Savoie in 2009


Above: Rebecca Savoie in 2009

Isaac John and Rebecca May Savoie

Last seen in Franklin, Tennessee on August 11, 2009

Vital statistics: Isaac is a biracial (asian/white) male. He was born on October 9, 2000. Black hair, brown eyes. He has a scar on his eyebrow. He was born in California. Was eight at the time. Rebecca is a biracial (asian/white) female. She was born on November 7, 2002. Black hair, brown eyes. She was born in Japan but is a citizen of the United States. Was six at the time. Both children speak English and limited Japanese.

Circumstances: They were abducted by their non-custodial mother, Noriko Esaki Savoie. A photo and vital statistics are posted below. Their parents were married in 1995 and seperated in 2007. Their father, Christopher Savoie, returned to the United States and Noriko did as well; they divorced there but did not obtain a divorce in Japan. Christopher is a citizen of Japan as well as the United States and Noriko is a Japanese citizen with permanant residence status in the United States. Both agreed to a custody agreement that kept the children's residence in Tennessee and gave joint custody with Noriko allowed to bring the children to Japan for six weeks every year. She also received a 800,000 dollar divorce settlement, alimony, and child support. When the custody agreement was finalized Noriko began to talk about moving back to Japan. Christopher filed a restraining order so she could not take the children to Japan, but the judge in the case let her go there on her word she would return. She returned with the children after a trip, but she had also enrolled both of them in Japanese schools, shipped all her belongings to Japan, and transfered her money to Japanese bank accounts. On the above date, she took the two of them to Japan. Christopher learned this when he discovered neither child had attended school at the start of the 2009 school year. He was awarded sole custody in her absence. A felony warrant for parental kidnapping was issued for her on August 17, 2009, but the order could not be applied while she was in Japan, as parental kidnapping is not a crime there. The case received national attention in late September 2009 when he flew to Japan and attempted to retrieve his children himself. He managed to get both of them and go to the US embassy fifty miles away, but was arrested there and spent seventeen days in jail before being allowed to return to the United States. The charges were later dropped, possibly due to the attention given to the case worldwide, but the children remain in Japan. They are still believed to be in rural Yanagawa, Japan with their mother and her extended family.


Above: Noriko Savoie in 2009

Vital statistics: Asian (Japanese) female. Born on June 4, 1972. Black hair, black eyes. Was thirty-seven at the time.

If you have any information as to the Savoie childrens' whereabouts, please contact the Franklin Police Department at 615-794-2513. Any information received can be kept confidential.


Information used to compile this casefile came from the following resources:
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The Charley Project
The Abduction of Isaac and Rebecca Savoie
Interpol
CBS News
CNN
ABC News
Bring Abducted Children Home
NamUs National Missing Persons Data System

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