A woman accused of abducting her infant daughter from South Carolina 20 years ago has been located in Australia and is facing extradition back to the United States to face charges, federal authorities announced this week.Some people are probably going to say that this woman should not be punished because she is the mom, because a mom must have had good reasons for her flight, and because she is no longer a threat to kidnap more babies.
On Thursday, U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said that an indictment had been unsealed charging Dorothy Lee Barnett, 53, with international parental kidnapping and making a false statement on a passport application.
Her daughter, Savanna Catherine Todd, now 20, was in Australia living a normal life, Nettles said.
Barnett did not have custody of her then 10-month-old daughter when she left in 1994 from Isle of Palms, Nettles said. At the time, police said Barnett left for a birthday party with her daughter and never returned. In 1993, she had filed for divorce from her husband, Bowling Green, Ky., native and former Charleston stockbroker Benjamin Harris Todd III.
Authorities said Barnett was located in Australia earlier this month and had been living under several aliases.
It should not matter if the daughter speaks out in favor of the mom. Kids are worse off being reared by single moms, and a lot of resources could have been spent on the search. The kidnapping was a big loss to the dad and other relatives. The mom was probably helped by friends and relatives, and they could be charged also/.
2 comments:
Among the many comments to that article are a couple of interesting links with more of the story:
http://dartcenter.org/content/children-underground-7#.UpFKtsRDt8E
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/s-girl-found-safe-healthy-australia-19-years-abduction-report-article-1.1526669
Relatives cant be charged after 20 years.
I expect she will serve very little jail time. The US government is far more focused on non-payment of child support than parental abduction. If she spends time in jail it will likely be a result of not having bail money.
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