A Southern California mother was recently able to locate her long-ago kidnapped children via Facebook, according to numerous media reports
An unnamed San Bernardino woman lost her son and daughter in 1995 when her then-husband made off with the 2- and 3-year-old toddlers. But the intervening years brought the advent of the World Wide Web, along with, eventually, social-networking sites.
In March, according to a report on KCCI.com, the mother searched for her now-teenaged daughter on Facebook and discovered her profile. The two began exchanging messages, but, MSNBC reported, things cooled.
“The teenager said, ‘Not interested in a relationship. We just have a happy life. Leave us alone,'” San Bernardino Deputy District Attorney Kurt Rowley told MSNBC. The profile disappeared, and the mother got in touch with Rowley and his investigators, who eventually located the children in Florida.
The father was arrested and charged with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of violating child custody orders, MSNBC said, and the mother, according to the KCCI report, was eventually given custody of the kids, who were initially watched over by the Florida Department of Children and Families.
The ending, however, may not immediately be a happy one. Both the aforementioned reports cite Department of Children and Families spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner on the reunion of mother and children.
“There is no relationship there. You don’t have that immediate joyful reunification,” Hoeppner said, adding that if a relationship is to form, it certainly won’t happen overnight.
