Case Studies

Wood: In November 2004, two Canadian children, aged ten and seven, were abducted to Japan from their home in Vancouver. They have had no contact with their family in Canada since their abduction. The children’s non-custodial mother, Ayako Wood, was able to get the children out of Canada by deceiving their father and the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
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Engdahl: In June 2006, after Melissa Engdahl had formally separated from her husband Joseph Hawach, Mr. Hawach took their two daughters to Australia for what he said would be a three-week visit with family there. Engdahl soon discovered that the visit was a cover for the abduction of her daughters to war-torn Lebannon.
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Goldberg: On June 16, 2004 Bruna Ribeiro flew from The United States to Brazil with her son for a two-week visit with family there. Riberiro’s husband David Goldberg had no reason to expect any problems with this routine visit. However, shortly after Rebeiro’s arrival in Brazil, she informed a bewildered Goldberg that she had no intention of ever returning to the United States.
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Watkins: The Watkins children were abducted on March 8, 2009 by their non-custodial mother, Edyta Ustaszewski-Watkins and her father, Tadeusz Ustaszewski during a court ordered weekend visit. The two boys were taken from Canada into the United States where they boarded a flight to Germany. Their father recently discovered that the boys were living with their mother in her native Poland.
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