A Happy Case For Kris

Merry Christmas!

I love it when I get to brag about Kris. This has been an exciting week not only because of Christmas (though that was the best part) but because of one of Kris' cases. The news article and links are at the end of the page.

Kris has really been enjoying his job here in Mexico City, mainly because everything he does has such an impact. Several of you know that he has been acting Attaché for 3 months out of the 4 months we have been here which has kept him extremely busy. (Once the Attaché comes back to Mexico City next month Kris will get a breather and go back to being an Assistant Attaché...until Louie leaves again).

On Tuesday of this week when everyone else was leaving or already gone for the holidays, a phone call came in to Kris' desk at 3:30 pm. This phone call would put him into high gear for the rest of the evening keeping him pretty late at the office while he tried to coordinate with the Government of Mexico (he did call me and let me know that he was going to be late...I have him trained somewhat). When he got home he told me what was going on:

An ICE fugitive had been caught at the US Consulate in Guadalajara. She had a warrant for her arrest in the US for the international kidnapping of her then 4 year old son, Joseph Alexander (now 14) from the father who had sole custody. The rest of the information is in the below press release and FOX news article.

Kris was still going strong when he got home and spent the remainder of the late evening trying to coordinate a miracle; finding room on a plane for a 14 year old boy from Mexico to Houston on Christmas Eve.

He was able to speak to the father of the boy which was an emotional experience for Kris as well as myself since I could hear the boy's Father and the emotions he was going through. Kris would have one of his agents escort the boy and the mother (I can't even call her his mother...her name is Tamara) up to Houston where Tamara would be arrested immediately and the boy reunited with his father. The Center for Missing and Exploited Children would have a transition team there to help the father and the son.

Kris' goal Tuesday night was to get this boy back to Houston on Wednesday...if there was only one seat available on the plane, it would be the boy's. Luckily, Kris was able to coordinate 3 seats.
Unfortunately, since Tamara was the kind of person who could kidnap her son, she was also the kind of person who could make claims that would force Houston officials to investigate before they were able to reunite the son with his father. Because of her, the father, who flew to Houston from Maryland after getting off the phone with Kris, would still not be able to be reunited with his son until after the court hearing on Monday. When a mother looses custody of her children you know darn good and well there is something wrong with her since the US judicial system usually tries to find in favor of the mother. She would loose custody back in 1998 which was the reason she kidnapped the boy and fled to Mexico in the first place.


Tamara Kennedy and her escorts on her way to being arrested

Kris was hoping for a Christmas Eve reunion between father and son but it looks like this woman continues to cause problems. It was still a wonderful thing for the father because for the past 10 years, the father has had no idea where his son was or even if he was alive. Just knowing a reunion was around the corner must have been amazing.

I think this was a wonderful thing to see Kris work through and he was so determined to make things perfect. It was a case that was a welcome and happy change from the cases he has been working. I had no problem with him working on this one late into the night. Hopefully it will have an even happier ending!

If this story gets any more coverage I hope they get some better pictures especially of when the father finally gets to see his son again. The Missing Child link below has a picture of what he looked like when he was kidnapped although I think it looks like they put a toupée on him.

The original Press Release

December 24, 2008

ICE reunites missing child and father just in time for Christmas
Abducted Maryland child located by ICE Attaché in Mexico is reunited with his father today in Houston

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Houston today arrested ICE fugitive Tamara Kennedy, a U.S. citizen, for the international child abduction of her son Joseph Alexander Kennedy.

Ms. Kennedy was identified as a wanted fugitive while at the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico seeking assistance with passports. She and her son were turned over to Mexican immigration officials for being illegally present in Mexico. The ICE Attaché office in Mexico City worked with Mexican officials to coordinate Ms. Kennedy's return to the U.S.

Kennedy and her son disappeared from Maryland in 1998, shortly before sole custody of the child was to be awarded to the child's father, Donald Wiswell. Both Kennedy and the child were flown to Houston today to be interviewed by federal authorities. Joseph Kennedy has been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services in Houston while the interviews are conducted. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was contacted and will assist with the reunion of Mr. Wiswell and his son.

In 2007, the Maryland State Police requested assistance from ICE in investigating this case. In March 2007, the ICE Special Agent in Charge (SAC) office in Baltimore obtained a federal warrant on Kennedy for knowingly removing a child from the United States with intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights and entered her name into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) as a fugitive.

Location of the Fox News story: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,472946,00.html

Joseph Alexander Kennedy's Missing Child info page: http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/k/kennedy_joseph.html