Timeline
drawing by CJ, 2015
5/8/2003 ACT I
Galveston Courts award joint custody of child to her parents after the mother leaves the marriage. The terms of the agreement require a location near Houston or Austin, or agreement to move otherwise.
2003 Summer
By agreement, mother and child move to Baltimore, Maryland so mother can complete a fellowship in sports medicine. Father also moves so as to continue the joint custody arrangement.
2004 Summer
Mother and child return to Galveston; father also returns to Galveston so as to continue the joint custody arrangement.
2006
Mother accepts position with UTSA – San Antonio. By agreement, mother and child move to Boerne, Kendall County, Texas. Father also moves to Boerne to continue the joint custody arrangement.
Feb. 2007
Father remarries.
2007
Mother begins dialogue with father about moving out of the country including several locations in Central and South America. Father does not agree to this move.
01/26/2008
With father’s permission, mother takes child on vacation to Costa Rica for ten days. During this time, she is put into intensive Spanish language classes.
April 2008
Mother tries to persuade father and his wife to move with them to San Miguel or Guanajuato, Mexico.
May/June 2008
Mother is known to have visited Central America at least twice on her own without letting others know.
07/06/2008 ACT II
Mother picks up child from father’s residence to travel to her parents home near Ft. Worth, with plans to go on vacation to Florida from there. Mother and father have agreed that child will return to her father on July 23, 2008.
07/09/2008
Father receives a telephone call from child informing him that they are on the way to Love Field in Dallas, Texas. Mother leaves her car and her dog with her parents.
07/20/2008
Mother's father telephones child's father informing him of his concern that something might be wrong. The mother's house appears to be vacant. Child's father contacts local Boerne police.
07/23/2008
Mother's parents receive a letter from the mother indicating that she has removed child from the area and is not returning. Immigration records show mother and child passing South through Guatemala by car in remote areas during this time. Later we learn the trip included debarking early from a river boat and hiking through jungle across the border, the girl disguised as a boy.
August, 2008
Mother's father drops her dog at the B home in Goergetown. Mother's boyfriend, LB, retires from UTMB in Galveston and disappears, along with his brother.
Fall, 2008
State and fugitive warrants are issued for the mother.
May 19, 2009
Kendall County civil court awards father full custody of child.
July, 2009
Hague application is submitted in Costa Rica.
September, 2009
Federal International Parental Kidnapping (IPK) warrant signed.
12/02/2009
Based on a photograph of the mother hanging laundry passed on to officials and the father, Federal immigration and child welfare (PANI) officials investigate an address in Chachagua, Costa Rica. LB and his brother are present but mother and child are not. PANI officials find sufficient evidence to begin a case. Who took the photograph remains unknown to father.
12/11/2009
After several direct conversations with the B family, the father and his Costa Rican attorney meet the mother at a location near Chachagua with child. She is transferred voluntarily without incident to the father. It had been 524 days since any contact.
12/15/2009
A CR judge's order lifts child's travel restriction, and father and daughter are able to return home to Texas.
4/12/2010
Mother returns voluntarily to Texas and awaits legal repercussions.
5/24/2010
Mother pleads guilty in San Antonio federal court to felony international parental kidnapping.
8/26/2010
Judge X. Rodriguez orders five years probation, community service, and restitution against mother in San Antonio Federal Court. Full custody awarded to father.
May, 2011
Child begins periodic supervised visitation with her mother.
10/30/2011
An agreement (mediation) is reached defining supervised and standard possession orders moving forward.
Summer, 2014 ACT III
Agreement privately between parents allows child to live part-time with her mother again. Exploiting a legal loophole, mother arranges to 'keep' child over six months to activate a custody status change. Father is unaware of this trickery (child is staying part-time with each parent).
Winter, 2017
2nd mediation to reflect new parental locations. Mother seeks legal child support despite continuous support and attempts to co-budget from father, and her own lucrative salary (made possible by father's leniency at trial in 2010).
Fall, 2018
Child turns 18. Mother continues to seek retroactive child support. 3rd mediation defines final child support through high school.
A tale in three acts.
And that's only half of the story! In every cliche, an exception. In every turn, a surprise.