Daren L.'s Story

On December 30, 2004, Adrienne R. (mother of nine year old Daren L.) contacted Parental Abduction Child Recovery Team. A message was left requesting assistance. Shortly after leaving the message, Adrienne R. received a call back from Team Founder, Ed Wunsch. Adrienne R. explained to Ed that the father of her nine-year-old son, Jeremy L. had made arrangements to have Daren L. transported to Anchorage, AK in November, 2004 for a visit, with the agreement that Jeremy would have Daren back to the Twin Cities on December 29th, but now was refusing to return the child. Jeremy had also gone to court in Anchorage seeking custody of Daren, but as the child had only been in Alaska for a month, the Alaska court realized that they did not have jurisdiction and they dismissed the action, advising Jeremy that he needed to fight his case in Minnesota.

In telephone contacts back and forth, Jeremy advised Adrienne that he had no intention of returning Daren and that Adrienne should “get an attorney.” Adrienne was at loss what to do. She called the local police department and was told, “This is a civil matter, you need to get an attorney.” As there was no custody order in place, Adrienne attempted to file a custody order on her own at Ramsey County Family Court Administrator’s Office. The paper work necessary was overwhelming, but Adrienne did see a brochure from Parental Abduction Child Recovery Team and decided to call us.

Ed immediately took the important pieces of information and formed a Team which initially consisted of Attorney, Penny Deluce, Media Specialist, Robb Leer and Ed. With the assistance of a private investigator in Alaska, Kyle Shull, that had seen our Team featured on National Television in December, we were able to obtain the assistance of an attorney in Anchorage, Jonathan Lack of the Tindall Law Firm.

On January 7, 2005, Ms. Deluce went into Ramsey County Family Court and obtained an Ex Parte Order signed by Referee Mary E. McGinnis and the Honorable Louise Dovre Bjorkman, requiring the immediate return of the child, Daren, to Adrienne. The Ex Parte Order required both parties to appear in front of Referee Charles H. Williams, Jr. on January 19, 2005 at 10:00 a.m.

With the assistance of Karen Richter-Young of Travelways Travel Agency, Ed immediately began making arrangements for Adrienne and he to travel to Anchorage to recover Daren. Unfortunately, Mr. Lack advised us that Alaska court would never recognize an Ex Parte Order from another State. After several consultations between Team Members and Adrienne, a decision was made that Jeremy would be served in Alaska with the Ex Parte Order, wait for the January 19th hearing and, if necessary, obtain a full court order at that time and reschedule the trip to Anchorage for that time.

On January 14, 2005, Jeremy was served in Anchorage. On January 17, 2004, he retained the services of Attorney Michael McDonough in Anchorage. After some negotiations back and forth, a decision was made to go to court on January 19, 2005, get the order and prepare to take the trip to Anchorage to recovery the child.

On January 19, 2005, Ms. Deluce and Adrienne went to court and obtained a court order signed by Referee Charles H. Williams Jr. and the Honorable Roseanne Nathanson, requiring Jeremy to immediately return Daren to Adrienne. Mr. McDonough was contacted by Ms. Deluce regarding the outcome of the Minnesota court hearing and negotiations were being made for the return of the child. Again, Ed contacted Karen Richter-Young and began making arrangements for Ed and Adrienne to get to Anchorage. While making the arrangements, Ed received a call from Mr. McDonough.

Mr. McDonough stated that Jeremy was willing to get the airplane tickets for Daren to fly back to Minneapolis. After lengthy negotiations, arrangements were made that Daren would fly back to Minneapolis on Friday, January 21, 2005. Jeremy provided Ed a copy of a flight itinerary that Ed was able to verify with Northwest Airlines. Jeremy also agreed to have Daren call Adrienne after he had checked in at the airport, and fax Ed a copy of the Unescorted Child Agreement from Northwest Airlines.

As the saying goes, “The best laid plans…” On Friday, January 21, 2005, Minneapolis received its first snowstorm of the season dumping over eight inches of snow. As a result, Northwest Airlines Policy is that unescorted children are not allowed on flights that could potentially be diverted. After verifying this with Northwest Airlines, alternate arrangements were made to place Daren on the same flight for Saturday, January 22, 2005.

Finally, on Saturday, January 22, 2005, Daren and his mother were re-united at Gate G17 on the Minneapolis International Airport after more than two months at 5:00 p.m.

Another example of how Parental Abduction Child Recovery Team
"helps bring them home"!