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Boy Finds He's Been Kidnapped

I don't know if you've heard about this, I just heard about it for the first time last night..

Teen finds his picture on missing children's Web site
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 Posted: 9:53 AM EST (1453 GMT)

The teen discovered he was allegedly abducted after finding his childhood picture on a missing children's Web site.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Authorities arrested the mother of a 17-year-old boy who saw his picture on a missing children's Web site and discovered that he was allegedly abducted from Canada 14 years ago.

Acting on a Canadian-issued warrant, U.S. marshals arrested Giselle-Marie Goudreault, 45, at her home in the San Fernando Valley. She was being held without bail until Canadian authorities can extradite her on child abduction charges, authorities said.

Goudreault "was shocked and very emotional" during the February 11 arrest, said Jimell Griffin, a deputy U.S. Marshall in Los Angeles. The boy's father had custody of his son, and Griffin said Goudreault did not return him after a court-ordered visit.

The teen, whose identity was not released, was immediately put in a foster home.

The boy spotted his own photo, taken when he was 3, on a Canadian missing children's Web site a few months ago and told a teacher about it, authorities said. The teacher contacted police, who then confirmed the story with Canadian authorities.

Griffin said although it was Goudreault's son who initiated contact with authorities, the youth was upset at his mother's arrest and tried to comfort her while she was being led away.

The missing boy's father, Ron Steinmann, lives in Canada.
Goudreault initially took her son to live in Mexico, authorities said, and she moved to the Los Angeles area in 1995. She has been remarried twice.

"They were taking her child away and she did what she had to do," Melissa Goudreault, her sister-in-law, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday from her home in Red Deer, Alberta. "The family is behind her and is trying to raise money for her legal defense."

Have any of you heard about this?? And what's your opinion??

Kidnapped Hes Finds Boy

My son and I have been discussiing this case. He especially identifies with the father and what he must have gone through. I feel for the boy. What is clear is that his mother didn't think about him, in my opinion. This is what I think when any parent abducts a child from the other parent. Not only do you deprive the child of their other parent, but what about what happens if you are caught? This kid now has to deal with his mother being in jail. Not to mention the knowledge that she "stole" him from his father and denied him the opportunity to see or know his father. I wonder what he was told all these years about his father. Was he raised believing his father wanted nothing to do with him?

This is all very sad.

Boy Finds He's Been Kidnapped Reviews Consumer & Travel Family Culture

I didn't hear about this case before, I feel so sorry for the boy but I have no empathy for the mother, although I can imagine how she could feel, I think she didn't think properly in the consequences of her actions, I can imagine also the father's pain in all this. This is a very sad story and definetly will not have a happy ending.