(via chron.com)
Whatever Stephen Michael Palacios knows about his mother or why he was not returned to her after a weekend visit with his dad 17 years ago is a matter about which only a few can claim insight.
The one clear thing in the strange and muddy domestic drama is that Palacios brought it to a head after reading a story about an old parental kidnapping — realizing with astonishment that he was that child.
Palacios, 20, soon will meet his mother again and begin to unravel the mystery of his life. He likely already has been told that federal authorities spent countless hours trying to track him down over the years after his father was a no-show following a routine visit in March 1993.
He also undoubtedly knows that his dad, a 42-year-old former high school teacher who shares his same first name, faces up to 10 years in prison for running off with him.
“I am so excited,” his mother, Dee Ann Adams, 40, told the Waco Tribune-Herald, which published the original story on his abduction. “I’m really not even sure how I feel right now. It has been such a long time, and I had to move on. I had other kids I had to take care of.
“I am happy, and I am hoping we can rebuild our relationship, but the main thing is that I am in shock right now.”
Stephen Palacios Jr. is in the Harris County Jail, charged with felony interference with child custody. His son was at his father’s side when federal agents arrested him on Thursday, but it was the son who also spurred the surrender after insisting it was time to set matters straight.
Defense: Was act of love
The son is healthy, educated and articulate, said the father’s attorney, Paul Nugent. The young man now is staying with grandparents in Houston, Nugent said, though he did not specify whether they are the boy’s maternal or paternal grandparents.
The attorney would not divulge why the father took the child away from his mother, though he insisted the man’s actions were done out of love, not spite.
Adams, who lives in the Dallas suburb of Bedford, was notified Thursday by the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office that her son had been found safe. She did not return calls from the Chronicle seeking comment Friday, However she told the Waco Tribune-Herald that her son insisted on meeting her after seeing a story it had published about his disappearance just a few weeks ago.
“I was told that Stephen Michael somehow saw the article in your newspaper and told his dad that he wanted to meet his mom,” Adams told the Waco newspaper. “Stephen Michael told him, ‘I want to meet my mom, and I want you to do the right thing and get this taken care of now.’ ”
Marshals’ priority case
Stephen Palacios Jr. married Adams in 1989, the year their only child was born. Four years later, as they were in the midst of a divorce, Palacios failed to return their son to Adams after a weekend visit in March, said deputy U.S. Marshal Kevin Scott in Waco.
Over the next 17 years, the U.S. Marshals Service “pulled out all the stops” to locate the child, Scott said. They put the Palacios family under surveillance at various times, while the Missing Persons Clearinghouse sent out fliers bearing the child’s picture to 80 million homes.
The boy’s picture also was advertised on milk cartons and on billboards affixed to moving vehicles, Scott said. Age-progressed pictures showing what the boy might look like as he matured also were distributed.
“It was a priority case,” Scott said Friday. “A few deputy marshals over the years have taken a special interest in it.”
Nugent would not reveal much Friday about the father and son’s whereabouts and activities over the past 17 years.
Nugent said the boy was home-schooled and plans to obtain his GED so he can attend college. But the attorney refused to say whether the father and son lived in Houston, whether they went by aliases or why the father absconded with the child in the first place.
“It wasn’t about the mom — the dad has his own reasons for why he thought it was in his son’s best interests to do what he did,” Nugent said. “The dad’s always tried to do what he thought was best for his son.
“The dad’s a good man — he’s not some crazy guy. He may have made some errors in judgment, the way he went about it, but he was always motivated by what he thought was best for his son.
“The dad, to his credit, has never said an ill word about the mom,” Nugent said. “I think that’s going to help with the reconciliation (with her).”
Awaiting an explanation
Deputy U.S. marshals are at a loss to explain why Palacios vanished with the boy.
“He’s not talking to authorities right now,” Scott said. “He’s saying the story will come out in court. We can’t wait to hear the story ourselves. … I can’t wait to hear the story, seriously.”
Nugent said the father and son contacted his office this week for his help in resolving the case. He said fellow attorney Mike DeGeurin is helping to arrange the son’s reunion with the mother.
“He’s a little anxious about that as you can imagine,” Nugent said of the son.
Stephen Palacios Jr. had earned his bachelor’s degree from Baylor University and was close to completing his master’s degree there when he disappeared, Nugent said. During the years their whereabouts were unknown, Palacios worked, Nugent confirmed. Palacios has never remarried, he said.
