My daughter is in the custody of the same people who have been found guilty of molesting her, and now she's been taken out of school and i can't find her! I am desperate to get her back. But I'm fighting people who have money for lawyers and they keep getting their way and I don't know what else to do, so I'm asking for your help to hire a good attorney and get my daughter back!
My daughter Autumn, was born on July 21st 2006 in Warsaw, New York. Over the next 4 years, I battled her mom, who for some reason no matter how inattentive, abusive, or neglectful she got was never deemed unfit to have custody of my child. This changed in 2009 when her and her boyfriend, Josh were found guilty of sexually molesting my child, taking and swapping obscene images of her between them on their cell phones. I was then awarded sole custody and her mom’s visits finally stopped once and for all. Unfortunately at this time i was married to an alcoholic. In Sept 2011, my uncle Russel was my daughter’s babysitter while I worked and lived with my grandparents in Lockhart, Texas. This worked perfectly until my family started undermining my authority over her. I then began searching for housing closer to my work as I was commuting 45 mins one way and it was adding over 2 hours to my already 12-hour work days. My daughter asked me if she could spend the weekend at my Aunt Paula and Uncle Russel’s for the weekend to play with her cousins and go to the beach. I was scheduled to work my 12 hours shifts that weekend so I agreed.
I took this opportunity to stay in Seguin and allocate 3 days to finding a new place for us to live. I ended up staying at a local hotel so I didn’t have to drive back and forth and since my daughter would be gone anyway, I didn’t feel this would be a problem. I found a house in Seguin only minutes from my job. There happened to be a daycare that was open 24 hours across the street from my job with reasonable rates. This was going to be perfect for us! During my hotel stay, however I received a very strange phone call from my Aunt Donann who proceeded to tell me that “if you ever don’t want Autumn, I’ll be glad to take care of her for you. We can adopt her and she won’t be a stressor for you. You’ll be able to see her anytime you want just without having the headache of dealing with the troubles of raising her and trying to work.” I informed her in the kindest, yet firmest way possible without going off like a firecracker, that I was more than capable and not interested in having anyone else be a parent to my child other than me. This conversation ended and I got a bad feeling, but I would never have expected what transpired next.
With the hostility, I had been receiving regarding my decision to move out, I had formulated a secret plan to pick up my daughter from school, and move into the rental house. This did not go as planned. I went to my grandparent’s house to pick up mine and my daughter’s things, but my grandmother kept stalling me telling me things like “you’ll be sorry if you do this,” or “you don’t want to do it this way”. Yes, I did and it needed to be done. My family had other plans. While my grandma stalled me, my uncle proceeded to go to the school and pick up my daughter even though I had informed the school not to let her leave as I was picking her up. When I realized what happened, I tried to call Russel to see where they were so I could pick up my daughter and get things under way. He ignored my calls and sent me to voicemail. I then texted him “where are you?” to which he replied “somewhere”. This was a rather childish response, but not unlike him so I again asked, “Where is my child?”, “with me” came his reply. This was getting rather agitating so I said, “I need to pick Autumn up, where should I meet you?” to which he said, “I don’t know we are running errands”. I then said, “if you don’t tell me where you are I’m going to call the cops”. His next response infuriated me: “go ahead, good luck with that”. I immediately drove over to the police station to file a police report and report him for kidnapping.
I waited patiently in the lobby until the officer met me and took me inside to take my statement. I gave him everything I had and told him what happened. He then proceeded to tell me that Russel could not be charged with kidnapping as he was a person listed to pick my child up from school, even though I told him about my conversation with the school official before I arrived. He beat around the bush and stalled for about 30 mins when I finally said, “my daughter is being illegally kept from me, and I have a court order granting me SOLE custody.” If that’s not kidnapping, then I don’t know what is! You need to find him and have her returned to me immediately.” He then asked for Russel’s phone number. After 3 attempts to call him failed, the officer again tried to shrug me off. “Well, he didn’t answer so I can’t do anything for you.” I argued and finally got him to agree to follow me to their house to see if they might be there. We arrived at Russel’s house a few minutes later to find them NOT home. This time the officer says “well, they’re not here so I guess we’re done here.” I replied, “no we are far from done here, sir. We are going to go back and I am going to file a formal report and flag him for kidnapping my child!” the officer gave me a snide look, but followed me back to the station where I filed the report. To this day, I still don’t know exactly where Russel took my child but I did find out it was somewhere in Austin, TX. Not knowing what else to do, or who to turn to, I did a little recon of my own around town to see if I could find them. It was useless. They weren’t anywhere that I knew of to look. I tucked my tail under me and headed home to Seguin to bide my time until the next day which I decided I would pick her up from school and end this madness for good. This proved to be a fatal error on my part.
The next day, she wasn’t in school and again, Russel wasn’t home. I tried again to pursue the cops but I got nowhere again. The claimed that since Russel had responded that he, his 2 boys and my daughter were on a road trip and claimed that I had given permission for this, and so I was up a creek until they returned. The next 2 days, I had to work my 12 hour shifts. I figured this would end when I got off work, I would just go to their house and pick her up and be done with the nonsense and put it all behind us. I walked into work, got to my station and worked until 8:30AM when I was called to the security office. This was quite odd since I never got visitors nor had a reason to do so at work. I was lead to the office where a gentleman in a suit handed me a document that would unravel my world in ways I couldn’t even imagine. I was being summoned to family court in Texas by my Aunt (by blood) Paula who was Russel’s wife. They had gotten an emergency order halting all contact with my child on the basis that I had allegedly abandoned my child during the weekend I was house hunting, and that I was still married to an alcoholic. They also told the court that I was one of the reasons my child was molested by her mother. These allegations were never substantiated, backed up by proof or anything.
In October of 2011, I walked into the courtroom, and saw my aunt Paula, my grandmother, Russel, and one of Autumn’s best friends’ mother. I soon found out that her friend’s mom was my aunt’s lawyer in the matter. I screamed conflict of interest, but the judge passed it off claiming “I don’t see any conflicts here. Let’s move forward.” I knew I had one sentence that would stop all of this from ever getting past this stage, but unfortunately for me my family knew how to distract me from saying it. They threw out all the accusations and “documented proof” supporting their claims which consisted of partial screen captures of the aforementioned conversation the night of the abduction (of course missing the most crucial parts from me) saying that I didn’t want to pick my daughter up because I was too busy with my new girlfriend. I tried to argue and prove my side but the judge wasn’t very accepting of anything I had to say. He went as far as to say that because I was working 12 hour shifts, I couldn’t possibly have time to “properly care for a child”. Now, I’ve been through family court before, so this wasn’t my first rodeo, but the way things were progressing worried me. I begged and pleaded for my daughter’s safe return, but it was to no avail. The judge informed us that he was awarding custody to my aunt based on their (false) allegations. I would have a basic visitation schedule of every other Saturday and Sunday for 4 hours each SUPERVISED by Paula and/or Russel, but nothing more. I protested, and refused to sign the order. He then told me that if I didn’t sign the order he was going to put me in jail for contempt. I knew I couldn’t go to jail so I said under oath that I was signing this “against my better judgement”.
Over the next 4 months I fought tooth and nail for my visits which often consisted of Russel standing over me screaming at me in front of my child. I tried calling the cops but again, got nowhere.
In February 2012, I was again served documents that I was being summoned to court on this matter. At this point, I was notified that my aunt Donann would be receiving custody of my child from her sister Paula. I told the judge that I should have my child that there was nothing proving me unfit or uncaring of her. My family produced pictures of my rental house showing a small playset sitting on my front porch which belonged to my girlfriends’ son. They proceeded to tell the court that I did nothing but upset my daughter during my visits which we already know was a lie. I protested and tried to tell my side, but again the judge wasn’t interested in hearing much of what I had to say. He just nodded and asked me hostile questions like “how much time did you spend trying to see your child outside of your scheduled visits?” To which I responded, “everyday! But Russel or Paula would refuse to answer or when they did tell me to call the cops which never got me anywhere!”. He asked them about this in which they told the judge “he always argued with us and was very hostile towards us during his visits.” I again protested and told the judge what had really taken place during those visits, but still it didn’t seem to sink in. Paula and Russel also claimed that by taking Autumn to Seguin I would be taking her from “all the family she knew and loved”. I replied very matter of factly: “It’s only a 45-minute drive, if anyone wants to see her, that’s not too far to drive. Besides, all the holidays are celebrated at grandma’s house so we will be there for those, as well.” Then the judge asked them why they were willing to give up the custody they had fought for so soon, to which this incredible response was given: “Your Honor, to be frank, we just bought a new house and just don’t have room for Autumn there, so I we propose to give our custody to my sister, Donann. She wants to take Autumn far from all of the stress here to Montana where they can live a more peaceful and meaningful life.” I then exclaimed, “what about the family she knows and loves? 2000 miles is a much further drive than 45 minutes! I don’t see how that is better than my proposal”. I don’t remember the exact phrasing of the judge’s response to this but it ended with we would convene in 2 weeks to wrap everything up.
At this point, I realized I needed a lawyer, and fast. I got my tax return early and threw $3500 cash at a lawyer out of San Marcos. He proceeded to tell me that there was a good chance of reversing this coming order and getting my daughter back but it would be a fight. Finally, the day came for us to meet back at the courthouse. After standing around for nearly an hour, I was informed that we were not going before the judge again, we were drawing up the order between myself, Donann and our lawyers. This was NOT how I saw this day going at all. We sat outside in the shade of the building on some picnic tables where their paralegal proceeded to tell me that judge had awarded Donann the custody and all we were doing today was hashing out the “minor details” of my visits and communications with my child. Russel and Paula had done an exceptional job at preventing me from having meaningful contact with my child during their short-lived custody. Donann claimed “we are not them, we would NEVER keep you from her or stop you from talking to her!”. “You will have more rights than you did with them because we want to share custody 50/50 with you, if that’s what you want. You can see her whenever you want and talk to her every day!”. I argued that this was preposterous and there was NO WAY I was signing another order letting her be with anyone else. I begged my lawyer to do something, but he said that it was too late. So, again, I was forced to choose jailtime or letting my daughter go with someone else. I still regret that day. The people who claimed to “not be them” or to “never stop you from seeing her”, had this to say about me saying goodbye at the airport: “don’t you think this is stressful enough without you showing up making her more upset? No, do NOT show up at the airport. If you do, I’ll have you arrested for stalking and harassment, do you understand?” This was just the beginning. My life went from the Cuban Missile Crisis, to full blown World War III in the span of less than 6 months.
I had gone from seeing her every day to every other weekend, to nothing. All because of lies and deceit. Not one of the allegations against me were ever backed with evidentiary support. Not even a shred! So, my daughter flew with Donann to Montana where they would spend the next 6 months. Throughout the first 4 months I was allowed my daily phone calls. After the 4th month, however, Donann began dwindling down these calls stating “it’s really hard for her to transition and adjust to life here with you calling all the time. It’s becoming a bit much for us (her and her husband, Jim) to handle. Maybe you should only call once a week?”. I replied, no I have court ordered calls at LEAST twice a week, so that’s not an option. And may I add that if you hadn’t chosen to take her from me, this wouldn’t be an issue? You chose this course of action, so you get to suffer the consequences. I will call as often as I want, per our verbal agreement and I WILL talk to her at least TWICE as ordered. This is not a negotiation.” She said “fine, make her more miserable, that’s on you, but don’t complain when she doesn’t want to talk to you in the future because you’ve made it so hard, now.” Over the next couple of months, I decide I should try to move closer so I can execute my visitation. I notified my aunt of my intentions and received her reply about 2 weeks later. “This is to notify you that we have moved to Post Falls, Idaho”. Wow, not even a hint that they were planning to move, it just got sprung on me just like that! I had no idea. At this juncture, they had all but stopped my daily phone calls by simply not answering. I got my 2 calls a week if that. In our current order, there was a section that read “all involving parties, representatives, or their authorized representatives are to ‘actively discourage’ anyone else being called daddy accept Travis” Russel had begun telling Autumn that he was her “second daddy” and I was her first daddy, but it was ok to have more than one daddy.” I argued that nobody but me is her father. Donann and Jim had agreed with me, at least in front of others, anyway. Behind closed doors, was a whole other matter entirely.
During phone calls, my daughter would mention “my daddy did ____ with me” or “my dad showed me ____”. I reminded them that she only has one father, and that was me. This did not discourage them in any way, size, shape, or form. In fact, it seemed to egg them on even harder. Christmas rolled around in 2013 and I was finally able to afford a trip to see my now 7yr old little princess. I was stoked and couldn’t wait to get there. Now, my visitation was still “supervised at the home of Donann unless another place is agreed to in writing”. I made the arrangement to stay with them for Christmas and leave on the 26th. My family is notorious for lying so as I embarked on my journey, I was fed much misinformation in an attempt to dissuade me from my goal. One such conversation took place when I arrived in Missoula, Montana at about 6pm local time. This conversation went as follows: “I’m in Missoula, Montana! I’m only about 2 hours away!” which was met with Donann’s response was “No, you are still 6 hours away. You have to go through the passes which are treacherous this time of year! And it would be really rude if you showed up at our house at midnight, don’t you think?”. Mind you, the total mileage from Missoula, Montana to Post Falls, Id is only 186 miles. I had GPS telling me it was only 2 hours away give or take. I responded: “it’s not a 6-hour drive, it’s only 186 miles. That’s just a smidge over 2 hours. I can be there just after dinner, or for it if you don’t mind waiting a bit to eat.” (heavy sigh from the other end of the phone) “You’ve never driven these passes before, but if you don’t want to listen, fine show up and wake everyone up at midnight. But don’t get upset with me, when Autumn is mad because you showed up so late! I’m ‘very politely asking’ that you NOT show up at my door at midnight ok?”. I admit I had never driven the passes and perhaps the mileage didn’t account for weather changes, so I went ahead and waited until morning to leave. I slept in my car on the side of the road at a little rest area partway down the pass. I left my little spot at 6am, taking the words into consideration.
At 8:30am I arrived in Post Falls, as predicted by my handy device. Bear in mind that the weather had been very mild for the past week for the area so there wasn’t much snow to contend with. I called and let them know I had arrived earlier than expected but would still like to head over as I couldn’t wait to see Autumn! I was again deterred with a response of “No, it is WAY too early for that. You need to wait until 10am like the order says. We haven’t even had breakfast yet, so you will just have to wait until then.” I was mildly upset, but I was there, and I was NOT taking no for an answer, now. So, I waited until 10:00AM to drive to the house. Finally, the time came and I arrived at the house. Autumn was nothing but giddy and jumping up and down. I was a bit perplexed as she called me Travis instead of daddy, but I brushed it aside because I was there and that’s all that mattered. We spent the next day just playing and she showed me all around their house and her playroom, and her toys. She introduced me to their dogs Foto and Graph and told me all the silly things they had done since she’d been with them. Christmas Eve’s Eve, after Autumn had gone to bed, I sat at the table talking to Donann and Jim about some of the things that bothered me. In that conversation, Donann explained to me that “I never wanted to settle down and have kids. I never wanted that responsibility or to be tied down like that, I just wanted to travel everywhere and see everything!”. I asked, “then why did you take her from me?” “why turn your life upside down when it isn’t what you truly want?”. She replied “because someone had to take care of her. You didn’t want her, and Paula couldn’t handle dealing with you and your issues involving your visits. It seemed like the right thing to do.”. If you ask her about this, she will deny ever saying that she never wanted kids or anything, However, I have witnesses that heard her saying similar things in later conversations, and yet she still denied it every time I brought it up.
Christmas Eve came and Autumn and I went to the park to build snowmen and throw snowballs at each other. She seemed happier than I’d seen her, well since the last time her and I were together. When we couldn’t take the cold anymore, we went back to Donann’s house to get ready for dinner. After Autumn went to bed, we started preparing the tree with gifts from “Santa”. During this time Donann struck up a tidbit of an argument. “I think you need to leave in the morning.” I replied, “and why is that?” “You’re not acting like an adult with her. You let her lead you around like a puppy dog. You don’t give her any structured play at all!”. Mind you this is a woman who has never had children until this point. I was a bit offended by this as I played with her as I always have. I get down on her level and pretend whatever tickles her fancy at the moment (which that’s about what they were; moments). I replied, “what do you mean?”, to this she proceeded to tell me that if I didn’t start being more “adult” with her, that I was going to be forced to leave early. I told her “I’ve played with her like this since she was a baby, that’s not going to change. And if you want me to leave you will tell her you are MAKING me leave because I don’t want to. I promised her I would stay until the 26th, which is 2 more days, and I will NOT be the one to break that promise.” She huffed at this but ended the conversation with “I’ll be watching you VERY closely from now on”. At the conclusion of this conversation I proceeded to bed as I was pretty worn out from the cold, playing hard and still weary from the long journey. The next morning Autumn woke everyone up at 5am SHARP! “Santa came! Santa came! Get up, it’s CHRISTMAAAAASS!” she couldn’t wait to climb in my lap and open her presents.The rest of the day was spent playing with her new toys, and just spending time with me. We had a conversation about me having to leave the next day. “Travis, I don’t want you to leave tomorrow. I wish you could stay, but mom doesn’t want you to. They don’t really like you very much.” I said “you know, what? That’s ok, I’m didn’t come here to see them, I come to see you! Because I love you and I miss you so very much!”. With that, we hugged, then I redirected her attention to the playset out back of their house. We played on that for hours, then we threw ball with Foto and Graph, then went inside to eat and play in the warmth for a while. We played with the kitchen set she had just gotten and she made all sorts of food for me to try as she pretended to be a chef in a fancy restaurant. “You’re my first customer today so you get to try one of everything for FREE! I hope you like it!”. We played like that until dinner, then watched the last Christmas specials on tv before going to bed for the night. The next morning would be a very hard one for Autumn and I as I had to leave early so I could get home in time for work the next few days. She kept crying and hugging me saying “I love you, Travis! I’m gonna miss you so much!”. I told her “I love you to the moon and back! And I’ll be back to visit again as soon as I can!”. With this, I headed out the door and headed back to Texas.
Over the next few months, I worked and worked to start saving for my next visit. My phone calls were again diminished to barely once a week under the pretense “we have a really crazy schedule now with school, and dance, and softball practice. It’s really hard to balance all of these events AND have time for your calls before she has to be in bed. Also, you need to call between 5 and 6:30 because she goes to bed at 7 and it’s a pretty strict schedule. There really isn’t wiggle room, you know?”. I simply replied “ok, so I will call before 6:30 every day.” This was met with a series of inaudible noises and sighs, and followed by “whatever, gotta go, bye”. By the time summer hit, I had saved up enough to go see Autumn for her birthday. I notified Donann that I was going to come up for Autumn’s birthday on July 21st, 2014, and she told me that I had to ask Autumn if she wanted me to come. Anyway, she first said she had to think about it, which really meant she had to make sure she could convince “mom and dad” that it would be ok. So, a few days later, Autumn calls and says, “I’m having a party and you’re invited!” I said “Yaaaayy! I can’t wait to see you! It’s gonna be so much fun!” she proceeded to tell me what she wanted as gifts, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the funds for much of anything as I had just enacted a plan to move closer without giving them the chance to try and move again. I drove up from Texas early July 2014 and made my way to Woodland, Washington to stay with a friend so I could save money by paying minimal rent until I could get a job and start making money. I got to Woodland around 10pm on July 18th, 2014. I then slept for 5 hours until the 19th then headed to Post Falls, Idaho. I was again received by Autumn with great big smiles and bear hugs. “Travis, I missed you so much!”. After lunch, we opened presents and then we went outside to play. We were having a conversation when this happened “-dad, I mean Travis. Whew, I almost called you DAD!” I smiled and said “Well, I am your dad!” she had this very confused look on her face as she loudly exclaimed “NO YOU’RE NOT!” I said, “yes I am. I’m the only daddy you have!” she again looked VERY confused and said “No, you’re not my dad! You’re Travis!” This is my 8yr old little girl telling me I’m not her daddy! This couldn’t be happening! Not wanting to upset her further, I changed the subject and redirected her attention which relit the excitement in her eyes removing the stain of sadness that had previously been present. At 6pm, Donann informed me it was time for me to leave. Autumn began crying but I told her “it’s ok, I’ll see you tomorrow! I love you so much!”. I probably should have had a conversation with Donann about the daddy issue, but by this time, we had had so many this same conversation that her ears were closed on the matter and didn’t care how it affected me or Autumn. It was how she wanted it and there was no changing her’s or Jim’s minds. A clear violation of the order. The next day was grueling to say the least. The visit itself was amazing because I got to spend the day with my little princess. I got back to my new home, plopped on the bed as my friend’s kids were at school and slept until they got home. For the next 6 months, I would fight hard for my phone calls as I was told that “Autumn doesn’t want to talk to you.” My future calls were then sent straight to voicemail as they screened my calls.
There was one notable call that took place 2 weeks before my next scheduled visit in late December. I called in reference to an email I had received that I was not allowed to see Autumn on Christmas because they had “Family plans”. I argued with her about this and stating that I was her father and she needed me in her life. Donann proceeded to tell me I’m not her father, and that she had done so much more for Autumn that I could ever dream of doing. We went back and forth on this issue, then she escalated to screeching in inaudible tones. Right before she hung up, however she did manage to scream that if I showed up at their house, I would be arrested for trespassing. I wasn’t allowed to go to their house because “I made them (Donann and Jim) uncomfortable”. So, we met at the local McDonald’s playroom. I took my friend with me as a witness because I wanted someone else to see how I was treated by my family in regard to my child. I walked in and Autumn immediately jumped in my arms with a big hug and smile. We ordered food and then proceeded to the playroom. We played together in the jungle gym for about an hour until Donann pulled me aside and said, “don’t you think you’re a bit OLD to be playing in there?” to which I responded, “no, that’s why they’re so big. So, the parents can fit with the kids.” To this she responded with an inaudible noise and a deep sigh and a very sarcastic “whatever.” As to not cause a scene, I redirected Autumn to the tables as we got ice cream. While snacking on this, my friend handed me my keys as she had gone out to the car for a bit. As she walked away, my aunt gave me this sideways look and asked in a very snide and condescending tone, “and who was that?”. I responded very frankly “my other driver.” She got even more condescending with this and replied, “your other DRIVER?”. I said, “yes, it’s a long way from Texas.” She then swayed her head and with another heavy sigh said, “oh whatever!”. At this point we had been at the McDonalds for about 1 hour. She turned to me and said, “well, we are leaving. I told you that you would only get an hour and that hour is up.” I reminded her that my court ordered visits were supposed to be 6 hours and it had only been about an hour and that if she left, she was violating the order and should reconsider her decision. We argued back and forth for a minute while Autumn was distracted, then she said “if you make a scene I will call the police. And you will traumatize Autumn.” I said, “I’m not the one getting upset but go ahead and call them, I’ll be waiting. You aren’t going to get away with this. You are in direct violation of the order. I’ll be here to let them know.” With that concluded, I escorted Autumn to Donann’s car, loaded in her after some tearful hugs and I love you’s. I then sat in my car patiently waiting for the officers to arrive. After about 30 minutes of waiting I decided that I would call the police and file my own report and figured that Donann had been bluffing. The officer came out, took my statement, read over my documents, and then attempted to call Donann. She didn’t answer so then he called Jim’s cell. He answered and gave Donann the message, and she called back. The officer notified her that “it would be in her best interest to work with me or the court could view it as her willful violation of the order”. I didn’t hear her side of the conversation, but he summed it up that she would be contacting me the next day to schedule another visit. As usual, this never happened and I again had to file another report.
I was able to set up a visit on Easter 2015 which took place at Donann and Jim’s home. Upon arriving at the house, I was introduced to Autumn’s new “brother and sister”. These were two foster children that my aunt was supposedly in the process of adopting. I had never heard anything about these children until the day I arrived. I thought this was a bit strange and I felt like I should have been a part of the decision to bring possibly seriously troubled children into my child’s life when hers was already so tumultuous. But they seemed like polite and well-mannered children. The girl was about a year older than Autumn, and the boy was the same age as Autumn. I spent most of the day playing with both Kelsey and Autumn in Autumn’s room. I took a video clip of this to show how they interacted with me. There were few questionable things that I saw Kelsey doing, but I chocked it up to previous, yet unfortunate, life experiences and didn’t say anything. The visit went very well, and ended with Autumn being sad that I had to leave, but the other children seemed to distract her from her sadness a bit. This both relieved, and bothered me. I was relieved that she wasn’t dwelling on the sadness, but I was also bothered that she was that easily diverted from me. Over the next few months I still fought (and typically lost) for my phone calls. I would call and shortly thereafter receive an email relaying their comments. Most of my calls consisted of about 30 seconds to a minute and a half of Autumn telling me about her school, or dance or sports activities. But this always fell on deaf ears. Her birthday came around and I was told that I could not come see her because she “did not want me to be there” and “we have family coming to visit”. I told them that didn’t matter and wasn’t a good enough reason to deny my visits. I had been struggling to find work at that time, so I wasn’t in a great financial position, but I was willing to make sacrifices to see her. They avidly denied my visit, so I did what I could to try and file police reports. I was told that the only way I could get them violated was if I went in person and tried to execute my visit and they refused, but since I hadn’t done that, I could not violate them. Thanksgiving came and I was able to schedule my visit the weekend beforehand. I had been trying to get Donann to help me introduce my fiancé to Autumn as she would be her new stepmom soon, but Donann persistently refused to help.
Our new baby was born in September of 2015. I notified Donann that I would be telling Autumn about her new sister and I thought it was important that they get to see each other. Even though my youngest was just an infant, I felt that it was imperative that they get the chance to meet and know the other exists regardless of what anyone else thought or wanted. During the first day, I went alone and warmed Autumn up to the idea that she had a sister and a new stepmom. At this she jumped off the bed, ran around the house telling everyone that she had a new baby sister and a stepmom. My aunt was very cruel and tried everything she could to crush Autumn’s excitement, but it was to no avail. She was stoked! I told her that I could bring them both to meet her the next day. Donann left the decision up to Autumn who excitedly said “YES, please mom, can they come??”. Donann said this was ok as long as Autumn didn’t get upset. The next day we pulled into the driveway and where Autumn met us to open our doors. She saw the baby in the backseat and asked, “is that my baby sister?”. I said “that sure is! Her name is Keren and she is 2 months old!”. She was jumping up and down, then she got a very worried look on her face and said, “I better go warn Mom, she’s not going to like this!”. She then darted up to the house. After a few moments, we were unloaded and ready to go inside. My aunt then met us halfway up the sidewalk where she said that this was very rude, and disrespectful of me. I said, “she has a right to know she has a sister and to know who she is! There’s nothing rude or disrespectful about that. Not telling her would do more harm than good.” She started yelling at me that I didn’t know what I was talking about. My (now wife) tried to speak calmly on my behalf and defend my decision to bring them to the visit, but my aunt would have no part of listening to us. My wife also noted that Autumn was standing at the door listening to this exchange getting very upset but she was too busy screaming at the top of her lungs, berating me and belittling me as best she could muster and cursing. When we wouldn’t back down on the matter she took a deep breath, gave me a very cold look and said, “you know what, if you want to traumatize her, that’s your business, but you’re not the one who has to deal with the consequences or the aftermath.” I quickly interjected with, “well, I would be more than happy to deal with any consequences and work with calming her down if she gets upset by what happens today.” This too fell on deaf ears, but she escorted us into the house where we heard Autumn slam her bedroom door and start crying. I noticed a few unfamiliar faces in the house, but was more concerned with calming Autumn down and diffusing her frustration. I tried to go into her room, but Donann grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me backwards out of the room and slammed the door in my face. I heard through the door Autumn crying and telling Donann that she was upset because “you were yelling at Travis!” the rest was a bunch of whispering and inaudible sounds. There were at least 4 people in the room with her, but I didn’t recognize anyone but Kelsey and Donann. After the stun of what happened wore off I looked toward my uncle who had a very threatening stance with his arms stretched above his head gripping his bedroom doorway. I shrugged it all off as my only focus was Autumn and making sure she was ok. About 10 minutes go by, and the 5 of them emerge from her room. Autumn comes up to me and gives me a great big hug and an “I love you” between sniffles. I told her I was sorry and that it wasn’t her fault and that I loved her too. We then proceeded with formal introductions. She held Keren for a bit and talked to my wife, Elisabeth between bouncing between playing with me, and holding or Keren and rubbing her head. Kelsey spent most of the time visiting with us, as well. Donann seemed quite upset by this, but nothing was said other than we had “one hour and you’re GONE!”. We left that day with bittersweet emotions. The visit had gone well with Autumn, but tensions were definitely high between my relatives and my new family. We attempted another visit at Christmas of 2016, but I was met with several sheriffs who informed us that we were trespassed from the property. I told them that was illegal because the court order forced me to go there, but they refused to back down. I continued to try to gain access through my phone calls, but was sent to voicemail with no return calls. This was the last time I would see or talk to my child until Feb 11th, 2017.
Up to that point, I tried and tried to get even phone contact, but was met with silence. I then asked for a well-check from the sheriff’s office. The deputy responded and went to the house. When he called me back he told me “well they said stopped your visits because you allowed her to see her sister and that traumatized her. I told the deputy this was not the case, that they were just trying to brainwash her into forgetting me. Donann and Jim continued to refuse all my phone calls, denied any attempts at visitation. Another few months went by and I again called for a well-check. This time the deputy called back and said, “I went to the house and Donann and Alex (the foster ‘brother’) were home but Autumn, Kelsey and Jim were on a ‘family vacation in the mountains and are out of cell range’. But Donann says Autumn is perfectly fine”. I said, “isn’t it weird that they’re on a family vacation but two members weren’t there? Why would he take two little girls, who aren’t his children to mountains alone?” He didn’t respond to my questions. He simply said she’s fine based on 3rd party information. I thought this was illegal, but I couldn’t get any definitive answers.
In February 2017, I made a trip to see Autumn’s teacher and principal for a parent teacher conference and her doctors. While there, I saw a flyer about a school run father daughter dance and worked it out through the school that I be allowed to attend. Afterwards I left there and drove to Autumn’s primary care doctor’s office. I gave them a copy of the court documents so they could send me her medical files. On Feb 11th, 2017, I showed up at the dance and waited for Autumn to arrive. Her and Jim were nowhere to be found. Originally, Jim told me he was chaperone at the dance. When I asked the officials, he was not on the list. In fact, there were no men on the list at all, only teenage girls. After having one of the officials try to call Jim’s phone, he finally responded to her and said that they were just running late but were on their way. I met Autumn just inside the main doors and she was ecstatic that I was there! We danced the entire time. I told her that we had some gifts for her and in those was a special gift from her sister and stepmom. She was really excited and started asking about Keren and even asked questions about her aunt and uncle on my side (my brother and sister whom she had video chatted with during a few of my last visits). She couldn’t wait to see what we got her and what the special gift was! A little time went and she randomly told me that she likes the taste of blood, and she had drank it several times to know this to be true. I didn’t push the issue, but kept it logged in my memory as this wasn’t the first odd thing about her living situation that was perplexing. She often spoke of “dad” sitting by himself on the bleachers, but refused to include him in our night citing “he doesn’t like you and can’t really stand being around you.” She said, “well that’s ok. But if you change your mind, I’m ok with that, too.” She played with her friends as we danced in the gymnasium. She paraded me around like I was her most prized possession. She began to introduce me to people but instead of saying this is my dad or this is Travis my daddy, she said “this is my stepdad. His name is Travis”. This bothered me, but I wasn’t quite sure how to correct her without making a negative impact, so I just went behind her and casually re-introducing myself. Nobody seemed bothered by this. Autumn and I got our picture taken, and everything was almost normal. The last dance came and Jim asked if he could have the last dance. I conceded as promised. They walked to the dancefloor, but instead of dancing Jim leaned down and started talking to her. She seemed a bit upset by whatever he was saying, but then she got distracted by something on the screen above the DJ station. They just stood there her back to him while she stared at the screen. He was very close to her with his hands rubbing up and down her arms and shoulders. I was quite disturbed by how close he was, but just kept careful eye to see what else happened. He again bent down and whispered something to her, to this she turned around and looked like she had just been told that someone died. She slumped down, slinked back over to where I was sitting, nearly in tears. I asked her what was wrong, but Jim answered for her saying “she’s just tired and ready to go”. I starte
d to ask more about it, but decided I would rather end the night on a positive note so I told her about the presents we had gotten her for Christmas. This perked her back up for the most part but I could tell there was something really bothering her and I suspected that it had nothing to do with me. We then walked to their car and they met me at mine to pick up the gifts. Jim shoved the bag of gifts in the trunk and tried to rush me leaving. I tried to stall but he insisted. My wife helped Keren make a book for Autumn, the special gift I had told her about. I gave it to her in the front seat as Jim shot me a sideways glance for trying to push the issue of the book. I shrugged it off and told her I loved her and would miss her. He hastily drove out of the parking lot and went home. Autumn still wasn’t acting like her normal happy self.
A few weeks later I received a package in the mail. In this package contained Autumn’s medical file. In these pages were several very disturbing pages. One such page was from a psychiatrist who saw Autumn in August. was a description of a conversation Jim had with the psychiatrist about Autumn. It mentioned how Autumn had been allegedly sexually abused by the two foster kids. Jim told the lady that the abuse took place at their home in Post Falls, Idaho and occurred for at least a year without anyone knowing or suspecting. The doctor then asked what agencies had been brought in and Jim told her that all “necessary agencies had been notified”. Also included in this package of papers was a series of visit summaries where Autumn had been taken to the doctor’s office for swelling and redness of her vaginal area and at several points, it had even spread despite the recommended treatments. There were several such visits over a period of 3 years. I immediately notified CPS of my concerns who informed me that they were unaware of such a call. I then called her doctor to ask about these items. Contradictory to Jim’s statement to the psychiatrist, Autumn’s primary doctor had no knowledge of these events. I again notified the CPS workers and told them of this.
I did not hear from my daughter again after the dance. I asked for visitation in March, was refused due to “family plans”. On May 28th, I called the sheriff again for a well-check because I hadn’t heard from anyone involving Autumn for 2 months. When I didn’t receive a call back, I called the next day and was told that the deputy’s notes on the call were: “No cars in the driveway, grass was overgrown, no
body was home, house was empty everything looked normal. Also added that a neighbor told him that the they moved to Texas”. This is what the dispatcher read to me just 16 hours after I made the request. I asked her to have a deputy call me because my daughter was now missing and she argued with me stating that the deputy said everything looked fine, so there was nothing wrong”. I said, “the house being empty is TOTALLY wrong! How can everything look ok when a house is supposed to have people living in it but is vacant and had been for some time?” and an afterthought was how can there be a normal well-check if there is nobody there to talk to and no child to “check”?
The next thing that happened would totally blow my mind. I got a call back from the watch commander that night to assist me with understanding the situation. He attempted to contact my aunt and uncle. He said he left a message but he said, “let’s see if we woke him up or not”. I found this a bit suspicious, but kept it to myself. After months of me trying to call and not hearing anything back, 5 minutes go by and Jim is already calling the deputy back. He put me on hold for a bit. Then he got back on with me and said that they were “somewhere between Idaho and Texas on vacation”. I told him that means they have kidnapped my child because I did not give them permission to do so. He said that he didn’t know where they were or if they were “traveling in a camper or using hotels”, but they did not disclose their location and that she wasn’t a missing person because he talked to Donann and Jim who claimed Autumn was fine. Does that mean that anyone who calls but doesn’t know where they are, but have been abducted aren’t truly missing because they talked to the police?? I have since forwarded many documents to the local sheriff’s office who claim to have assigned a detective to the case. It has now been 2 weeks and I have yet to receive a call back from this detective. CPS has halted their investigation because they left the state. I have been trying to contact legal aid services in Texas to get a lawyer, but they agencies can’t help me because I don’t live in Texas, or because I don’t know where my child is to have them served court documents. This is literall kidnapping. We've consulted with 6 lawyers who have said so. Even if you cannot donate, if you know someone who is in a position of power that would lend us their time, that would be amazing. Please pass this along to any and everyone. 
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