Teh One Who Knocks
08-05-2015, 11:07 AM
By Abby Phillip - The Washington Post
http://i.imgur.com/SkhtnjG.jpg
A Florida woman accused of kidnapping her toddler to avoid having her vaccinated was arrested after more than a year on the run, police say.
Megan Everett, 23, was captured — and her 3-year-old daughter, Lilly, was found safe — in Palatka, Fla., on Monday.
Lilly was reported missing May 2014, when she was 2, after Everett failed to return the girl to her father, Robert Baumann, who has joint custody.
According to the Sun Sentinel, Everett left a note for her boyfriend Carlos Lesters saying that she feared her daughter would be vaccinated.
“You are a great dad,” Everett wrote, according to the paper. “If I let them take her and vaccinate her and brainwash her, I wouldn’t be doing what’s right. I cannot let a judge tell me how my daughter should be raised. We will miss you. But I had to leave.”
Baumann also said that he had planned to enroll Lilly in preschool, but her mother wanted to home-school her instead.
“One of the issues we had was, she wanted to home-school my daughter,” he said last year, according to the Sun Sentinel. “I didn’t want that to happen. She didn’t want Lilly to learn about black history. She just wanted her to learn about the Confederacy.”
Authorities are crediting the CNN program “The Hunt,” hosted by John Walsh, with helping facilitate the rescue. According to Putnam County police, after the show aired Sunday, a viewer recognized Everett and Lilly as tenants of a rental property in Palatka — more than four hours away from where they were reported missing, in Sunrise, Fla.
The woman notified CNN, which then contacted the FBI.
Putnam County sheriff’s deputies found Everett and Lilly in the home when they arrived at the scene Monday.
“It’s so great, I’m so relieved,” Baumann told the Sun Sentinel on Monday while driving to Palatka to be reunited with his daughter. “It just kind of stunned me, I felt like I was running around with my head chopped off.”
Everett and Lilly, who was being called “Mary,” had been living in an RV, investigators told Baumann according to the Sun Sentinel. First Coast News reported that they had been staying there for three days.
“It’s going to be a long, tough road, but like I said, it’s going to end up being okay,” Baumann told First Coast News. “She’s going to be safe now. That’s all that matters to me.”
http://i.imgur.com/Wb9sMqR.png
Before Everett and Lilly disappeared, the child’s parents had been engaged in a custody battle. The dispute appeared to have been resolved weeks before Everett and Lilly went missing when a judge awarded each parent 50 percent custody of Lilly, the Sun Sentinel reported.
But court documents show among the contentious issues was that Baumann was uncomfortable with Everett’s new boyfriend, Carlos Lesters, according to the Sun Sentinel:
Lesters was described in court records as a Confederate flag-waving gun enthusiast and Baumann said he was uncomfortable with his toddler daughter being around guns and ammunition.
Everett’s mother Pam Everett said that her daughter, who is now jailed, refuses to speak with family members and “still had an attitude.” She told the Sun Sentinel that she has always believed Lilly would be better off living with her father.
“I know her dad will take good care of her and we will do everything we can to help him,” she said.
A warrant for Everett’s arrest was issued last year for kidnapping, interference with custody and concealing minors contrary to a court order. She also faces federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, according to the FBI.
She will be extradited to Broward County, Fla., to face the charges.
http://i.imgur.com/SkhtnjG.jpg
A Florida woman accused of kidnapping her toddler to avoid having her vaccinated was arrested after more than a year on the run, police say.
Megan Everett, 23, was captured — and her 3-year-old daughter, Lilly, was found safe — in Palatka, Fla., on Monday.
Lilly was reported missing May 2014, when she was 2, after Everett failed to return the girl to her father, Robert Baumann, who has joint custody.
According to the Sun Sentinel, Everett left a note for her boyfriend Carlos Lesters saying that she feared her daughter would be vaccinated.
“You are a great dad,” Everett wrote, according to the paper. “If I let them take her and vaccinate her and brainwash her, I wouldn’t be doing what’s right. I cannot let a judge tell me how my daughter should be raised. We will miss you. But I had to leave.”
Baumann also said that he had planned to enroll Lilly in preschool, but her mother wanted to home-school her instead.
“One of the issues we had was, she wanted to home-school my daughter,” he said last year, according to the Sun Sentinel. “I didn’t want that to happen. She didn’t want Lilly to learn about black history. She just wanted her to learn about the Confederacy.”
Authorities are crediting the CNN program “The Hunt,” hosted by John Walsh, with helping facilitate the rescue. According to Putnam County police, after the show aired Sunday, a viewer recognized Everett and Lilly as tenants of a rental property in Palatka — more than four hours away from where they were reported missing, in Sunrise, Fla.
The woman notified CNN, which then contacted the FBI.
Putnam County sheriff’s deputies found Everett and Lilly in the home when they arrived at the scene Monday.
“It’s so great, I’m so relieved,” Baumann told the Sun Sentinel on Monday while driving to Palatka to be reunited with his daughter. “It just kind of stunned me, I felt like I was running around with my head chopped off.”
Everett and Lilly, who was being called “Mary,” had been living in an RV, investigators told Baumann according to the Sun Sentinel. First Coast News reported that they had been staying there for three days.
“It’s going to be a long, tough road, but like I said, it’s going to end up being okay,” Baumann told First Coast News. “She’s going to be safe now. That’s all that matters to me.”
http://i.imgur.com/Wb9sMqR.png
Before Everett and Lilly disappeared, the child’s parents had been engaged in a custody battle. The dispute appeared to have been resolved weeks before Everett and Lilly went missing when a judge awarded each parent 50 percent custody of Lilly, the Sun Sentinel reported.
But court documents show among the contentious issues was that Baumann was uncomfortable with Everett’s new boyfriend, Carlos Lesters, according to the Sun Sentinel:
Lesters was described in court records as a Confederate flag-waving gun enthusiast and Baumann said he was uncomfortable with his toddler daughter being around guns and ammunition.
Everett’s mother Pam Everett said that her daughter, who is now jailed, refuses to speak with family members and “still had an attitude.” She told the Sun Sentinel that she has always believed Lilly would be better off living with her father.
“I know her dad will take good care of her and we will do everything we can to help him,” she said.
A warrant for Everett’s arrest was issued last year for kidnapping, interference with custody and concealing minors contrary to a court order. She also faces federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, according to the FBI.
She will be extradited to Broward County, Fla., to face the charges.