1
00:00:06,299 --> 00:00:08,426
No!

2
00:00:10,261 --> 00:00:12,305
Oh, no!

3
00:00:13,931 --> 00:00:16,517
My son was my whole world,

4
00:00:17,268 --> 00:00:20,813
and one day I'm gonna find him.

5
00:00:25,485 --> 00:00:28,696
Everything had been thrown out,
and the entire place was cleaned.

6
00:00:29,447 --> 00:00:31,616
They were just gone.
There was nothing left.

7
00:00:32,617 --> 00:00:35,244
Oh, my God.

8
00:00:36,037 --> 00:00:37,413
He took the kids.

9
00:00:38,748 --> 00:00:43,377
Every day our hope was that
he's coming back, but there was nothing.

10
00:00:43,961 --> 00:00:45,797
He disappeared without a trace.

11
00:00:47,423 --> 00:00:49,509
Everything was turned upside down,

12
00:00:49,509 --> 00:00:52,720
and everything that I believed to be true
is not true.

13
00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:54,514
There is no playbook for kidnapping.

14
00:01:36,556 --> 00:01:38,015
Marty, you're up!

15
00:01:40,434 --> 00:01:41,727
You can't go down.

16
00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:46,190
You can do whatever you want!

17
00:01:51,279 --> 00:01:53,156
When I dream about my kids,

18
00:01:54,532 --> 00:01:57,618
sometimes they're in trouble,
and I have to get to them.

19
00:01:59,787 --> 00:02:03,833
And sometimes we're just
spending time doing the things

20
00:02:03,833 --> 00:02:06,669
that we like to do together.

21
00:02:08,212 --> 00:02:09,589
For that moment...

22
00:02:12,008 --> 00:02:13,259
they're alive,

23
00:02:14,385 --> 00:02:16,429
and they're with me.

24
00:02:19,140 --> 00:02:23,227
So I love dreaming about
my kids because they're actually there.

25
00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:40,745
I met Ahmed Kandil when I was 28
and he was 30.

26
00:02:42,330 --> 00:02:45,166
I was planning to go to medical school,

27
00:02:45,166 --> 00:02:49,670
and he was pursuing an MBA
in order to spend more time in finance.

28
00:02:49,670 --> 00:02:52,340
When we initially started dating,
all of our dates were sports,

29
00:02:52,340 --> 00:02:56,928
whether it was playing soccer,
going to volleyball group, racquetball.

30
00:02:56,928 --> 00:02:58,638
{\an8}Gosh, we used to go dancing a lot.

31
00:02:58,638 --> 00:03:01,807
{\an8}Every Friday, it was either
East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing.

32
00:03:01,807 --> 00:03:05,937
{\an8}We did all sorts of great dance routines,
and it was really fun.

33
00:03:07,521 --> 00:03:11,025
Ahmed grew up in Cairo. He's Muslim.

34
00:03:11,025 --> 00:03:12,360
I grew up in Berlin.

35
00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:16,489
And my background was Christian,

36
00:03:16,489 --> 00:03:18,658
but what I felt really brought us together

37
00:03:18,658 --> 00:03:21,285
is that we both came
from a very middle-class upbringing,

38
00:03:21,285 --> 00:03:24,747
and so we had some of the same values

39
00:03:24,747 --> 00:03:27,917
even if we came
from different religious backgrounds.

40
00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:33,381
Ahmed and I knew each other
a couple of years before we got married.

41
00:03:34,131 --> 00:03:35,591
And then, nine months later,

42
00:03:35,591 --> 00:03:39,512
{\an8}my daughter Amina was born
September 1st, 2003.

43
00:03:40,388 --> 00:03:42,723
It was just about three weeks
after I started medical school.

44
00:03:44,016 --> 00:03:46,602
Then right between second and third year,

45
00:03:46,602 --> 00:03:50,564
{\an8}my son Belel was born
on January 4th, 2006.

46
00:03:52,066 --> 00:03:55,027
Amina is such a warm person.

47
00:03:55,027 --> 00:03:57,822
She's a little bit
more shy than her brother,

48
00:03:57,822 --> 00:04:01,659
but she has this core of inner strength
that comes through every once in a while.

49
00:04:03,119 --> 00:04:07,331
Belel is more outward and fun-oriented
in a lot of ways.

50
00:04:08,124 --> 00:04:10,293
And he engaged everyone.

51
00:04:11,711 --> 00:04:15,339
Rebecca and I met
first day of residency in Boston

52
00:04:15,339 --> 00:04:20,011
{\an8}and subsequently followed each other
to Virginia for a job.

53
00:04:20,928 --> 00:04:24,557
And when Rebecca and Ahmed
first moved to Virginia...

54
00:04:27,393 --> 00:04:29,145
Every Wednesday
was dinner night.

55
00:04:29,145 --> 00:04:30,104
Hey!

56
00:04:30,688 --> 00:04:33,858
We had
sleepover nights for the kids,

57
00:04:35,234 --> 00:04:36,694
game nights,

58
00:04:38,446 --> 00:04:42,241
and Ahmed was always very welcoming.

59
00:04:42,241 --> 00:04:44,910
He took good care of the kids.

60
00:04:44,910 --> 00:04:46,412
He was a good dad.

61
00:04:47,872 --> 00:04:51,500
But he, at that point,
was actually not working.

62
00:04:51,500 --> 00:04:55,337
He had a job in Boston.

63
00:04:55,337 --> 00:04:58,299
And then, in the financial crisis,
had lost his employment there.

64
00:04:58,299 --> 00:05:02,053
{\an8}After 2008, finance was just not
a very good area to be working in.

65
00:05:03,095 --> 00:05:04,305
From that point,

66
00:05:05,097 --> 00:05:10,770
Ahmed did not ever show interest
in getting a job.

67
00:05:11,354 --> 00:05:15,107
He smiled less, and he was less positive

68
00:05:15,608 --> 00:05:20,363
and not open at all
to any dialogue or discussion.

69
00:05:20,363 --> 00:05:23,991
He regarded me
solely focused towards the children,

70
00:05:23,991 --> 00:05:26,160
and within my function as a mother,

71
00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,747
more so than as a woman or a professional.

72
00:05:29,747 --> 00:05:34,001
So he really was not the same person
that he was when I met him.

73
00:05:36,587 --> 00:05:40,925
Ahmed would have just stayed together
the way that we were,

74
00:05:40,925 --> 00:05:43,594
but I was the one who was not happy.

75
00:05:43,594 --> 00:05:46,889
So Ahmed and I separated in June 2013.

76
00:05:50,226 --> 00:05:51,852
After we separated,

77
00:05:51,852 --> 00:05:54,397
I would get the kids for two weekdays

78
00:05:54,397 --> 00:05:56,315
and Ahmed would
have them the other weekdays.

79
00:05:56,315 --> 00:05:58,692
And then we would basically
split the weekends.

80
00:05:59,985 --> 00:06:06,117
But Ahmed tried to make it very difficult
for Rebecca to see Amina and Belel

81
00:06:06,117 --> 00:06:08,536
because Rebecca was the working parent.

82
00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:14,250
He was also moving in a much
more conservative religious direction,

83
00:06:14,917 --> 00:06:20,464
and Amina and Belel were attending
the school at the mosque on Saturdays.

84
00:06:20,464 --> 00:06:22,716
So it became abundantly clear

85
00:06:22,716 --> 00:06:27,012
that Ahmed was on one trajectory
in how he wanted the kids to be raised,

86
00:06:27,012 --> 00:06:31,058
and I felt I was pretty squarely
on a very different trajectory.

87
00:06:40,234 --> 00:06:42,153
{\an8}It was the Thursday before Labor Day.

88
00:06:44,488 --> 00:06:49,952
The children were gonna go with Ahmed
to Toronto to look at a college

89
00:06:49,952 --> 00:06:51,495
for their cousin.

90
00:06:52,204 --> 00:06:57,084
He said that he was gonna be returning
on September 1st, that Monday,

91
00:06:57,084 --> 00:06:58,544
which is Amina's birthday.

92
00:06:59,170 --> 00:07:01,255
She was turning 11 years old.

93
00:07:01,255 --> 00:07:04,383
So he expected to be
back in the country at that point.

94
00:07:05,467 --> 00:07:07,928
When Ahmed came to pick up the children,

95
00:07:08,971 --> 00:07:11,974
we were sitting on the couch,
watching something on the iPad.

96
00:07:13,058 --> 00:07:15,978
Belel immediately ran over
to the front door

97
00:07:16,729 --> 00:07:22,026
and had to show it to his father,
then immediately ran out to the car.

98
00:07:23,319 --> 00:07:26,530
And I told Amina that it was time to go.

99
00:07:27,865 --> 00:07:31,660
And right at the door, she gave me a hug,
gave me two kisses.

100
00:07:31,660 --> 00:07:35,623
I told her that she should have
a good weekend in Toronto with her cousins

101
00:07:35,623 --> 00:07:38,792
and that I was looking forward
to wishing her a happy birthday

102
00:07:38,792 --> 00:07:40,794
not too much longer after that.

103
00:07:46,884 --> 00:07:48,677
I watched them driving off.

104
00:07:56,310 --> 00:07:58,520
That was the last time I saw my kids.

105
00:08:05,903 --> 00:08:09,323
{\an8}On Friday, the day after
the kids got picked up in the evening,

106
00:08:09,323 --> 00:08:14,245
I texted Ahmed and told him
that I want to call Amina on her birthday.

107
00:08:15,454 --> 00:08:18,040
He confirmed that
he was gonna be back on the first.

108
00:08:18,958 --> 00:08:22,836
I didn't have any contact with them
on Saturday and Sunday,

109
00:08:22,836 --> 00:08:28,259
{\an8}but on Monday, I tried to call him
multiple times on his cell phone,

110
00:08:28,842 --> 00:08:30,719
{\an8}and he wouldn't pick up.

111
00:08:30,719 --> 00:08:33,389
And at that point, September 1st,
he really should have been back.

112
00:08:34,848 --> 00:08:38,435
It was infuriating
not to be able to reach my children.

113
00:08:38,435 --> 00:08:43,190
I called multiple times from the hospital
and couldn't get a response.

114
00:08:44,358 --> 00:08:48,696
It was a little disconcerting,
although it wasn't unusual for him.

115
00:08:48,696 --> 00:08:50,197
Just a passive-aggressive move

116
00:08:50,197 --> 00:08:53,534
not to let me talk to my daughter
on her birthday.

117
00:08:54,326 --> 00:09:00,916
So that night, I texted Ahmed
to please tell Amina happy birthday.

118
00:09:06,630 --> 00:09:08,799
{\an8}That Tuesday, September 2nd,

119
00:09:09,550 --> 00:09:12,177
{\an8}Amina was gonna go to middle school
for the first time,

120
00:09:12,177 --> 00:09:15,514
{\an8}and Belel was going back
to elementary school.

121
00:09:17,141 --> 00:09:19,977
So my sense was that
if the kids were in school,

122
00:09:19,977 --> 00:09:23,022
then everything was fine.

123
00:09:24,898 --> 00:09:27,568
But I called both schools in the morning.

124
00:09:28,110 --> 00:09:31,864
They told me that they weren't there
and that they hadn't shown up that day.

125
00:09:33,282 --> 00:09:36,827
At that point, I got really concerned,

126
00:09:36,827 --> 00:09:39,455
and panicked, and angry, and...

127
00:09:40,581 --> 00:09:44,084
ugh, just hurt,
and really concerned about the kids.

128
00:09:46,712 --> 00:09:50,341
The problem was
that I was at my remote clinic,

129
00:09:50,341 --> 00:09:54,678
where I'm the only anesthesiologist around
and there was still patients to be seen.

130
00:09:55,220 --> 00:09:57,056
And I can't leave.

131
00:09:59,266 --> 00:10:03,479
I contacted the police that day,
and I called every hospital in Toronto

132
00:10:03,479 --> 00:10:06,315
just to see if maybe they had
possibly gotten into an accident.

133
00:10:07,399 --> 00:10:11,612
{\an8}And then I called Ahmed's father in Egypt,

134
00:10:11,612 --> 00:10:15,866
{\an8}and I asked him where Ahmed was
and what had happened.

135
00:10:15,866 --> 00:10:17,993
He didn't know what I was talking about.

136
00:10:17,993 --> 00:10:20,746
And he wasn't concerned,
which concerned me.

137
00:10:20,746 --> 00:10:26,460
And that, to me, was a real warning sign
that he must have known something.

138
00:10:28,170 --> 00:10:29,421
So I called Daphney

139
00:10:29,421 --> 00:10:32,966
and I asked if she could
please check Ahmed's house for me.

140
00:10:38,305 --> 00:10:42,643
When I went to the house,
there were no cars.

141
00:10:45,521 --> 00:10:47,773
And nobody was home.

142
00:10:48,857 --> 00:10:51,860
And the windows were blocked.

143
00:10:51,860 --> 00:10:54,071
So I went to the back of the house.

144
00:10:55,239 --> 00:10:58,701
There was a curtain that was pulled aside,

145
00:10:59,827 --> 00:11:01,829
and I looked through a glass door,

146
00:11:02,663 --> 00:11:06,708
and I knew that
something bad had happened.

147
00:11:07,292 --> 00:11:10,796
I called Rebecca and I told her,

148
00:11:11,755 --> 00:11:15,759
"The house is empty, completely empty."

149
00:11:16,260 --> 00:11:21,640
She told me that everything was gone.
There's nothing left.

150
00:11:29,940 --> 00:11:31,191
The bottom just fell out...

151
00:11:33,193 --> 00:11:35,446
and I was in a free fall.

152
00:11:36,029 --> 00:11:37,740
There's just no other way to describe it.

153
00:11:37,740 --> 00:11:41,660
I mean, everything is torn away from you,
and everything was turned upside down.

154
00:11:41,660 --> 00:11:42,995
I don't know what's going on.

155
00:11:45,747 --> 00:11:49,543
But moments later, they'd said
that we needed to intubate a patient.

156
00:11:49,543 --> 00:11:51,962
So I remember going right back to work.

157
00:11:54,548 --> 00:11:56,800
I was in tears. I couldn't stop crying.

158
00:11:56,800 --> 00:11:59,470
The surgeon and entire team
looked up and said, "Are you okay?"

159
00:11:59,470 --> 00:12:00,762
And I said, "I'm really not."

160
00:12:01,930 --> 00:12:03,599
"I don't know where my kids are."

161
00:12:04,766 --> 00:12:08,729
It's just like simultaneously
being crushed, and panicked,

162
00:12:09,730 --> 00:12:11,732
and just sliced open.

163
00:12:26,830 --> 00:12:27,873
{\an8}On that Friday,

164
00:12:28,707 --> 00:12:31,084
the James City County Police Department

165
00:12:31,084 --> 00:12:34,379
explained that
the flight records had been found,

166
00:12:34,379 --> 00:12:39,635
and it was clear that Ahmed and the kids
did not in fact travel to Canada.

167
00:12:40,636 --> 00:12:45,474
They actually flew from JFK through Kyiv,

168
00:12:46,350 --> 00:12:50,395
and from Kyiv then to Istanbul,
then in Turkey.

169
00:12:51,522 --> 00:12:55,025
That was really shocking,

170
00:12:55,025 --> 00:12:58,695
and that frightened me
in ways I can't even describe to you.

171
00:13:02,741 --> 00:13:07,496
The FBI became
involved with the case in September 2014,

172
00:13:07,496 --> 00:13:10,541
{\an8}and immediately
after the FBI was tipped off

173
00:13:10,541 --> 00:13:13,669
{\an8}that Amina and Belel
had been taken by their father,

174
00:13:14,461 --> 00:13:17,673
{\an8}a federal arrest warrant
was issued for Ahmed

175
00:13:17,673 --> 00:13:19,508
{\an8}by the Eastern District of Virginia

176
00:13:19,508 --> 00:13:22,344
{\an8}for two counts
of international parental kidnapping,

177
00:13:22,344 --> 00:13:25,347
one for Belel and one for Amina.

178
00:13:27,307 --> 00:13:31,228
And one of the first steps to
the initial part of the investigation was

179
00:13:31,228 --> 00:13:34,273
to do a thorough review of his financials,

180
00:13:34,273 --> 00:13:38,652
looking for anything
that would lead to Ahmed and the children.

181
00:13:39,903 --> 00:13:42,114
When I looked
through bank records

182
00:13:42,114 --> 00:13:44,950
and credit card records from the FBI,

183
00:13:44,950 --> 00:13:46,243
it was shocking to me.

184
00:13:47,286 --> 00:13:52,958
Ahmed had gone to a survivalist camp
that was up in the mountains.

185
00:13:52,958 --> 00:13:58,630
He went to a shooting club
to learn how to shoot guns multiple times.

186
00:13:59,423 --> 00:14:01,383
He was never a gun fanatic.

187
00:14:01,383 --> 00:14:04,052
Survival training
would be helpful to anyone

188
00:14:04,052 --> 00:14:07,639
if they were crossing through borders,
doing some things on foot,

189
00:14:07,639 --> 00:14:09,349
spending a couple days outside.

190
00:14:10,434 --> 00:14:13,020
He also bought
different types of camping equipment,

191
00:14:13,020 --> 00:14:15,647
such as sleeping bags,
boots for the children,

192
00:14:15,647 --> 00:14:18,233
and he sent them overseas.

193
00:14:18,233 --> 00:14:21,194
So those are little things
that showed that Ahmed

194
00:14:21,194 --> 00:14:23,864
didn't just take his children on a whim.

195
00:14:23,864 --> 00:14:26,617
He had a well-oiled plan
before he left the country.

196
00:14:28,035 --> 00:14:30,704
But now
I needed to find my children.

197
00:14:36,418 --> 00:14:40,297
{\an8}I checked Amina's email account
multiple times,

198
00:14:40,297 --> 00:14:43,550
and the tablet that the children had

199
00:14:43,550 --> 00:14:48,180
was used to check Amina's email address
in December 2014.

200
00:14:48,972 --> 00:14:53,393
When I looked at the IP address
of where that tablet was,

201
00:14:53,393 --> 00:14:57,939
it was in the Hatay province
close to the city of Reyhanli,

202
00:14:57,939 --> 00:15:00,442
which is in
that little southern tip of Turkey

203
00:15:00,442 --> 00:15:02,361
that's right on the border to Syria.

204
00:15:02,861 --> 00:15:04,321
That was close to a war zone.

205
00:15:09,576 --> 00:15:12,496
That frightened me.
That really, really frightened me.

206
00:15:13,246 --> 00:15:15,332
Because I thought, "What does that mean?"

207
00:15:15,332 --> 00:15:17,668
Has Ahmed joined something that he
was not supposed to...

208
00:15:17,668 --> 00:15:20,253
that he was not supposed to join
and pulled my children into?

209
00:15:20,253 --> 00:15:23,715
That maybe he was in a really unsafe place
with my kids right now,

210
00:15:23,715 --> 00:15:25,509
and I don't know where they are.

211
00:15:25,509 --> 00:15:27,427
I can't keep them safe anymore.

212
00:15:28,303 --> 00:15:30,430
We don't know where he was going.

213
00:15:30,430 --> 00:15:33,934
And whether Ahmed has changed his name,
his children's name,

214
00:15:33,934 --> 00:15:35,394
created new identities.

215
00:15:35,394 --> 00:15:37,187
These are all possibilities.

216
00:15:37,187 --> 00:15:40,232
And potentially that's a reason
they can't be tracked.

217
00:15:41,316 --> 00:15:43,068
I was actively involved

218
00:15:43,068 --> 00:15:45,737
in just trying to find
any way to reach my children.

219
00:15:45,737 --> 00:15:49,449
I've hired three different
private investigators,

220
00:15:49,449 --> 00:15:54,371
and I've contacted
congressmen and senators.

221
00:15:54,371 --> 00:15:57,207
I set up a web page
that allowed me to say,

222
00:15:57,207 --> 00:15:58,917
"I am looking for my children."

223
00:15:58,917 --> 00:16:01,378
"If you know anything,
please get in touch."

224
00:16:01,378 --> 00:16:05,007
But nothing seemed to be substantive...

225
00:16:06,842 --> 00:16:09,678
{\an8}until September 2015,

226
00:16:09,678 --> 00:16:13,640
{\an8}about a year
since Ahmed had abducted the kids,

227
00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:18,270
{\an8}I received an email that was simply called
"Kids are okay."

228
00:16:18,270 --> 00:16:20,856
And it was from Ahmed.

229
00:16:21,815 --> 00:16:25,444
"Just wanted to let you know
that they are well and doing great."

230
00:16:25,444 --> 00:16:28,905
"We live on a small farm,
and they are loving it."

231
00:16:28,905 --> 00:16:32,701
"They got all kinds of animals,
and it's keeping them busy."

232
00:16:32,701 --> 00:16:37,205
"I understand you must be angry at me,
but you left me no other choice."

233
00:16:38,248 --> 00:16:41,877
"I knew long before you asked
for a divorce that it is coming,

234
00:16:41,877 --> 00:16:44,713
and I wasn't going to wait
till you find a job somewhere

235
00:16:44,713 --> 00:16:46,548
and take full custody of them."

236
00:16:47,340 --> 00:16:50,385
"So once they're old enough
and can distinguish right from wrong,

237
00:16:50,385 --> 00:16:51,845
they will contact you."

238
00:16:52,846 --> 00:16:56,141
"And at the right age, they can decide
where they want to live."

239
00:17:00,437 --> 00:17:02,189
It was an infuriating email.

240
00:17:02,814 --> 00:17:08,403
On the one hand, it was a relief
to hear that my kids were alive.

241
00:17:09,821 --> 00:17:13,200
It was also clear to me that
the kids were being heavily influenced

242
00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:18,789
to adopt whatever approach to life
Ahmed felt was appropriate,

243
00:17:19,456 --> 00:17:21,666
and he was gonna influence them

244
00:17:21,666 --> 00:17:24,878
to the point that they probably
would never want to contact me.

245
00:17:26,004 --> 00:17:30,342
What was found out about the email
was that the recovery email address

246
00:17:30,342 --> 00:17:33,095
was one of Ahmed's known email addresses.

247
00:17:33,095 --> 00:17:34,888
It was clearly from him,

248
00:17:34,888 --> 00:17:38,850
and it originated
in that same area in Turkey

249
00:17:38,850 --> 00:17:42,312
where Amina's email address
had previously been checked.

250
00:17:42,312 --> 00:17:45,065
That same small part
that's close to Syria.

251
00:17:47,651 --> 00:17:50,403
I got the contact of a Turkish detective

252
00:17:51,154 --> 00:17:55,075
who went down to Southern Turkey
that's close to the Syrian border,

253
00:17:55,075 --> 00:17:56,409
{\an8}looking for the kids there,

254
00:17:56,409 --> 00:17:59,621
{\an8}looking for the IP address
of this particular email.

255
00:18:00,163 --> 00:18:02,916
He found an Internet café
that this might have been attributable to,

256
00:18:02,916 --> 00:18:07,170
but he really did not find out
any information over and above

257
00:18:07,170 --> 00:18:11,007
what the state department, the police,
and the FBI were able to recover.

258
00:18:13,176 --> 00:18:16,388
So there had been absolutely nothing
for quite a while.

259
00:18:17,097 --> 00:18:19,391
That was a really hard period of time.

260
00:18:21,434 --> 00:18:27,649
And then I found out that Ahmed applied
for an Egyptian ID card in 2016.

261
00:18:27,649 --> 00:18:33,238
And he registered his ID
at his parents' address in Giza.

262
00:18:33,864 --> 00:18:37,701
If that is true,
and along with Ahmed's email in 2015

263
00:18:37,701 --> 00:18:40,287
saying they're on a farm
surrounded by animals,

264
00:18:40,287 --> 00:18:43,957
tied with Rebecca's understanding
that Ahmed's father also owned a farm

265
00:18:43,957 --> 00:18:46,751
located midway between
Cairo and Alexandria.

266
00:18:47,377 --> 00:18:51,131
It's probably the best clue that we have
that they are possibly in Egypt.

267
00:18:52,299 --> 00:18:54,134
So I hired an investigator

268
00:18:54,134 --> 00:18:56,386
trying to work together
with people in Egypt

269
00:18:56,386 --> 00:18:59,097
to see if there was any trace of the kids

270
00:18:59,097 --> 00:19:02,142
or if they were seen anywhere
around Ahmed's parents,

271
00:19:02,142 --> 00:19:03,977
but they didn't come up with anything.

272
00:19:04,769 --> 00:19:06,646
I really wanted to go to Egypt,

273
00:19:06,646 --> 00:19:09,191
but I've been intently
warned against going there.

274
00:19:09,983 --> 00:19:12,903
I am not protected overseas.

275
00:19:13,612 --> 00:19:16,448
Anyone can come up
with any kind of charges.

276
00:19:16,448 --> 00:19:19,826
So it's, from what I hear,
a very unwise idea.

277
00:19:22,037 --> 00:19:24,956
The fact that
we believe Ahmed is overseas

278
00:19:24,956 --> 00:19:28,960
makes things a lot more challenging
because, specifically in Egypt,

279
00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:31,212
parental kidnapping
is not considered a crime.

280
00:19:31,212 --> 00:19:33,048
He's a biological parent
of these children.

281
00:19:33,048 --> 00:19:35,550
They're his children,
just like they're Rebecca's children.

282
00:19:37,260 --> 00:19:42,140
The father can decide
what he wants to do with those children.

283
00:19:43,308 --> 00:19:49,105
I, as a mother, don't have any possibility
of getting those children back

284
00:19:49,105 --> 00:19:51,399
or even forcing communication with them.

285
00:19:53,151 --> 00:19:54,861
There's really no recourse...

286
00:19:56,404 --> 00:19:58,323
and that's so unfair.

287
00:20:00,241 --> 00:20:03,203
I don't know
why they haven't contacted Rebecca,

288
00:20:03,203 --> 00:20:06,581
but I'm wondering if
he didn't stage some accident

289
00:20:06,581 --> 00:20:09,668
and told the kids she's dead

290
00:20:09,668 --> 00:20:13,213
or just banned them from the Internet

291
00:20:13,213 --> 00:20:16,633
because there's absolutely no way
in the world

292
00:20:17,300 --> 00:20:21,054
Amina and Belel
would not have contacted Mom.

293
00:20:21,763 --> 00:20:25,183
They adored their mom,
and their mom adored them.

294
00:20:34,818 --> 00:20:37,237
"January 4th, 2017."

295
00:20:38,071 --> 00:20:39,864
"Belel, today's your birthday,

296
00:20:40,824 --> 00:20:43,076
and though I'm sad that I'm not with you,

297
00:20:43,576 --> 00:20:47,580
I hope you're surrounded by happiness,
hope, fun, and kindness."

298
00:20:50,625 --> 00:20:54,337
The loss of not having my kids
is so great.

299
00:20:55,213 --> 00:20:58,049
It would be crippling
to feel that emotional impact

300
00:20:58,049 --> 00:20:59,843
every time I enter the house.

301
00:21:01,219 --> 00:21:05,307
So, I write in a journal
to them every day,

302
00:21:06,099 --> 00:21:09,436
and that's when
I really allow myself to feel.

303
00:21:09,436 --> 00:21:11,813
And to feel close to them again.

304
00:21:20,155 --> 00:21:22,365
She writes to them
every single day.

305
00:21:23,658 --> 00:21:25,952
She made it very personal.
These are her children.

306
00:21:26,536 --> 00:21:29,247
She didn't deserve
to have them taken from her.

307
00:21:29,789 --> 00:21:32,709
So my heart breaks for Rebecca,
and the fact that she has gone so long,

308
00:21:32,709 --> 00:21:35,253
and that we haven't
been able to provide the answers for her

309
00:21:35,253 --> 00:21:37,297
that she and her children deserve.

310
00:21:38,048 --> 00:21:39,382
It's not their fault,

311
00:21:39,883 --> 00:21:42,844
and they deserve to know
that their mother cares about them.

312
00:21:49,142 --> 00:21:50,769
Mom! Mom!

313
00:21:55,148 --> 00:21:59,402
I miss both of you,
Amina and Belel, so much.

314
00:22:00,195 --> 00:22:01,029
And...

315
00:22:03,365 --> 00:22:07,744
I hope that I have an opportunity
to see the people that you've grown into,

316
00:22:10,789 --> 00:22:12,415
{\an8}the people that you are now,

317
00:22:13,249 --> 00:22:16,920
{\an8}and how lovely you must be,
and how curious about the world.

318
00:22:41,820 --> 00:22:44,489
Aziz was
born on November 13, 2010.

319
00:22:47,617 --> 00:22:49,953
And that day changed my life.

320
00:22:51,037 --> 00:22:53,873
We were all there
the day that he was born,

321
00:22:53,873 --> 00:22:58,420
and Aziz was the greatest blessing
to our family.

322
00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:02,507
{\an8}He brought such joy to our house...

323
00:23:02,507 --> 00:23:04,592
Yay!

324
00:23:05,093 --> 00:23:06,052
Yay!

325
00:23:06,052 --> 00:23:09,597
...and Abdul
really loved spending time with him.

326
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:12,934
- Go! Catch him!
- Oh, my God! Catch him!

327
00:23:12,934 --> 00:23:14,561
- Catch him!
- Go left! Go left!

328
00:23:16,729 --> 00:23:19,899
Aziz's mother, Rabia,
was born in Columbus, Georgia.

329
00:23:19,899 --> 00:23:22,777
Her family's originally
from India and Pakistan.

330
00:23:23,486 --> 00:23:25,905
We met in Alabama when we were in school,

331
00:23:26,739 --> 00:23:29,200
{\an8}and, uh, it was
actually my mom introduced us.

332
00:23:29,784 --> 00:23:31,703
Rabia was in undergrad.

333
00:23:32,453 --> 00:23:34,831
She's a very strong personality.

334
00:23:34,831 --> 00:23:38,668
She's somebody that makes it a point
to know what she wants

335
00:23:38,668 --> 00:23:40,587
and demand what she wants.

336
00:23:40,587 --> 00:23:43,006
And for someone
who also has a strong personality,

337
00:23:43,006 --> 00:23:44,716
we were attracted to each other.

338
00:23:46,342 --> 00:23:50,388
Over the course of a few years,
we realized that we wanted to get married.

339
00:23:51,097 --> 00:23:55,894
And when Aziz was first born, we actually
lived with my parents in New Orleans.

340
00:23:55,894 --> 00:23:57,145
<i>Oh, wow!</i>

341
00:23:59,314 --> 00:24:00,565
Oh, wow!

342
00:24:02,817 --> 00:24:05,695
But Rabia had a hard time
getting along with them.

343
00:24:05,695 --> 00:24:08,656
And it was very clear
that we couldn't live in the house.

344
00:24:09,282 --> 00:24:10,742
And so we moved out.

345
00:24:15,205 --> 00:24:18,541
{\an8}I'm a pulmonologist
that works in an intensive care unit,

346
00:24:18,541 --> 00:24:22,045
and Rabia initially worked at
the same hospital I did

347
00:24:22,045 --> 00:24:25,089
for a very short period of time,
and then she quit that job.

348
00:24:25,089 --> 00:24:29,302
And then she worked
at a local cancer agency.

349
00:24:29,302 --> 00:24:31,054
And then she left that job.

350
00:24:32,138 --> 00:24:35,141
She would always find a reason
to change her jobs.

351
00:24:35,141 --> 00:24:38,186
She didn't like somebody.
She didn't like her boss.

352
00:24:38,686 --> 00:24:43,358
Her personality was, um, very guarded.

353
00:24:44,025 --> 00:24:49,072
And you never got the feeling
that you really knew who she was.

354
00:24:50,823 --> 00:24:54,577
As Aziz grew older,
we started having lots of problems.

355
00:24:55,078 --> 00:24:57,497
You know, fighting was almost daily.

356
00:24:57,497 --> 00:24:59,832
There were arguments in front of Aziz.

357
00:25:00,500 --> 00:25:03,294
So in April 2014, we decided to separate.

358
00:25:05,255 --> 00:25:07,966
{\an8}She requested that she go back to Atlanta

359
00:25:07,966 --> 00:25:10,218
{\an8}because that's where
her family support was.

360
00:25:10,218 --> 00:25:12,428
{\an8}I really agreed with her initially

361
00:25:12,428 --> 00:25:15,098
because I thought
if she needs help with Aziz,

362
00:25:15,098 --> 00:25:16,641
that it might be a good idea.

363
00:25:16,641 --> 00:25:18,268
And she made it seem like,

364
00:25:18,268 --> 00:25:21,271
"We're still working on this marriage.
Let's try to make this work."

365
00:25:23,398 --> 00:25:24,274
It was hard for me,

366
00:25:24,274 --> 00:25:28,403
but we basically had an agreement
where we did every other weekend.

367
00:25:28,403 --> 00:25:30,947
So I just thought, "This is temporary."

368
00:25:31,864 --> 00:25:36,411
And after several months,
out of left field,

369
00:25:36,411 --> 00:25:39,872
Abdul was served with divorce papers.

370
00:25:39,872 --> 00:25:41,916
And it was a shock.

371
00:25:44,085 --> 00:25:45,295
It all changed.

372
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:48,548
Rabia would put up hindrances
and roadblocks,

373
00:25:48,548 --> 00:25:51,342
trying to stop me from seeing Aziz.

374
00:25:51,342 --> 00:25:53,845
She would schedule soccer games
during my weekends

375
00:25:54,721 --> 00:25:57,890
and would make up excuses
about him being sick.

376
00:25:57,890 --> 00:26:00,602
She would try to prevent him
from seeing me.

377
00:26:02,478 --> 00:26:04,981
It seems
that during that whole period,

378
00:26:04,981 --> 00:26:06,607
she was meeting with lawyers.

379
00:26:06,607 --> 00:26:08,484
She was finding out about custody.

380
00:26:08,484 --> 00:26:11,696
She was figuring out what she needed to do

381
00:26:11,696 --> 00:26:15,074
in order to keep Aziz in Atlanta.

382
00:26:15,700 --> 00:26:18,077
Ultimately, Rabia wanted Aziz

383
00:26:18,077 --> 00:26:21,914
to have nothing to do
with his life in New Orleans.

384
00:26:22,707 --> 00:26:25,376
And then
once she filed divorce papers,

385
00:26:25,376 --> 00:26:29,005
Rabia blocked Abdul from seeing Aziz,

386
00:26:29,005 --> 00:26:31,966
and he had to go to court,

387
00:26:31,966 --> 00:26:34,093
and have her served with papers...

388
00:26:34,093 --> 00:26:35,386
Rabia.

389
00:26:35,386 --> 00:26:39,515
...to have them inform
her that he had a right to see his child.

390
00:26:45,396 --> 00:26:48,608
The divorce was finalized in 2015.

391
00:26:50,902 --> 00:26:53,696
But Rabia still kept Aziz from his dad.

392
00:26:54,781 --> 00:26:58,451
And that's what led me
to push hard for a custody evaluation.

393
00:26:58,451 --> 00:27:03,122
I wanted to have the right
to spend as much time with my son

394
00:27:03,122 --> 00:27:04,374
that was allowed.

395
00:27:05,083 --> 00:27:08,795
And it was right about a year later
when the custody evaluators recommended

396
00:27:08,795 --> 00:27:13,299
that I get primary custody of Aziz
because they felt like Rabia

397
00:27:13,299 --> 00:27:17,804
was not allowing me to spend my due time
and be a good dad for Aziz.

398
00:27:19,347 --> 00:27:20,807
When Rabia found out

399
00:27:20,807 --> 00:27:25,019
that Abdul was going to be awarded
full primary custody of Aziz,

400
00:27:25,019 --> 00:27:26,562
she went to the courts

401
00:27:26,562 --> 00:27:31,651
and made these horrific, baseless
abuse allegations against Abdul.

402
00:27:33,361 --> 00:27:36,906
She went into
the criminal court system

403
00:27:36,906 --> 00:27:40,368
making accusations
that me and my family were abusive

404
00:27:40,368 --> 00:27:44,205
in order to delay the court evaluation
from happening,

405
00:27:44,789 --> 00:27:48,751
and it turned into this whirlwind
where a lot of lawyers got involved,

406
00:27:48,751 --> 00:27:52,672
and it became about
a year and a half of investigation.

407
00:27:52,672 --> 00:27:57,552
But what made it so hard
was that I wasn't allowed to see Aziz.

408
00:27:58,094 --> 00:27:59,429
That was really tough.

409
00:27:59,929 --> 00:28:03,683
And then as
all of the court stuff progressed,

410
00:28:03,683 --> 00:28:08,187
we became aware that Rabia had been
in a relationship with someone else.

411
00:28:10,148 --> 00:28:13,985
Elliot Bourgeois was
a friend of hers that she knew in college.

412
00:28:13,985 --> 00:28:16,863
Towards the end of our marriage,
when we were having problems,

413
00:28:16,863 --> 00:28:19,657
there were some phone calls between them.

414
00:28:19,657 --> 00:28:22,452
So at some point,
when our marriage was ending,

415
00:28:22,452 --> 00:28:23,995
was when they were reconnecting.

416
00:28:23,995 --> 00:28:26,956
Elliott started coming to court
with Rabia.

417
00:28:27,999 --> 00:28:32,545
And that's how we found out that
Elliott and Rabia were actually married.

418
00:28:34,046 --> 00:28:37,759
He wasn't a lawyer,
but she fired three or four lawyers.

419
00:28:37,759 --> 00:28:40,052
Her and Elliot became their own lawyers,

420
00:28:40,052 --> 00:28:43,055
and they represented themselves
when they came to court.

421
00:28:43,055 --> 00:28:46,559
And with time, every judge
that they went in front of

422
00:28:46,559 --> 00:28:49,228
started seeing their lies
and manipulation.

423
00:28:50,354 --> 00:28:54,442
And then finally,
after 18 months of thorough investigation,

424
00:28:54,442 --> 00:28:58,988
the DA in Atlanta realized
that all the accusations were all false,

425
00:28:58,988 --> 00:29:01,699
and I was going to get
full custody for Aziz.

426
00:29:03,534 --> 00:29:07,705
We were to meet on November 28, 2017
in an Atlanta courtroom,

427
00:29:07,705 --> 00:29:10,875
and that's when all the restrictions
were gonna be lifted.

428
00:29:10,875 --> 00:29:13,252
It was really gonna happen.
So there was this joy.

429
00:29:17,548 --> 00:29:20,968
{\an8}We get to the Atlanta courtroom.
We're waiting for our case.

430
00:29:21,552 --> 00:29:26,766
{\an8}The judge shows up,
and Rabia is not there.

431
00:29:29,143 --> 00:29:32,939
There was a momentary panic
amongst our family,

432
00:29:33,523 --> 00:29:36,817
but we just thought,
"Okay, this is Rabia being Rabia."

433
00:29:36,817 --> 00:29:40,905
"She's gonna try to throw something else
at us to try to prolong this."

434
00:29:43,074 --> 00:29:47,370
We waited several hours
thinking or hoping that there was a delay.

435
00:29:49,247 --> 00:29:50,748
But Rabia didn't show up.

436
00:30:00,508 --> 00:30:02,134
I left the courthouse,

437
00:30:03,052 --> 00:30:06,180
and I didn't have my son.

438
00:30:14,814 --> 00:30:17,567
At this point, I'm very worried.
I'm calling his school.

439
00:30:17,567 --> 00:30:20,695
His school says that
they haven't seen him for a week.

440
00:30:20,695 --> 00:30:23,489
He didn't come to school
the week before Thanksgiving.

441
00:30:23,489 --> 00:30:26,576
The last time they saw him
was the Friday before.

442
00:30:27,159 --> 00:30:30,955
I make phone calls to her family
and we don't get any response.

443
00:30:31,998 --> 00:30:34,792
And then finally,
we realized that she kidnapped him.

444
00:30:34,792 --> 00:30:36,627
That's what was happening.

445
00:30:37,712 --> 00:30:39,255
She kidnapped him and ran.

446
00:30:44,302 --> 00:30:45,469
Devastating.

447
00:30:46,929 --> 00:30:48,097
Horrific.

448
00:30:48,097 --> 00:30:49,932
It was confusing.

449
00:30:49,932 --> 00:30:52,101
You know? It didn't seem real.

450
00:30:54,395 --> 00:30:56,439
And Abdul was terrified.

451
00:30:57,857 --> 00:31:01,986
It was as if...
removing his heart.

452
00:31:02,820 --> 00:31:05,698
He always said
the nights were the toughest for him,

453
00:31:07,033 --> 00:31:08,159
like in the quiet.

454
00:31:08,159 --> 00:31:09,327
That's when he

455
00:31:10,578 --> 00:31:13,664
has time with his thoughts, you know...

456
00:31:15,291 --> 00:31:17,418
to think about his life with Aziz.

457
00:31:21,589 --> 00:31:24,467
I remember
the last time I saw Aziz.

458
00:31:25,217 --> 00:31:27,386
It was March 2016.

459
00:31:29,305 --> 00:31:31,015
It was just a normal weekend.

460
00:31:33,559 --> 00:31:36,270
He had a lot of fun.
We took a lot of pictures.

461
00:31:37,772 --> 00:31:40,775
But I said, "Hey, Aziz,
it's time for you to leave."

462
00:31:44,195 --> 00:31:45,863
And I put him in her car.

463
00:31:47,281 --> 00:31:48,908
And he used to always, uh...

464
00:31:50,785 --> 00:31:53,079
...he'd put up his hands, and he'd say,

465
00:31:53,079 --> 00:31:56,207
"Baba, how many days
before I see you again?"

466
00:32:00,503 --> 00:32:02,588
I was like, "Five more days."

467
00:32:07,593 --> 00:32:09,971
They drove off, and my thought was,

468
00:32:09,971 --> 00:32:13,140
"Hey, I'm gonna see you in five days,
'cause it's my weekend."

469
00:32:13,140 --> 00:32:14,684
"I'm on spring break."

470
00:32:15,267 --> 00:32:17,895
That was, you know, four...
four-plus years ago.

471
00:32:22,817 --> 00:32:25,778
We thought Rabia was crazy.

472
00:32:25,778 --> 00:32:30,074
We thought that she was vindictive,

473
00:32:30,074 --> 00:32:34,662
but we never thought
that Rabia was capable of this.

474
00:32:36,747 --> 00:32:39,083
We hired private eye
after private eye

475
00:32:39,083 --> 00:32:41,377
in Atlanta, in New Orleans,

476
00:32:42,002 --> 00:32:46,132
in other places around the country
to find any information about Aziz.

477
00:32:47,091 --> 00:32:49,927
The first thing that everyone said was

478
00:32:49,927 --> 00:32:52,930
that I need to get
national law enforcement involved

479
00:32:52,930 --> 00:32:55,433
to investigate Aziz's abduction,

480
00:32:55,433 --> 00:32:59,603
but there has to be a felony warrant
out for Rabia.

481
00:32:59,603 --> 00:33:03,357
And, initially, there was some
disagreement between police departments

482
00:33:03,357 --> 00:33:06,152
that the jurisdiction
is in Atlanta or New Orleans.

483
00:33:08,028 --> 00:33:10,156
Finally, after two years,

484
00:33:10,156 --> 00:33:13,617
the court gave a felony kidnapping warrant

485
00:33:13,617 --> 00:33:16,662
against Rabia for the abduction of Aziz.

486
00:33:18,539 --> 00:33:21,417
Once there was a felony kidnapping warrant
against Rabia,

487
00:33:21,417 --> 00:33:24,045
{\an8}the US Marshals got involved in the case.

488
00:33:25,796 --> 00:33:29,300
The US Marshals
got involved in early 2020,

489
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:31,677
and the US Marshals involvement

490
00:33:31,677 --> 00:33:35,681
{\an8}was about three years or so
behind the actual disappearance.

491
00:33:36,682 --> 00:33:39,810
So we're basically starting off
way behind already.

492
00:33:40,478 --> 00:33:44,231
We conducted multiple interviews
in several states.

493
00:33:44,231 --> 00:33:46,901
Deputy US Marshals
from the Northern District of Georgia

494
00:33:46,901 --> 00:33:48,068
went out to Duluth

495
00:33:48,068 --> 00:33:51,072
and attempted to interview
Rabia's mother and father.

496
00:33:52,198 --> 00:33:54,408
They were being evasive
during questioning,

497
00:33:54,408 --> 00:33:59,205
and they appeared to not be concerned
about where their daughter was,

498
00:33:59,205 --> 00:34:02,166
where their grandchild was,
or where Elliot was located.

499
00:34:02,166 --> 00:34:04,960
They just referred everything
to their attorney.

500
00:34:07,463 --> 00:34:10,257
After talking to the US Marshals,

501
00:34:10,257 --> 00:34:15,596
I found out that this was something
that Rabia and Elliott planned out.

502
00:34:15,596 --> 00:34:17,681
I mean, it was cold and calculated.

503
00:34:18,641 --> 00:34:21,143
Rabia and Elliot
had taken Aziz out of school

504
00:34:21,143 --> 00:34:23,938
ten days prior to November 28.

505
00:34:25,856 --> 00:34:29,151
They sold their cars to CarMax in Atlanta.

506
00:34:29,151 --> 00:34:31,487
Elliot had quit his job.

507
00:34:31,487 --> 00:34:35,324
They both shut down their cell phones,
closed their bank accounts,

508
00:34:35,324 --> 00:34:38,786
closed all their social media,
and they disappeared.

509
00:34:44,083 --> 00:34:47,795
If they assume new identities,
they could get new employment.

510
00:34:48,420 --> 00:34:51,715
Maybe establish lines of credit,
create a whole new lifestyle.

511
00:34:51,715 --> 00:34:53,717
It's obviously been done before.

512
00:34:53,717 --> 00:34:58,139
Or, if somebody were to finance them,
they could also be living off cash.

513
00:34:58,764 --> 00:35:02,643
Could be friends.
Could be family. I don't know.

514
00:35:07,731 --> 00:35:09,608
This is the day he was born.

515
00:35:09,608 --> 00:35:10,568
God.

516
00:35:10,568 --> 00:35:13,237
We've done
everything that we can think of

517
00:35:14,238 --> 00:35:17,867
to find some trace of Aziz, Rabia, Elliot.

518
00:35:17,867 --> 00:35:20,202
His laugh...

519
00:35:20,202 --> 00:35:21,328
Was contagious.

520
00:35:21,328 --> 00:35:23,372
- Was everything. Contagious.
- Yeah.

521
00:35:24,123 --> 00:35:29,336
And outside of
when they sold their cars in 2017,

522
00:35:30,546 --> 00:35:36,468
we have yet to find
any credible link to them in any way.

523
00:35:37,344 --> 00:35:40,264
That's what makes this so hard.

524
00:35:40,264 --> 00:35:44,476
Four years later,
we still don't have any sign of them.

525
00:35:46,020 --> 00:35:48,355
But if you think that we're going away...

526
00:35:49,190 --> 00:35:53,152
If you think that Abdul, or me,

527
00:35:53,152 --> 00:35:57,281
or my family
is ever gonna stop looking for Aziz,

528
00:35:58,282 --> 00:36:00,534
you are sorely mistaken

529
00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:05,497
'cause we will never, never rest

530
00:36:07,166 --> 00:36:08,626
until he's returned.

531
00:36:13,964 --> 00:36:15,925
When Aziz disappeared,

532
00:36:16,759 --> 00:36:18,802
time literally stopped.

533
00:36:21,096 --> 00:36:22,514
So to me...

534
00:36:23,724 --> 00:36:25,017
he left yesterday.

535
00:36:26,393 --> 00:36:28,646
And so I think about him every day,

536
00:36:28,646 --> 00:36:31,440
and I do things every day
to try to find him.

537
00:36:32,107 --> 00:36:34,151
I'm gonna keep fighting till I see him.

538
00:36:35,986 --> 00:36:39,073
And one day
he's gonna walk through a door,

539
00:36:39,073 --> 00:36:41,325
and I'm gonna be standing
on the other side.

540
00:36:44,119 --> 00:36:45,955
It's time for him to come home.

541
00:37:07,559 --> 00:37:09,520
{\an8}WANTED
CHARLES VOSSELER - WARRANT: 4/3/1987