Thanks to Annie for sending me this article on Theda Gonzalez-Smith, a toddler abducted by her mother in 2009. She was listed on Charley and is now in the resolved section. The article is very informative and also encouraging. Although it took Theda’s dad, Raul Gonzalez, a long time to get her back from Germany, he did succeed in doing so, using legal channels, and Theda’s abducting mother and stepfather are now facing felony charges. This is all the more encouraging because Theda’s left-behind parent was her father. Fathers have an even harder time than mothers in retrieving their children who were abducted and taken abroad.
Unfortunately, Theda now speaks only German, and Raul doesn’t know that language. But they’re managing to communicate anyway, and in the pictures they look really happy.
Note that Theda’s mother simply abandoned her at a social services office in Germany and fled rather than face the charges. She sounds like quite the avoider — she broke up with Raul via text message!
The Charley Project Blog 
I think the stepfather was wanted on unrelated charges in Germany and that’s why she dropped her daughter off at the station.
She’s a coward. She can’t even go back to the US and face the music because she’s afraid to. 😦
I’m the child’s Uncle on the mother’s side. My sister has been estranged from her siblings for most of her adult life. We received the first email from her in many years explaining the turmoil she caused and stating that she is working with the LA DA to voluntarily turn herself over. I’m guessing her German husband (not the child’s stepfather as legal custody was always with her biological father) being charged with felony harboring charges is what caused a resolution to this. I bet the poor guy never even knew of any of this mess my sister caused. I do say that I feel a sense of victory for Raul Gonzales. I admire his resolve and regret what my sister has put him through.