A Missouri father recently showed up on a local news station to explain that he recently did not abduct his baby girl and did not assault his ex-girlfriend. Rather, he explained that he has shared custody with the girl’s mother and was legally spending time with his daughter.
The case stems back to last week when the 26-year-old father was detained after an alert was sent out by the Missouri Highway Patrol claiming that the man had broke into the home of the mother of the child, assaulted her and then left with the one-year-old baby.
According to sources, the baby was later located and the man was taken into police custody. However, he was released a short time later and the man showed up hours later at KOLR 10 to share his side of the story.
The 26-year-old claims that no assault had ever even taken place, and that he actually had the child since Tuesday afternoon when he picked her up, as he has shared custody.
Wednesday afternoon, after the entire ordeal, the sheriff’s office also confirmed that the baby girl was still in the custody of her father, although it was still unclear to officials which parent was supposed to actually have legal custody of the girl.
In general, when looking at this case, sources say that lawyers in Missouri see similar cases dealing with domestic violence and manipulation.
Overall, when it comes to domestic violence allegations – especially in child custody and visitation matters – it is not unheard of for one parent to make up lies in order to win custody and make the other parent look dangerous. Because of this, it is very important to look into all legal options that are available as soon as an assault accusation is made.
Source: KOLR 10, “Update: Infant Father Talks About Why She’s in His Care,” July 27, 2011
