W-OLF
04-18-2006, 06:34 PM
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Through the haze of 13 long, restless years, Carl Dodd still could discern something familiar in the face of the young woman standing before him.
"I said to myself, 'That's daddy's little girl, still,'" he recalled Monday.
But the little girl he last saw when she was a 4-year-old preschooler is now a confused, distrustful 17-year-old, unwilling to accept, at least for now, that she has a father who loves her and wants to take her home.
"I think there's still a lot of hurt in her heart," Dodd, 40, said after being reunited with Marilyn Byrd, spirited away from him in 1993 by her mother in a nasty custody dispute that evolved into one of the nation's longest missing-child cases. "We've got a lot of work to do."
Last week, U.S. Marshals tracked her down at a house near downtown Wilmington, where she had been living with her mother and grandmother. The day they made contact was Wednesday, Byrd's 17th birthday.
Authorities found the girl with the help of computerized age-progression images provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which notified the Marshals Service late last year of several open cases in the region, including Byrd's.
Dodd arrived in Wilmington hoping to take her back to Fort Washington, Md., where he lives with his wife, Paula.
But after meeting with the teenager and a social worker for more than an hour Monday, the best he hopes for now is to open a line of communication with his long-lost daughter, who, for the time being, will remain in Wilmington with her grandmother.
"This was a happy moment, but it was a letdown," Dodd said.
Marilyn's mother, Mary Jane Byrd, 35, appeared before a judge in Washington, D.C., last week on charges of parental abduction. She was ordered to a halfway house pending a May 3 preliminary hearing.
Dodd believes one reason Marilyn was reluctant to go back to Maryland with him is that her mother alleged that he had physically and sexually abused the child, an accusation he denies.
"I kept telling her, 'Get to know your father first, and then make your judgment," a disappointed Dodd told a throng of local and national media gathered at a Wilmington municipal building.
Dodd, who received full custody of Marilyn in 1994, said he plans to work on a long-distance relationship with his daughter "until we get our little problem solved."
Dodd said his daughter knew he had been searching for her, but that she apparently never challenged what her mother was doing. "I told her, 'No matter what you've been told, hear my side of the story,'" he said.
At the municipal building, father and daughter were reunited in a small police administrative room.
"The first word I told her was that I love her and I miss her," Dodd said. "I didn't get the response I wanted. ... When I first saw her, I just didn't get the vibes."
When he presented Byrd with old family photographs, she glanced quickly at them and didn't ask any questions.
Careful not to pry too much, Dodd came away from the initial meeting not knowing very much about his daughter, who told him she felt safe and was being home-schooled.
"I don't know what type of person she is," said Dodd, who must wait at least a little longer for the hug that has eluded him for more than a decade. "I think that's going to take time," he said.
credit BellSouth
"I said to myself, 'That's daddy's little girl, still,'" he recalled Monday.
But the little girl he last saw when she was a 4-year-old preschooler is now a confused, distrustful 17-year-old, unwilling to accept, at least for now, that she has a father who loves her and wants to take her home.
"I think there's still a lot of hurt in her heart," Dodd, 40, said after being reunited with Marilyn Byrd, spirited away from him in 1993 by her mother in a nasty custody dispute that evolved into one of the nation's longest missing-child cases. "We've got a lot of work to do."
Last week, U.S. Marshals tracked her down at a house near downtown Wilmington, where she had been living with her mother and grandmother. The day they made contact was Wednesday, Byrd's 17th birthday.
Authorities found the girl with the help of computerized age-progression images provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which notified the Marshals Service late last year of several open cases in the region, including Byrd's.
Dodd arrived in Wilmington hoping to take her back to Fort Washington, Md., where he lives with his wife, Paula.
But after meeting with the teenager and a social worker for more than an hour Monday, the best he hopes for now is to open a line of communication with his long-lost daughter, who, for the time being, will remain in Wilmington with her grandmother.
"This was a happy moment, but it was a letdown," Dodd said.
Marilyn's mother, Mary Jane Byrd, 35, appeared before a judge in Washington, D.C., last week on charges of parental abduction. She was ordered to a halfway house pending a May 3 preliminary hearing.
Dodd believes one reason Marilyn was reluctant to go back to Maryland with him is that her mother alleged that he had physically and sexually abused the child, an accusation he denies.
"I kept telling her, 'Get to know your father first, and then make your judgment," a disappointed Dodd told a throng of local and national media gathered at a Wilmington municipal building.
Dodd, who received full custody of Marilyn in 1994, said he plans to work on a long-distance relationship with his daughter "until we get our little problem solved."
Dodd said his daughter knew he had been searching for her, but that she apparently never challenged what her mother was doing. "I told her, 'No matter what you've been told, hear my side of the story,'" he said.
At the municipal building, father and daughter were reunited in a small police administrative room.
"The first word I told her was that I love her and I miss her," Dodd said. "I didn't get the response I wanted. ... When I first saw her, I just didn't get the vibes."
When he presented Byrd with old family photographs, she glanced quickly at them and didn't ask any questions.
Careful not to pry too much, Dodd came away from the initial meeting not knowing very much about his daughter, who told him she felt safe and was being home-schooled.
"I don't know what type of person she is," said Dodd, who must wait at least a little longer for the hug that has eluded him for more than a decade. "I think that's going to take time," he said.
credit BellSouth