LilMtnCbn
08-25-2004, 06:35 AM
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-66695sy0aug25,0,3832810.story?coll=dp-he
adlines-topnews
Grandparents' betrayal forces mother into a fight
The woman, battling to get her son back from her parents in Ireland, is
starting a new life in Suffolk.
BY MONIQUE ANGLE
247-4731
August 25, 2004
NORFOLK -- Serena Benwell had a sinking feeling that her parents might try to
abduct her 9-year-old son.
Her father - a man she calls abusive - phoned her crying from Ireland, saying
he was dying of cancer and needed to see his grandson in the United States one
last time. Serena Benwell, who was estranged from her parents, wanted to say
no, but she couldn't ignore the tears and pleas, she said. She agreed to a
visit on her home turf, in a town outside Chicago.
To protect her son, the Navy wife took her parents' passports in July before
they took the boy to lunch, believing they couldn't leave the country without
them. She was wrong.
Serena Benwell's parents, Tim and Ethel Blake - who helped raise the boy when
he was little - were able to take Dylan to Ireland. The passports that Serena
Benwell had taken were duplicates, she said, and the Blakes were able to get an
Irish passport for her son.
Reached at his home in Cobh, Ireland, on Tuesday, Tim Blake declined to
comment.
Now, more than a month after her parents left with her son, Serena Benwell, 36,
is still fighting to get Dylan back as she moves to Hampton Roads. Arrest
warrants have been issued for her parents, charging them with aggravated
kidnapping, and a $2 million bond has been set. The U.S. Department of Justice
is working on an extradition, authorities said, and Serena Benwell has hired a
lawyer to work on the case in Ireland.
To complicate matters, the mother is trying to close on a house in Suffolk and
care for four of her six children while her husband, a Norfolk-based sailor on
the USS Oscar Austin, is at sea.
She's holding fast to the hope that she'll be able to get Dylan back. She said
she's shocked that her parents were able to take the child she has legal
custody of and keep him in Ireland as long as they have.
"This has just been a nightmare," she said Tuesday at Norfolk Naval Station.
The woman with stylish short blond hair said in a faint Irish accent that she
is concerned Dylan could be told any number of stories by his grandparents. It
wouldn't be the first time they have lied, Serena Benwell said.
On July 22, her parents told her they wanted to take Dylan for lunch in
Winthrop Harbor, Ill., where the Benwell family lived. After several hours,
Serena Benwell began to get worried that her father had become ill and might be
in a hospital.
When authorities got to the Blakes' hotel room, they found clothes and flight
information that turned out to be false - meant to throw off investigators,
according to Winthrop Harbor police. The Blakes had flown to London and caught
a connection to Dublin.
"I kept thinking, 'Why did I trust these people?' " Serena Benwell said.
Matt Chancey, the assistant state's attorney handling the case in Illinois,
said he is working with the Justice Department to get the Blakes extradited.
Department of Justice officials would not comment on the case.
Chancey said everyone's first priority is getting Dylan back.
But he said Justice has had technical issues, which has held up the
extradition. He said he had no idea how long it would take to get Dylan back.
The custody struggle began years ago after Serena Benwell, who was 27, gave
birth to Dylan in Ireland. Shortly after her son's birth, her husband died and
she was left to raise four small children on her own. She was estranged from
her parents, even though they lived two doors down from her.
Serena Benwell said she had a bad home life growing up, but when her family
offered to step in and help care for Dylan, she said she had no other options.
"I was 27, a widow with no job and four kids," she said.
As her parents helped her care for Dylan, they grew attached to the boy and
wanted to raise him. Their relationship became even more complicated when
Serena Benwell fell in love with an American sailor named John Benwell, she
said.
Serena and John married, and the family moved to the United States. John
Benwell adopted her four children in 2001. The couple also had two children
together. As Dylan grew older, he decided he wanted to be a sailor like his
adoptive father, and he begged for a military ID, his mother said.
Benwell said her parents didn't like Dylan's interest in the U.S. Navy and were
recently angered by the boy's military-style haircut.
Last month wasn't the first time the Blakes had tried to get Dylan to live with
them, Serena Benwell said. In 2001, the Blakes fought for custody of Dylan and
lost. Serena Benwell said her parents used the principles of the Hague
Convention to try to get custody of the boy.
The convention requires any participating country to return a child that has
been wrongfully taken. Both Ireland and the United States signed the treaty.
Richard Crouch, an Arlington-based lawyer specializing in international child
abduction, said a child has to be returned if the other country is the main
residence of the child and if the child was wrongfully removed.
While Serena Benwell tries to navigate the international legal system, her
children ask when their brother is coming home.
The Chicago Tribune, Daily Press reporter Lauren Williams and Daily Press
researcher Jill Coley contributed to this report.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
adlines-topnews
Grandparents' betrayal forces mother into a fight
The woman, battling to get her son back from her parents in Ireland, is
starting a new life in Suffolk.
BY MONIQUE ANGLE
247-4731
August 25, 2004
NORFOLK -- Serena Benwell had a sinking feeling that her parents might try to
abduct her 9-year-old son.
Her father - a man she calls abusive - phoned her crying from Ireland, saying
he was dying of cancer and needed to see his grandson in the United States one
last time. Serena Benwell, who was estranged from her parents, wanted to say
no, but she couldn't ignore the tears and pleas, she said. She agreed to a
visit on her home turf, in a town outside Chicago.
To protect her son, the Navy wife took her parents' passports in July before
they took the boy to lunch, believing they couldn't leave the country without
them. She was wrong.
Serena Benwell's parents, Tim and Ethel Blake - who helped raise the boy when
he was little - were able to take Dylan to Ireland. The passports that Serena
Benwell had taken were duplicates, she said, and the Blakes were able to get an
Irish passport for her son.
Reached at his home in Cobh, Ireland, on Tuesday, Tim Blake declined to
comment.
Now, more than a month after her parents left with her son, Serena Benwell, 36,
is still fighting to get Dylan back as she moves to Hampton Roads. Arrest
warrants have been issued for her parents, charging them with aggravated
kidnapping, and a $2 million bond has been set. The U.S. Department of Justice
is working on an extradition, authorities said, and Serena Benwell has hired a
lawyer to work on the case in Ireland.
To complicate matters, the mother is trying to close on a house in Suffolk and
care for four of her six children while her husband, a Norfolk-based sailor on
the USS Oscar Austin, is at sea.
She's holding fast to the hope that she'll be able to get Dylan back. She said
she's shocked that her parents were able to take the child she has legal
custody of and keep him in Ireland as long as they have.
"This has just been a nightmare," she said Tuesday at Norfolk Naval Station.
The woman with stylish short blond hair said in a faint Irish accent that she
is concerned Dylan could be told any number of stories by his grandparents. It
wouldn't be the first time they have lied, Serena Benwell said.
On July 22, her parents told her they wanted to take Dylan for lunch in
Winthrop Harbor, Ill., where the Benwell family lived. After several hours,
Serena Benwell began to get worried that her father had become ill and might be
in a hospital.
When authorities got to the Blakes' hotel room, they found clothes and flight
information that turned out to be false - meant to throw off investigators,
according to Winthrop Harbor police. The Blakes had flown to London and caught
a connection to Dublin.
"I kept thinking, 'Why did I trust these people?' " Serena Benwell said.
Matt Chancey, the assistant state's attorney handling the case in Illinois,
said he is working with the Justice Department to get the Blakes extradited.
Department of Justice officials would not comment on the case.
Chancey said everyone's first priority is getting Dylan back.
But he said Justice has had technical issues, which has held up the
extradition. He said he had no idea how long it would take to get Dylan back.
The custody struggle began years ago after Serena Benwell, who was 27, gave
birth to Dylan in Ireland. Shortly after her son's birth, her husband died and
she was left to raise four small children on her own. She was estranged from
her parents, even though they lived two doors down from her.
Serena Benwell said she had a bad home life growing up, but when her family
offered to step in and help care for Dylan, she said she had no other options.
"I was 27, a widow with no job and four kids," she said.
As her parents helped her care for Dylan, they grew attached to the boy and
wanted to raise him. Their relationship became even more complicated when
Serena Benwell fell in love with an American sailor named John Benwell, she
said.
Serena and John married, and the family moved to the United States. John
Benwell adopted her four children in 2001. The couple also had two children
together. As Dylan grew older, he decided he wanted to be a sailor like his
adoptive father, and he begged for a military ID, his mother said.
Benwell said her parents didn't like Dylan's interest in the U.S. Navy and were
recently angered by the boy's military-style haircut.
Last month wasn't the first time the Blakes had tried to get Dylan to live with
them, Serena Benwell said. In 2001, the Blakes fought for custody of Dylan and
lost. Serena Benwell said her parents used the principles of the Hague
Convention to try to get custody of the boy.
The convention requires any participating country to return a child that has
been wrongfully taken. Both Ireland and the United States signed the treaty.
Richard Crouch, an Arlington-based lawyer specializing in international child
abduction, said a child has to be returned if the other country is the main
residence of the child and if the child was wrongfully removed.
While Serena Benwell tries to navigate the international legal system, her
children ask when their brother is coming home.
The Chicago Tribune, Daily Press reporter Lauren Williams and Daily Press
researcher Jill Coley contributed to this report.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
