KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2010 / NEWS
NATIONAL
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Case of kids found on Facebook revives estranged family's dispute
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTCLAIR, Calif. — Prince Sagala has pined for her son and daughter since her estranged husband took them and fled to Mexico 15 years ago — but she never gave up hope that she would see them again.
The Indonesian-born nursing assistant was rewarded for her faith earlier this year, when she stumbled on her daughter's Facebook page in a story that made national headlines.
But in the four months since that discovery, Sagala's unbridled joy has slowly turned to anguish. The case has led to the public airing of
years-old domestic allegations against Sagala — information that will likely be used in court — and her nowteenaged children want nothing to do with her.
At Sagala's sole supervised visit at a Florida library recently, her
kidnapping and child custody charges. During a hearing Monday, he was served with a governor's warrant from California and his bond was revoked. His Florida attorney said Utrera could be extradited to California anytime.
In an interview, Sagala recounted how Utrera took the children and fled to Mexico in 1995, when her son and daughter were just toddlers.
Sagala said Utrera, whom she married in 1993, had become abusive — a charge now denied by Utrera's attorney — and that she was about to seek a restraining order. Then Utrera called her at work one day to say he would take the children to the
The children's father, Faustino Fernandez Utrera, 42, was initially held in an Osceola County, Fla., jail after being arrested in May on
son kept his nose in a book about witches and her daughter gave terse, one-word answers to her questions, Sagala said.
"She doesn't know me, her father's in jail. I guess she does blame me for this." Sagala said of her 17-year-old daughter. "She doesn't know the truth. I told her, you can see me right now, I'm not that person like what you thought for 15 years, like what your father told you."
"I told her, you can see me right now, I'm not that person like what you thought for 15 years."
PRINCESAGALA Mother of estranged kids
park and then to a movie. She told him they were sick and should be home early. When she returned home, they weren't there.
Several hours later, one of her husband's
friends called to tell her Utrera had taken the children to his native Mexico and wasn't coming back. Sugala said she immediately called the police and also told her story to a Spanish-language TV network.
Montclair police pursued the case, but when they learned the children were in Mexico, they turned the file over to the San Bernardino County district attorney. It's unclear now why the case wasn't pursued by prosecutors in 1995, but Deputy District Attorney Kurt Rowley said it's unlikely Mexico would have extradited Utrera at the time.
Over the next 15 years, police checked in with Sagala each year and sent her a questionnaire, but she had no new information. She said she periodically tried to contact her estranged husband's friends and family in Mexico with no luck.
Eventually, Sagala said she tried to move on with her life. She started a long-term relationship with another man, gave birth to two more children — a girl and a boy — and threw herself into worship at her Jehovah's Witness church.
As she hovered nervously, three teenagers with her daughter's name popped up on the Facebook site. Sagala didn't know which teenager
Sagala tried to recreate the life she lost with her first two when her new babies arrived: She gave birth at the same hospital, incorporated parts of their names in her new children's names and dressed them in the same
tiny outfits she had saved.
"I went to church. I prayed, because as a mother, I'm not strong enough for the burden I have now.
My two kids right now, they help me to be strong." Sagala said of her younger children. "Before, I missed everything as a mother, I missed their birthdays. It really hurts."
In March, friends told
"Before, I missed everything as a mother. I missed their birthdays. It really hurts."
PRINCE SAGALA Mother of estranged kids
Sagala about Facebook. She had her younger daughter, now 12, tap her older daughter's name into a computer at the local library.
to try first until she realized that one girl looked like her younger daughter, Joanna. The girl also had a Facebook friend with the same name as Sagala's missing son.
Sagala sent a
message and received a heartbreaking reply. The 17-year-old wrote that she had no interest in a relationship.