After waiting five years and flying over 5,000 miles to see her daughter, Elke Hoercher will have to wait a few more days at least before taking her child home to Florida.
Angeline, 11, was a typical fifth grader at Kapa’a Elementary School until Wednesday, but her world changed when her father was arrested and the mother who had been looking for her for years said hello to the child via telephone.
“This is overwhelming to her,” said Lt. Dean Pigao, of youth services of the Kaua’i Police Department. “She has some recollections of Florida, but this has torn her world apart.”
So KPD and the Child Protective Services will take it slow, Pigao said, so as not to harm her psyche any more.
“Everybody’s thinking that she’s going to come here and take Angeline and go back to Florida,” the lieutenant said. “It’s not going to happen that way.
“Right now, our main concern is Angeline.”
He said the mother and daughter will continue to spend their days getting to re-know each other, but with supervision.
In the meantime, Angeline will continue to stay with a foster family and Elke will stay in a local hotel.
As for when the pair might be able to head back to Florida, Pigao could not say.
“We want to see the actual (custodial) paperwork,” from Florida, he said, and Elke “is committed to going through the whole process.”
Meanwhile, Angeline’s father Jon Michael Bryan is in the KPD cell block awaiting arraignment on federal charges Tuesday, Pigao said.
And he might be there for a while as the process to extradite him to Florida has already begun.
The prosecutor’s office has been in daily contact with Florida officials, said Craig DeCosta, County of Kaua’i first deputy prosecuting attorney, although he could not say whether it was state or county officials his office was talking to.
The length of time Bryan stays in cell block depends on whether or not he fights extradition. He will be on Kaua’i for at least another two weeks.
If Bryan fights extradition, it may takes up to four months, DeCosta said.
Bryan has been a fugitive since June 28, 1998, when he picked up Angeline from her mother for a scheduled four-week visitation. Bryan, Angeline’s non-custodial parent, was supposed to return the girl to her mother 30 days later, but failed to do so.
Since then, he has been on the FBI’s list of the 20 most-wanted parental kidnappers. Pictures of both him and Angeline have been on the FBI Web site.
Authorities think Bryan moved to Hawai’i with Angeline soon after they left Florida.
Staff writer Tom Finnegan can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226)
