Nixon Library Releases More Diary Entries From Aide Obama Doubles US Presence in Iraq Worker Killed in Bowling Alley Accident Cops: Dad Foils Abduction of 5-Year-Old Daughter Judge OKs Detroit Plan to Exit Bankruptcy Cops: Business Partner Killed Family of 4 SEALs Squabble Over Who Killed bin Laden Man Finds Body Inside Foreclosed Home He Bought Army Nixes Word 'Negro' in Policy Document Unemployment Rate Lowest Since 2008 90-Year-Old Cited for Feeding Homeless—Again Man Arrested for Killing Wife in Rocky Mountains 600 Military Vets Reported Chemical Exposure in Iraq Detective Credits Kidnapping Victim for Smart Move Court Blocks Gay Marriage in 4 States Return to Grid Missing Pa. Boy Found on Island 7K Miles From Home AUTHORITIES SAY BILLY HANSONS DAD SAILED THEM MORE THAN 5K MILES TO NIUE By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff Posted Nov 5, 2014 8:20 AM CST STORY COMMENTS (37) Embed this story (NEWSER) – A 9-year-old boy reported missing in September has been found safe—on a tiny South Pacific island more than 7,000 miles from his home in Pennsylvania. Billy Hansons mom reported the boy missing after he didnt come back from a visit with his father in Seattle, so authorities focused on finding the yacht belonging to Jeffrey Hanson, an experienced sailor whos traveled around the South Pacific and Mexico. An international search ultimately located father and son on Niue, a coral atoll 1,500 miles northeast of New Zealand and 5,500 miles away from Seattle, the Guardian reports. The 46-year-old Hanson was arrested by the islands 15-member police force last Wednesday after a tip from a local who recognized him from a wanted poster, and he was brought back to the US Sunday to face charges of international parental kidnapping, the Seattle Times reports. Billy had been staying on the 38-foot sailboat at Seattles Shilshole Bay Marina with his dad. The US Attorneys Office says Jeffrey Hanson is a known drug abuser. He and Joanna Hanson are divorced, and Jeffrey had monthly visitation rights, the Times Leader reports. Billy had gone on summer visits for the past five years, and one of Jeffrey Hansons friends told the FBI the man would abuse his son on those visits, including hitting him to toughen him up. As for Billy, he stayed on the island for a few days while authorities arranged to return him to his mother, and according to the editor of the Niue Star newspaper, he seemed none the worse for wear. I saw him at a barbecue on Friday and he did not look stressed, the editor says, adding that locals were looking after him and the 9-year-old seemed to be treating the whole thing as an adventure. He had a Niue T-shirt on and was enjoying himself. Its not clear where the boy is now; the FBI said Monday that authorities were still working to reunite him with his
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 08:34:26 +0000
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