Nathan Slinkard, Abducted 5-Year-Old, Reunites With Father 18 Years Later (VIDEO)
Nathan Slinkard was abducted by his mother at age five along with his brother Andrew, who was seven and Sydney, who was three. Now 18 years later, the young man reunited with his father in Indiana after living most of his life in Mexico.
Nathan Slinkard initial abduction at the hands of his mother, Trena Slinkard, came when she and her then-husband, Steven Slinkard, were going through a heated custody battle in 1995. When the courts ruled in Steven's favor, Trena took the children in October of that year and disappeared to Mexico. Nathan made the choice to find his father in Greenfield, Indiana and saw him Tuesday.
"They were nervous," Lt. Ted Munden of the Hancock County Sheriff's Department told CNN. "The dad asked me on the way there, '[What] do I do? Do I shake his hand of give him a hug?'"
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"I said, 'You will know when you see him,'" the officer recounted.
Munden was present at the reunion of Nathan, Steven and Steven's sister at Indianapolis Airport because he was the most recent investigator to look into the missing children's case, according to Inquisitr.com. A lack of cooperation by the Mexican government made authorities give up the case, but Nathan decided to come home on his own.
"Nathan immediately recognized us at the airport. He walked up and initiated a hug [with] his father," Munden said. "You could tell there was a lot of emotion."
Both Steven, a paramedic, and his son Nathan, who is aspiring to go to college and enter the medical field, have a private nature: neither has spoken with media about the reunion. Now both of them live together in the father's home in Greenfield, Indiana.
Nathan, who was hesitant to disclose the whereabouts of his mother and siblings, decided to head home in January. He headed to the U.S. consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico, and showed them his birth certificate, social security card and surgical scars as proof of his birth. They emailed Munden Jan. 27, and the next day, the young man flew to Houston, Texas to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
After they confirmed what happened, Nathan headed home for the first time in almost two decades.
"I've been involved in law enforcement for 17 years, and this is by far the most unusual and most rewarding thing I've been involved with," Munden told CNN.
Trena Slinkard, 46, is still wanted for a class D felony charge for violating the custody order, but two much more serious charges for unlawful flight were dropped in 2006. Nathan said he could have returned home any time, but chose to do so now to start a new life.
To see a report about the Slinkards from several years ago, click below.
