People get really emotional and sometimes violent when their children are involved. This divorce case in Texas courts resulted in the wife getting primary custody of their child as the managing conservator and our child recovery case.
Her husband, living in Louisiana, filed a lawsuit there disputing Texas jurisdiction. However, attorneys I consulted were fairly certain that the Louisiana action was improper and would go nowhere.
The husband came to Texas to exercise his right to weekend visitation. The only problem was that when the weekend was over, he didn’t return the child, and they both disappeared. A Texas court issued an order to require the immediate return of the child to the mother, but the problem was in finding the father. That was my job.
I located the father near Leesville, LA and began surveillance of the rental residence where he was staying. First I wanted to make sure the child was there, then I would go to the local authorities and solicit their help in enforcement of the Texas court order and taking of the child.
The Best-Laid Child Recovery Plans
That was the plan, but it didn’t work out the way that I intended. I never got the chance to take the proper route in getting local law enforcement help. Somehow the father found out that I was in town.
It was a pretty remote area of Louisiana. I’m familiar with the state and the wooded and swampy areas because my mother was from there. I love the countryside and the people, but sometimes it can seem like it’s a different world.
There were only two hotels nearby, and an outsider hanging around for a while can garner attention. I don’t believe that he saw my surveillance, as I was very careful. Perhaps someone told him about a suspicious outsider hanging around and his paranoia kicked in. But, I never told anyone why I was there.
Ever since then I’ve been suspicious that he was actually tipped off by my client, the wife. It seems that she was talking to him regularly on the phone. Maybe she accidentally said something that clued him in or made him super-vigilant. However he found out, it wasn’t hard for him to find me.
Since he was from that area, he likely knew some of the hotel employees and asked about strangers in town. One night, just after sunset, there was someone pounding on my hotel room door. A man’s voice was loudly demanding that I come out of the room.
Looking out of the door peep hole, I saw the father, a really large Great Dane, and at least that night, what looked like a really gigantic shotgun! The Great Dane was raising hell. I decided that discretion was the better path and called the police, waiting for them to arrive.
All of this time he was banging on the door, shouting that he knew who I was, and demanding that I come out and talk to him. Somehow I didn’t see the communication value in the shotgun and dog, so I just waited for the cops, hoping they would get there before he decided to kick down the door.
Small Town Law Enforcement
After about 20 minutes, things got quiet. Looking through the peep hole I saw nobody, no gun, no dog. I was feeling pretty relieved, especially when the local police knocked on the door.
I was relieved they were there and let them in, explaining the child recovery situation in detail. Of course I also showed them my very legal Texas court order, also playing the former cop card. I figured we’d get this show on the road and my police brethren would help me to go get the child … wrong!
They were totally unimpressed with my documents or ex-cop status. There was no desire or intention on their part to go with me to retrieve the child. The only thing I could think of was that they were friends with the father. They informed me that I was not in Texas and that my child recovery paperwork was worthless.
As far as having any interest in taking an incident report and any action concerning his threats with the shotgun and dog, they really didn’t seem to care at all. On the contrary, they informed me that if they were me, they would get their rear ends to the airport, go back to Texas and never come back!
Now, here’s your first clue that we real-world private investigators aren’t the macho movie types if we’re not holding an advantage. I could have played the tough guy and tried to grab the child, but I went to the airport and did as they suggested.
It was obvious that I had no friends there, nor any law enforcement support, so I returned to Texas and filed the case away without resolution. I advised my client that she would have to work through the courts to get her child back.
A few months later, a legal settlement was reached between the husband and wife and the situation was resolved. In the real world, sometimes you have cases when you need to know your limitations and what you can and cannot do.
What was the Relative Problem?
It wasn’t my problem, nor was my client or the husband involved. I knew I had an older brother living in Leesville, LA, but didn’t think it was relevant. I didn’t even let him know I was there, as I wasn’t staying long and didn’t have time for socializing. Also, I did leave in kind of a hurry.
We did touch base though when he called to let me know that he had taken some flak from the locals for having the same last name as that Texas asshole who tried to kidnap a child. He owned an appliance business that later had to close for lack of business. I absolutely will not accept responsibility for that though. It’s a small world.