AP News, May 24th, 2007
A woman accused of fleeing with her daughter to Delaware 14 years ago in one of the nation's longest-running missing child cases was acquitted Wednesday of parental kidnapping.
Mary Jane Byrd left Washington in 1993 with her then 4-year-old child during a bitter custody dispute. She claimed she fled the girl's father, Carl Dodd, after years of abuse.
Dodd, who denies the abuse claim, said he searched for his daughter for years. Mother and daughter, now 18, were found by federal marshals in April 2006 at the home of Byrd's mother in Wilmington, Del.
Byrd, 36, shouted "Oh, thank you, Jesus" and collapsed sobbing into the arms of her attorney as the Superior Court jury returned its verdict in her favor. Leaving the courtroom, she wept and hugged her daughter tightly, telling reporters that "God has delivered me."
She could have faced a year in prison if convicted of parental kidnapping.
Dodd said the jury was likely swayed by the allegations. "The jury believed all the lies Mary told," he said. "She still has to answer to the man upstairs about the lies she told."
The week-and-a-half-long trial exposed a troubled five-year relationship between Dodd and Byrd. They broke up shortly after the girl, Marilyn, was born in 1989 and soon began sparring over custody.
Dodd testified he twice called police to force Byrd to allow him to pick up Marilyn for his court-ordered visits. Shortly after Dodd was granted extended visitation rights in 1993, Byrd and her daughter disappeared. Dodd was granted full custody of the child in January 1994.
Byrd told jurors that Dodd once held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her, and said he abused both her and his daughter. She said she feared for her life and moved between motels in Delaware, educating the girl herself to avoid detection and working under a false last name.
Dodd admitted to only one infraction, a 1992 verbal threat he said was made out of "frustration." Other than that, he said Wednesday, "I did nothing wrong."
Dodd said he has not had any contact with his daughter since she legally became an adult in April. When they first met last year after Byrd's arrest, Dodd said his daughter was cold and sullen. They did not speak after the verdict, and Marilyn left the courthouse with her mother.
"I feel as though, if she wants to talk, I'll be here," Dodd said.
