The Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC) is delighted to announce that Angeline Bryan-Hoercher, missing since 1998, has been located living in Hawaii.
Her mother – Elke Hoercher – immediately flew to be with her daughter who she hadn’t seen for 5 years – and they held an emotional reunion in the company of police and social workers.
Angeline was abducted by her non-custodial father, Jon Bryan, on July 27, 1998 from Delray Beach, Florida. The authorities are currently holding him in Florida on charges related to this case.
For the last 5 long years Elke has spent every waking hour searching for her only child. She has been relentless in her search for Angeline, and now it has finally paid off.
Jon and Elke got divorced in 1995 and Elke was awarded custody of Angeline, with Jon getting visitation rights. One day, following what was supposed to be a father-and-daughter camping trip to the Florida Keys, Jon decided to take matters into his own hands and took Angeline out of the state. He left behind a ransacked house and car, hoping the police would suspect foul play, which they did. Elke suspected that the scene was staged but it took her several valuable days to convince the police that Jon had taken their daughter, and by then Jon was already long gone.
We now know that Jon took Angeline straight to Hawaii, and told her that her mother had abandoned her. Angeline was just 6 years old. Jon assumed the identity of Jonny Lee and renamed Angeline, Lena Lee. They lived a low profile life and Jon didn’t even get a regular job. It is largely believed that he was helped and supported by friends and family during this time. In order to explain their situation Jon told people – including his new girlfriend - that he was a single parent and the mother had left both Angeline and the country and that she was a foreign national. (Elke is from Germany but still lives in Florida).
After an initial flurry of activity and tips, detectives continued to work hard to pick up momentum on the case over the years, even trying different techniques to stop the case from going cold. At one point a private investigator had been sent to Hawaii but turned up nothing. And so it continued, with police frustrated and with Elke campaigning and searching and trying everything she could in order to find her little girl.
In August 2002 Elke asked the Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC) to get involved to see if they could help find her daughter.
At MCSC the case was assigned to Darrell Wilson, a veteran police officer who has worked as an investigator for MCSC for 4 years. Darrell made initial contact with both the FBI and the Delray Beach Police, whilst maintaining constant contact with Elke. Where possible MCSC offered advice and retrieved information about Jon’s family members who were suspected of connections with the parental abduction.
MCSC conducted targeted poster campaigns in areas where tips had been received and. carried information about Angeline on their web site and in newsletters. MCSC liaised regularly with Detective Tom Whatley from Delray police who had been working on the case for over a year.
Six weeks ago Whatley persuaded the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to arrange a massive mail out of 75 million fliers displaying a photo of Angeline. He got 350 responses to the mail out but none of them a match.
Then out of the blue he got a call and an emailed photograph. The person called in and said, “You can put the rest of the photos down, this is it.” Whatley was ecstatic. He called Elke in to look through a series of photographs and the minute she saw the photograph of a pretty blonde child she knew straight away that it was her daughter and was told that she was living in Hawaii.
By working with local police in Kapaa, Whatley had Angeline excused from her school classroom to take a phone call, where her mother was waiting on the other end of the line. Mother and daughter recognized each other instantly. Elke said, “I’m coming soon, I’m coming to get you.”
Elke got on the first plane the next morning to Hawaii to see her little girl – who is now eleven years old. Following an initial meeting they now have to embark on a long reunification process, involving the courts, child welfare services, and of course Angeline’s family. But because of a mother’s determination and stellar work by the police force and reaction by the public – Angeline now has the opportunity to know and love both parents again.
Darrell Wilson is still in contact with Elke – and the MCSC continues to offer her its help and support. When Darrell Wilson found out that Angeline had been found he commented to Elke “I hope that one day I get a chance to tell your daughter how much your mum loves you and how hard she worked to get you back.”