Stella Salter, 7 year old Georgia girl kidnapped by her mother, Wendy Salter re-united with her father a week after child being snatched from dad amid custody dispute.
A children’s book writer has been arrested in Puerto Rico after authorities located the whereabouts of the woman and her 7 year old daughter after the biological parent snatching the girl from her Georgia father.
Stella Brannen Salter had been missing for over a week after the 7 year old girl and her mother, Wendy Salter, 46, were last seen in Lyons, Georgia on March 29 before leaving town.
At the time, Lyons police stated the pair were traveling in a 2007 gold Volvo C70 with Georgia tag GEE777.
Child custody battle
Wendy’s phone pinged near Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday and police said she booked a flight to Puerto Rico.
The FBI tracked down Wendy to Bayamón, in the capital San Juan’s western suburbs, after she used her credit card to make transactions.
She was arrested by local police at a shop on the Caribbean island about 12pm on Saturday and taken to Bayamón Correctional Complex.
Stella was found in a nearby hotel room where they were staying with local media reporting they were camped out in the shop days earlier.
Wendy did not have custody of her daughter, and Stella has been returned to her father, Jeremy Salter, FOX5 reported.
Wendy was a school counselor for more than a decade and now writes children’s books.
The Lyons Police Department and the FBI will extradite Wendy back to Georgia where she is being charged with interstate interference with child custody. She will face court on April 11.
It remained unclear what led to the mother losing custody of her own daughter.
Friends sent panicked messages to Wendy in the comments of her Facebook posts after she updated her profile on April 2, the dailymail reported.
‘Come on sis. You have everyone worried about you… let someone know you’re okay. Or if you’re not let someone know,’ one wrote.
‘You are loved by many and your girls need you to be safe.’
Another added: ‘I want you to know I love y’all and I hope y’all are safe! If you decided to run just let someone know you’re safe so people can quit worrying. I wish nothing but the best for you.’
Wrote another: ‘Hey sweetheart, you have a lot of people that love you very worried, please let someone know that you and baby girl are ok.’
While another friend said they were only an hour away from Orlando if she needed help, but by then she was already in Puerto Rico.
