Diplomatic Security Reunites California Dad With Abducted Daughter In Costa Rica After Nearly 3-Year Separation

State Department Special Agents Coordinate Arrest Of Fugitive Mom On International Parental Kidnapping Charges

U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security (DS) investigators in Costa Rica have reunited a U.S. citizen with his kidnapped daughter almost three years after she allegedly was abducted by her mother and taken to Central America.

The mother, Nicole Kater, was arrested April 22, 2008 by Costa Rican authorities after an intensive 18-day fugitive hunt coordinated by the DS Regional Security Office of the U.S. Embassy in San Jose.

Kater was involved in a custody dispute with the child’s father in California when she allegedly fled to Costa Rica on Aug. 17, 2005 with their daughter, Tierra, who was four years old at the time. A court subsequently awarded custody of the girl to the father, who spent the next 32 months trying to find her.

In September 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation notified Diplomatic Security that Kater was believed to be living in Costa Rica and requested DS assistance in locating her and her daughter.

Using their extensive network of contacts with Costa Rican law enforcement and government officials, DS investigators coordinated an investigative team of DS, Interpol, and Costa Rican law enforcement personnel who followed up numerous leads throughout Costa Rica.

By early April, the investigators identified various locations where Kater was believed to have resided, located and tracked her current boyfriend, and eventually found the fugitive mom hiding out in a house on the side of a rugged mountain, near the tourist site of Lake Arenal.

“Diplomatic Security’s regional security office in San Jose maintains an excellent working relationship with the local law enforcement personnel throughout Costa Rica who worked so diligently to help DS apprehend this fugitive,” said Patrick D. Donovan, Acting Director of the Diplomatic Security Service, “It’s this type of close, worldwide law enforcement liaison capability that gives Diplomatic Security unparalleled ability to help locate, pursue and apprehend fugitives.”

Kater has been detained in Costa Rica pending her extradition to the United States to face charges of international parental kidnapping.

Tierra, now 7 years old, has been reunited with her father. After nearly three years, his search is over.

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security is the U.S. Department of State’s law enforcement and security arm. The special agents, engineers, and security professionals of the Bureau are responsible for the security of 285 U.S. diplomatic missions around the world. In the United States, Diplomatic Security personnel protect the U.S. Secretary of State and high-ranking foreign dignitaries and officials visiting the United States, investigate passport and visa fraud, and conduct personnel security investigations. In 2007, DS participated in 1,955 arrests globally, primarily for passport and visa fraud, including 406 arrests overseas in cooperation with foreign police. Read more in the U.S. Department of State’s Visa and Passport Security Strategic Plan at: http://www.state.gov/m/ds/rls/rpt/79895.htm. Additional information about the U.S. Department of State and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security may be obtained at www.state.gov/m/ds.

Contact:
David Bates
571-345-2518
BatesDE@state.gov