An 8-year-old girl at the heart of a long-running child custody fight between former lesbian partners may have fled to Central America with her birth mother, a lawyer for one of the women said.
The girl, Isabella Miller-Jenkins, and her birth mother, Lisa Miller, failed to appear for a court-ordered custody swap in January and are believed to have flown to El Salvador last September, said attorney Sarah Star, who represents ex-partner Janet Jenkins.
Star said a Virginia police officer told her that Miller and the girl flew to El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador, from Juarez, Mexico, which is across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.
“This is obviously horrifying,” Star said Thursday. “Isabella’s not in school. She’s most likely in a country that is not as developed as the U.S., and (Jenkins is) worried about her. She’s worried she’s not in a safe environment. As far as we know, Lisa Miller doesn’t even speak Spanish.”
In case you’re new, you’ll remember that Isabella Miller-Jenkins is the daughter of Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins, who decided to bring her into the world when they were a couple. They later were joined in a civil union, until Lisa Miller suddenly went off the deep end, converted to fundamentalist Christianity, and decided that, because of her newfound homophobia, therefore the law did not apply to her. Because of her violation of numerous court orders for visitation, Lisa Miller was to hand custody of Isabella over to Janet Jenkins in January of this year.
Lisa and Isabella have now been missing for six months.
If you’re a Central American reader or have family or friends in the region, and happen to spot these two, please contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
(h/t Melanie Nathan)
