Age-progressed images of Kimberly Yates (left) and sister Kelly (right) who were found in Houston. Photo / The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Age-progressed images of Kimberly Yates (left) and sister Kelly (right) who were found in Houston. Photo / The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Two sisters who were kidnapped by their mother in 1985 during an ugly custody battle have been found alive and well in Houston.
Elaine Yates, now 69, took her daughters Kimberly, then four years old, and 10-month-old Kelly from their Warwick, Rhode Island home on August 26, 1985.
Yates, whowas living under the alias Liana Waldberg, is now facing two counts of child snatching and could face up to 20 years in prison under state law, according to the Daily Mail.
Rhode Island State Police Lt. Col. Joseph F Philbin said authorities will not be releasing the names Kimberly and Kelly are now living under.
He said Kimberly and Kelly, now aged 35 and 32 respectively, are living in Houston and have families of their own, according to the Providence Journal.
"That ain't going to help her, me or anybody else at this point," he said. "I just want to see my kids."
Authorities would not disclose whether Kimberly and Kelly knew about their true identity or that they had been living 1,800 miles away from their first home.
Yates abducted her children after finding out her husband, Russell Yates, with another woman.
Russell admitted to hitting Yates as they argued after his infidelity was revealed, but claims she had hit and kicked him several times first.
He took Yates to the emergency room for treatment, and staff suggested she go to a battered women's shelter in Massachusetts.
Yates took her children while Russell, a bar owner, was at work three weeks later. He returned at 2am to find the house empty, according to the Charley Project.
Russell was awarded full custody of Kimberly and Kelly nearly three months later when Yates did not show up to court to contest.
A felony warrant was issued for Yates' arrest on November 16, 1988. Russell formally divorced Yates in 1996.
Yates' late mother Mary Pigeon, aged 77 at the time, went to prison for eight days in 1990 when she refused to reveal her daughter and grandchildren's whereabouts.
Pigeon, who died in 2000, always maintained that she did not know where they were. Russell and Yates were high school sweethearts who wed they were 18 years old.
It would take them 16 years before they decided to have children.
Russell, a Vietnam veteran, said in 1988 that he was "foolish as a husband" and expected his wife to "accept an awful lot".