Preston, our 14 year old, was abducted for 77 days

Please help our family get justice. We are raising funds for legal action in order to protect Preston and his little brothers, who right now remain under threat. Read below about our recent, nightmarish story. We need your help!

In the early morning of March 4th, our nine-year-old son woke us with the jarring news that his oldest brother was gone. Preston, our strong, smart 14-year-old, had disappeared during the night without a word. Devastated and confused, his mother and I frantically checked in with everyone he knew. Preston had never once mentioned anything like running away. It wasn’t until later that day that we began to realize our son had been physically transported into hiding in the dead of night.

Over the weeks and months that followed, we uncovered a plan to keep Preston isolated from communication and deliberately hidden, a plan that was carried out by a network of 10+ adults. For 77 days they harbored our son at a residential house 13 miles away, concealing his whereabouts from us and from the authorities involved, making false reports to government agencies and refusing to speak to police officers or detectives.

Spearheaded by an estranged, older half-sibling who had been secretly communicating with Preston since he was 12, they proceeded to throw obstacles in our path, foremost being an anonymous call to the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline, made before we even knew Preston was missing. This initial report was violent and incendiary, claiming that Preston and his little brothers had all been brutally assaulted, psychologically abused, and criminally neglected by their mother and I. None of this was true, but it certainly blunted and diluted everyone’s urgency in locating our son. Dismissed as simply another runaway, there was no Amber Alert issued.

Instead, Child Protective Services immediately opened an intrusive, full investigation into our family, including comprehensive interviews and a home inspection. Of course, they swiftly determined that there was no indication whatsoever of any abuse occurring in our household, but as the days passed we were utterly distraught. Every day we kept in constant communication with the police, DHS, Preston’s pediatrician's office and middle school. We sought legal advice, attempted to contact the DA's office and even hired a private eye, trying to discover where Preston was being kept. Wracked with anguish, each day we would drive around Portland looking for the cars of those involved, in desperate hopes they might somehow lead us to our son.

We got close to Preston a few times, but early on we still had no idea that there was a whole network of adults involved in an active plan to hide him. They deliberately used car transfers and alternate, undisclosed hideouts to keep Preston overnight whenever we had gotten close. Later, we learned their plan was so highly developed that they used code-names for each other such as Scarlet, Match, Lunch, Chaos, Conner, Phoenix and Snax, adults whom Preston and our family had never met.

With the authorities stymied, the network worked to put more obstacles in our path. They began petitioning Multnomah Circuit Court seeking protective orders against my wife and I, intentionally trying to shield themselves and their scheme from our interference. They claimed to several judges that our following them around made them feel psychologically terrorized and physically threatened. Despite these and other false sworn statements, all five of their attempts at protective orders were denied or dismissed, resoundingly, by the court.

In early April, CPS closed their case against our family, ruling it entirely unfounded and recommending just one thing: that Preston be returned home immediately. Two weeks later, the network retaliated by launching online fundraisers. Slandering us as criminal abusers, they disparaged CPS for a shoddy investigation and framed Preston as an assaulted, suicidal kid who was forced to run for his life. Posting unauthorized childhood pictures of Preston and his little brothers, the group garnered over $12,000 "to protect him from his parents" and sue the courts for protective custody.

With their legal barricades dissolving and their plan falling apart, Preston was transported home in May under the specific premise that the network would wait until he turned 15 before resuming their "fight for guardianship." During the second half of his 77 days, our son was not even allowed to go outside. Preston came back malnourished, scarred from continual self-harm (which was left untreated), and he struggled with a deep, brooding guilt. Manipulating him like a hostage, they messed with his head, subverting his confidence and eroding his trust in us. We have no idea how much this emotional manipulation is going to impact Preston or his little brothers as they grow into maturity.

All of our sons remain under a continuing threat of harm. We are asking for donations in order to bring these people to justice. Not one of them has been questioned by the police. They haven't been held to account for deliberately slandering our family, attempting to separate us from our children, or plainly committing fraud in order to profit financially from this invasive trauma.

Although our close family has already spent thousands on legal counsel, it has been a strain on us all, especially after the last year of Covid. We are hoping to raise the legal fees necessary to bring a criminal case to the district attorney so we can press civil and criminal charges. We also feel it is vital that we take our harrowing experience to the local press. With your help, we hope to shine a light on this bizarre series of loopholes that protects the adults involved, rather than the children. As we circle the wagons, our family would appreciate any small donation you can make, even anonymously, even $10 or $20. Every little bit helps.