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Criminal Records - Most Wanted |
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Profile |
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Name: Marissa Joy Kvistad-Skelton
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Race: White |
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Age at Disappearance: 1 |
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Height: 30" |
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Weight: 30 lbs |
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Hair (Color, Description, Facial Hair): Blond |
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Eyes (Color and Correction): Blue |
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Other Physical Characteristics: May have gap between front teeth |
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Wanted for :
Missing |
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Location(s) |
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Last Seen : Daytona Beach, FL |
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Possible Location : Europe
France
Geneva, Switzerland |
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Last Known : Unkown |
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Traits |
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Case Story |
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A Father And His Baby Girl |
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According to police, Robert Skelton and Karin Kvistad met in April 2004 in Orlando, Fla., where Robert was on a business trip and Karin was on vacation.
Robert lived in New Jersey at the time, and Karin lived in Boston, so once the couple left Orlando, they pursued their relationship over the phone, visiting each other only occasionally.
Three months later, Robert says Karin moved to New Jersey, with her son from a previous relationship, to be with him. Robert was very happy with the relationship, and by July 4, 2004, the couple was engaged and expecting a child.
In January 2005, Robert says they relocated to Florida so that he could pursue new career opportunities and they could make a fresh start. By this time, Karin was just a few months away from giving birth.
Karin gave birth to their daughter, Marissa Joy, on March 4, 2005, in Daytona Beach, Fla. Marissa's father, Robert Skelton, was there to welcome his daughter into the world.
“I was present for the delivery,” he said, “and was the first to hold Marissa, with a sea of happy tears.”
Robert thought he had a lifetime to spend with his daughter, but as it turned out, he never got to witness her first steps. |
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A Mother On The Run |
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Robert says, for the next year, he visited his daughter several times and had some contact with Karin. It wasn't an ideal situation, but Robert still got time to spend with his daughter, and that's all that mattered to him.
Then, on March 3, 2006 -- a day before Marissa’s first birthday -- things changed, and Robert's life, and his relationship with his daughter, would never be the same again.
Robert says he spent the day at Karin's house celebrating Marissa's birthday. When it was time to go, Robert said goodbye to his daughter. A few days later, Robert says Karin took Marissa and her son from a previous relationship, to Arizona for a vacation.
Ten days later, when Karin and Marissa didn't return, Robert began to wonder if she would ever come home. Scared he would never see his daughter again, he began searching for Karin and their infant child.
Through a series of emails from Karin, Robert was able to track her to South Carolina, Texas, and Arizona. Robert says he asked Karin several times if he could come visit them, wherever they were, but Karin always deprived him of the ability to see his daughter.
By April, Robert realized that Karin had no intentions of ever coming back to Florida, so Robert decided it was time to hire a lawyer in order to find his daughter.
On June 6, 2006, after a series of legal proceedings, a court ordered a cancellation of Karin and Marissa's passports. The court had ruled that Karin was a flight risk because, on several occasions, she had threatened to flee the country with Marissa.
Karin made good on her threat. The U.S. State Department learned that on May 21, 2006, just weeks before the passport freeze was ordered, Karin and Marissa boarded a plane in New York and flew to Paris, France.
On July 6, 2006, Robert was awarded Temporary Sole Parental Responsibility of Marissa by the state of Florida.
The state believed Karin was not a responsible parent after whisking Marissa away, and believed that Karin intentionally and without just cause was withholding Marissa from Robert, who had legal rights and responsibilities with respect to his daughter.
Court documents also state that, on several occasions, Karin failed to appear for scheduled court hearings and never contacted authorities regarding the well-being of her daughter, as had been required of her.
By December of 2006, Karin Kvistad was offically a fugitive. On Decmber 19, the Circuit Court of Volusia County, Florida issued a warrant for Kvistad's arrest for Interference with Custody. |
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A Desperate Father Fights For International Help |
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Things were looking up for Robert. He now had hope of someday being reunited with his daughter, and he had the law on his side in the United States, but Karin was most likely hiding out in Europe, specifically Spain or Switzerland. Robert now had to take his search for his daughter overseas.
Robert spent the next several months reaching out to the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues and the National Center for Missing & Expolited Children for help.
He got in touch with a lawyer in Spain who had knowledge of international parental kidnapping law, and Robert had several meetings with the FBI in Florida in an attempt to allow international authorities to apprehend Karin and take Marissa into protective custody.
On March 19, 2008, Karin Kvistad was charged with Parental Kidnapping by the state of Florida. This gave Robert and his lawyer even more momentum to get permission for internatioanl law enforcement to take Karin into custody.
In September of 2008, Robert's relentless efforts to locate his daughter got a major boost from international law enforcement when INTERPOL issued a Red Notice for Karin Kvistad for International Parent Kidnapping. The Red Alert as police to Circulatie the request that Karin be arrested and extradited back to the United States to police agencies around the globe.
INTERPOL also issued a Yellow Notice for Marissa, an alert designed to help international law enforcement officials locate missing persons.
Thanks to INTERPOL’s action, police overseas can now take Marissa into protective custody until she can be brought back to the United States and reunited with her father.
Now, the last step in reuniting Robert with Marissa is to locate Karin. FBI agents have reason to believe that Karin is living in or traveling in Europe, potentially on the French side of Lake Geneva.
Police say she has relatives in Switzerland and in Spain. She speaks fluent French, and is said to enjoy the good life; police say she may use online dating services to meet people, and has been known to frequent upscale nightclubs. |
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