In 2007 Jeffery Shipman, 51, took his daughter Deonna Shipman and fled the United States to Thailand and now nearly five years later the 8-year-old girl will be reunited with her mother.
Deonna was discovered living in Bangkok with her data last month and Jeffery was taken into custody on Feb. 24 after being arrested on an FBI warrant for international parental kidnapping.
The case was high profile enough to place Jeffery Shipman on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
The little girls mother Lioubov Shipman has been studying nursing in Russian but will return to Onondaga county to be with her daughter who officials say is healthy.
Shipman has been arraigned in Los Angeles and is being held by US Marshals until he is sent back to Onondaga County to face charges for international kidnapping.
The FBI is still examining the case with the help of deputies in the area.
The case wasn’t simple to solve, deputies first had to track Jeffery and Deonna Shipman to the Rochester airport in July 2007 and then they handed off the case to FBI officials in England where the father and daughter had first traveled while leaving the United States.
It’s still not clear what led FBI officials to Thailand or why Shipman chose that destination to hide his daughter but the outcome none the less is long overdue.
Further details will be made available after a fully investigation has been concluded.
Are you surprised that FBI agents were able to track down Deonna Shipment five years after she disappeared?