| For Immediate Release Case #85CF01088
May 19, 2008 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
FUGITIVE MOTHER ARRESTED IN GEORGIA FOR ABDUCTING 5-YEAR-OLD SON IN 1983
SANTA ANA – A mother was arrested this morning in Georgia on an Orange County warrant for abducting her 5-year-old son 25 years ago. Margie Laverne Mansell, 50, formerly of Mission Viejo, is facing one count of child abduction and faces a maximum of three years in state prison if convicted. Mansell was arrested on a no bail warrant and will face extradition proceedings in Georgia.
In May 1983, Mansell is accused of taking her 5-year-old son and fleeing the State. Mansell was divorced from the child’s father who had visitation rights with their son. She is accused of taking her son from their Mission Viejo home and spending the next 30 years as a fugitive by moving from state to state, including Kansas and Tennessee, and taking refuge in churches. She is accused of changing her name and her son’s name several times to avoid being found. In 1990, Mansell is accused of learning that investigators had discovered she was living in Atlanta, Ga., and fleeing with her son before she was caught.
The defendant was arrested this morning in Waycross, Ga., by the Ware County Sheriff’s Department and investigators from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office Child Abduction Unit at a carpet and flooring business owned by her current husband. Mansell is accused of living in Georgia under the name Christy Spiers. Mansell was found after an anonymous caller contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on May 7, 2008 and reported that Mansell and her now 30-year-old son were living in Ware County.
Deputy District Attorney Jim Bacin of the Child Abduction Unit is prosecuting this case.
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