| For Immediate Release May 29, 2007 |
Contact: Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 |
OCDA ARRESTS MOTHER ON CHILD ABDUCTION
CHARGE FOR HIDING SON FOR 26 YEARS
SALT LAKE CITY – Orange County District Attorney (OCDA) investigators, working with Salt Lake County Sheriff officials, arrested a former Orange County woman on a felony child abduction warrant more than 26 years after she disappeared with her six-year-old son, Kirk.
OCDA investigators tracked Donna Marie Brewton, 62, originally from El Toro (the former name of Lake Forest), living in Magna, Utah, under the name of “Kathleen Jane Amidon.” Brewton was arrested at her home last night. If convicted, Brewton/Amidon faces a maximum of three years in state prison. She is being held in Utah pending extradition proceedings.
In 1981, the boy’s father, Gary Frank Brewton, Riverside, was entitled to visitation with the boy on alternate weekends. On January 17, 1981, Brewton/Amidon is accused of going into hiding with Kirk and concealing him. Brewton/Amidon is accused of quickly and quietly selling her home, suddenly quitting her job, telling no one of her plans, and disappearing. Christmas 1980 was the last time Gary Brewton saw his son.
Investigators from the OCDA’s Child Abduction Unit had been searching for Brewton/Amidon and the child since their disappearance. Brewton/Amidon was found through her job at Westminster College, a small liberal arts college in Salt Lake City.
Gary Brewton, 67, has had no contact with his son and does not know the whereabouts of his son. Brewton received one brief phone message from his son in 1994. Investigators still do not know the whereabouts of Kirk.
Deputy District Attorney Jim Bacin in the Child Abduction Unit is prosecuting this case.
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