Abducted Boy Reunited With His Mother

A 9-year-old boy, abducted in Oregon and missing for four years, reportedly was reunited with his mother in Bangor, Me. late Friday night, and the two were flying back to Orange County’s airport.

Kristopher Michael Siegel and his mother, Janice Siegel of Riverside, were en route from Maine in a private jet and were expected to land in Orange County between 3 and 4 a.m. today, said Susan Davidson, executive director of the Adam Walsh Resource Center in Orange, which helps abused youths.

Earlier Friday, Kristopher’s baby sitter, Leslie Helen Moore, 38, of Orland, Me., was arraigned in connection with the abduction, said Bangor Police Detective Roy McKinney. Moore had been arrested by the FBI and other authorities Thursday on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, based on warrants issued for her in Oregon, McKinney said.

Moore, who had been living in a commune with Kristopher, is in the Penobscot County Jail pending extradition to Oregon, McKinney said. Bail has been set at $50,000.

Davidson said Kristopher was abducted Aug. 17, 1982, from Le Grande, Ore., where his divorced mother, originally from Riverside, was living at the time. Kristopher was discovered in Maine, she said, after he reportedly told another boy that he was from California but was sad that he could never return home, she said. The second boy mentioned the conversation to his father or grandfather, who happens to be a police officer, Davidson said. The boy was able to remember the name Kristopher Michael, and authorities were able to trace the missing child, she said.

Michelle Paturzo, Janice Siegel’s roommate, said Siegel called her late Friday night from Bangor after she had shown custody papers to police and the district attorney. Siegel was on her way to be reunited with her son and they were to board a private jet--the flight arranged through the Adam Walsh center’s contacts with the Orange County business community--to head home immediately, she said.