Mother, Allegedly Stolen Boy Reunited

He was a bit reserved at first but 3-year-old Schyler Steele of Tustin was soon happily tagging after his mother during their reunion in a tiny village in Sweden Sunday, 7 weeks after his father allegedly abducted the child while authorities were misled to believe the two were lost at sea.

Marci Steele, the boy’s mother, said by telephone from Bjorklinge, Sweden, that despite her son’s initial hesitancy, Schyler now is reluctant to leave her side.

“He’s happy I’m here. If I disappear for even 15 minutes, he comes looking,” said Steele, who arrived in Sweden early Sunday laden with Schyler’s Winnie the Pooh doll, favorite pajamas, clothes and toys. As she spoke, she said, Schyler was asleep in bed, clutching a special blanket she had brought from home.

She said Schyler wants to go home, a feeling Steele shares, but they must wait until after a hearing Wednesday, when she must prove to Swedish authorities she has legal custody.

‘I Can’t Wait’

“I can’t wait,” she said. “If I could, I’d get on a plane tomorrow and come home.”

Meanwhile, Steele’s estranged husband, Scott Steele, remained Sunday in the “police house” in nearby Uppsala, Officer Mats Steen said. The officer said that he expects Scott Steele to appear in court today because, under Swedish law, arrestees can be held without a hearing for no more than three days. There is no bail in Sweden, Steen said.

Scott Steele was arrested Friday without incident on several criminal charges at the home of his Swedish girlfriend, Susanne Pettersson, who used to be the live-in nanny to Scott and Marci Steele. In addition to the alleged child abduction, Scott Steele faces other criminal charges that officials say are pending against him under various assumed names, including a 32-count warrant on charges of grand theft, perjury and forgery.

Reported Missing

Scott and Schyler Steele were reported missing March 11 by Pettersson while the three were vacationing on Santa Catalina Island. Pettersson told authorities that the father and son had gone out on the water in an inflatable boat and did not return, prompting a frantic air and sea search by several dozen U.S. Coast Guard officials.

Authorities later came to believe, however, that Scott Steele already was on his way to Sweden with his son while the search went on. The father--who was allowed twice-monthly visits under a custody agreement, according to his estranged wife--planned the escape in advance and even obtained passports of another Orange County man and his child, authorities said.

A day before his disappearance was reported, Scott Steele--who lived most recently in Riverside County--took his son on a ferry from Catalina to San Pedro, then caught a flight from Los Angeles to West Germany under assumed names and went on to Sweden, according to Riverside County authorities.

Pettersson left the country March 16 before police could detain her, they said. State Department of Motor Vehicles authorities allege that Steele was running an operation that, while importing and registering European cars, forged tax forms and kept more than $44,000 that should have gone to the state. He also is wanted in Riverside County on suspicion of passing bad checks. Newport Beach police are investigating Steele’s alleged operation of a boiler-room scam that bilked local precious-metal investors of more than $100,000, although no charges have been filed.

Bruce Rouse, a senior investigator with the Riverside County district attorney’s office, is expected to fly to Sweden on Tuesday to pursue extradition, Marci Steele said Sunday. Rouse could not be reached for comment.

Marci Steele, 27, said she arrived in Bjorklinge, about an hour’s drive north of Stockholm, Sunday morning, excited to see her son.

“I could hardly wait,” she said. “The plane ride was so long, but when I got in the car, that was when I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

When she arrived, Schyler was playing in the yard of Lindgarden, the foster home he was placed in after his father’s arrest.

“I don’t think he recognized me at first,” Steele said. “He looked at me for a few minutes, then asked me if I was Marci.” Pettersson apparently had told him she was his mother, she said. But Steele said she showed him photographs of the family “and he started asking about Grandma and Grandpa” and soon began calling her “mama” again.

Steele has asked Schyler what he and his father have done since they left Catalina, but he has not given her a clue.

“I’ve tried to ask him what’s been going on here, but he only says he wants to go home. He says, ‘I want to go to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s.’ He hasn’t said anything.”

Steele’s family in Tustin is just as eager to see Schyler. A party is planned, said a sister, Judy Helsley.

Steele said she is looking forward to resuming her life with her son in Tustin. Steele has quit school, taken a leave from her cocktail waitress job and put a second job, as a department store sales clerk, on hold since Schyler was abducted, she said.

Her earlier plans, she said, involved studying criminal justice and eventually getting a law degree.

“I think all of this has changed my mind,” she said. “I’ve gotten a little discouraged with the justice system.”