Mother Granted Custody of Boy by Swedish Court

A Swedish court Wednesday ordered that custody of a 3-year-old Tustin boy be returned to his mother, ending a saga that began about 7 weeks ago when the father fled to Sweden with the boy after staging a boating accident to fake their deaths.

Marci Steele, who was reunited with 3-year-old Schyler Steele when she arrived in Sweden on Sunday, is scheduled to return home with him tonight, said her father, Pete Helsley.

“She’s happy that it’s over with,” said Helsley, who spoke to his daughter Wednesday morning, “but she sounded absolutely exhausted. I don’t think she’s had any sleep since she’s been over there.”

Scott Steele, the boy’s father, remains in a Swedish jail pending extradition by U.S. officials. Steele is the object of an investigation by Riverside and Orange county authorities into allegations of grand theft, forgery and bad checks.

In an interview from jail, Steele said he will fight extradition, and he criticized the Swedish court’s custody decision.

“I didn’t think it was fair at all,” Steele said. The court “should not have made a decision today, and they should have had a doctor look at Schyler for psychological tests.”

Steele, 32, who maintains he is innocent of criminal activities, said he has hired a Swedish attorney to replace the one appointed for him. Rod Perkins, an investigator in the Riverside County district attorney’s office, said Steele can fight extradition at a hearing before Swedish authorities. Perkins said he did not know when the hearing would take place.

After the criminal matters are resolved, Steele said, he will return to the United States and appeal for custody of Schyler.

The Steele family drama began March 11, when Steele and Schyler were vacationing on Santa Catalina Island. Steele’s girlfriend, Susanne Pettersson--a former nanny for the Steeles--made a frantic call to authorities to report that father and son had not returned from an outing in an inflatable boat.

Coast Guard authorities combed the area, unaware that Steele and the boy were en route to Europe. The pair spent about 7 weeks in Sweden before Steele was arrested Friday at the home of Pettersson, who joined them in Sweden a few days after the boating hoax.

Steele said he was frustrated that his visitation rights had been cut from 4 days a week to 2 weekends a month. Marci Steele, 27, has been living with her parents since the couple’s bitter split in 1987. She has legal custody of Schyler and the couple’s other son, 2-year-old Garrett.