Girl’s Custody Hearing Delayed

The future of 4-year-old Santina Ventre, whose mother died mysteriously in Rome, remained undecided Friday after a Los Angeles Family Court commissioner postponed her custody hearing.

The judge said he would wait until January to give the girl’s father, Carlo Ventre, a chance to speak. Ventre has been in jail since he arrived in the United States from Italy on Sunday to seek custody of Santina. He faces charges of abducting her to Italy. Her maternal grandparents are also seeking custody, as is the girl’s uncle.

Ventre, an Italian national who lived in the United States for many years, took Santina to Rome in the middle of a custody battle with her mother, Toni Dykstra.

Dykstra went after her daughter in 1998, armed with court orders from the United States and Italy. She died in Ventre’s apartment.

Santina was sent to an Italian foster home, where she lived until her grandparents, Milton and Betty Dykstra, received temporary custody in November.

Ventre was held by Italian police, but no charges were initially filed. He now faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, said his Italian attorney, Dario Proietti.

A judge agreed Wednesday to release Ventre on $100,000 bail provided that he stays near his brother, Giannfranco Ventre, in Las Vegas, and wears an electronic monitoring device.

U.S. attorneys said they plan to appeal the decision, however, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service has also placed a hold on Ventre, dimming his prospects for release, according to attorneys.