Mother Who Abducted Son Spared Lockup

Citing a need for reunification, not revenge, a Ventura County judge on Tuesday spared a Wisconsin woman from a jail sentence for abducting her infant son 17 years ago and hiding the boy from his biological father.

Linda Sue Decker, who now uses the name Michelle Jones, broke into tears and embraced her attorney, Jay Johnson, after the ruling. She could have been sentenced to four months in jail, but instead was ordered to perform 250 days of community service in her home state.

“I am very relieved,” Jones said in a timid voice, clutching the hand of her current husband, William, as she faced a crowd of reporters. “I just want to say I’m sorry.”

The court decision ends the longest-running child abduction case in county history, and sets the stage for Oxnard High School teacher Robert Decker to finally begin a relationship with his 18-year-old son.

The pair were reunited for the first time Dec. 18 during a three-hour meeting at Johnson’s law office in Ventura. It was the hope of future meetings that spurred requests for leniency by both prosecutors and the defense.

“Unfortunately and tragically, there is nothing we can do to make up those 17 years for Mr. Decker,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Denise Payne told Judge Bruce Clark during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.

But their relationship could be influenced by the judge’s decision in this case, Payne said, suggesting that jail time might jeopardize Decker’s efforts to get closer to his son.

A high school senior, Michael Jones wrote to the judge asking for mercy in his mother’s case. Decker also opposed jail time for his 38-year-old ex-wife, who ran away with their infant child in 1981.

The teen only recently learned the true identify of his father. He was taken as a 9-month-old from the Deckers’ Camarillo home and hidden by his mother under a new identity.

Decker and local prosecutors searched the country for the boy, but the few leads they tracked proved to be dead ends.

But on July 10, 1998, police in Georgia stopped Michelle Jones after receiving an anonymous tip that she was visiting relatives in a resort area south of Savannah. The outstanding warrant surfaced and she was arrested. She was extradited to Ventura County.

Since his ex-wife’s arrest, Decker, 51, has said he is only interested in getting to know his son, not seeking revenge against Jones.

“He is not a vengeful person,” said Theresa McConville, Decker’s longtime attorney, who spoke on his behalf during Tuesday’s hearing.

A restitution hearing will be held in the future and Jones could be ordered to reimburse her ex-husband and the district attorney for legal costs.

But she also told the judge that her client wants to send a clear message that what his ex-wife did was wrong.

McConville talked about the anguished years Decker and his mother, Rosemary, spent searching for the boy, who was named Morgan at birth. Rosemary Decker called the district attorney’s office almost weekly over the years to check on its investigation, she said.

Michelle Jones’ actions devastated a family, McConville said, and deprived a father of watching his boy grow into a young man.

“We particularly wanted to make sure it was taken into account the trauma, the ups and downs, the roller coaster these 17 years have wrought in my client and his extended family,” she told the judge. In response, Johnson said Jones could not be more sorry for her actions.

“It is something that cannot be undone,” he said, adding that his client now intends to do whatever she can to help foster a relationship between her son and his biological father.

Initially, Jones pleaded not guilty to a felony child abduction charge, which carries a possible prison sentence. But a day before the preliminary hearing last October, she changed her plea.

Three days earlier, her son had called Decker at his Camarillo home. It was the first conversation ever between the father and son.

Standing outside the courtroom Tuesday, Decker said he is looking forward to future meetings with his son, whom he described as a handsome, tall teenager who towers over his shorter dad.

“He’s a real good-looking kid,” Decker said proudly. “He’s quite an athlete.”

In response to questions about his ex-wife’s sentence, which will be served in her hometown of Twin Lakes, Wis., Decker said he did not believe she got off easy.

“Nobody is getting away with anything,” he said. “The truth always catches up with you.”