If you’re a parent, you’ll completely understand what I mean when I say there’s no greater fear than losing your child.
And I don’t just mean the terrifying idea of them passing away. That, of course, goes beyond even imagining, but there are other events that can play out that leave you, as a mother or father, feeling helpless indeed.
Lyneth Mann-Lewis was the mom of an adorable little boy, Jermaine Mann. Yet had no idea that one day, her son would be ripped away from her, and that she would spend literal decades waiting before she could see him again …
As per reports, it was June 24, 1987, when Jermaine’s biological father, Allan Mann, arrived for his scheduled visit.
Mann was supposed to take Jermaine out before bringing him back to his mother later that same day.
He didn’t.
Instead, he abducted Jermaine from his home in Toronto, Canada, and crossed the border into the United States. There, Mann was able to live under a fake identity – he and Jermaine had fake social security numbers and other necessary documents that meant they couldn’t be found.
Lyneth, meanwhile, was distraught. And it was a long, long, time before she got any answers.
The search for Mann and Jermaine was handled in a joint operation by the U.S. authorities and officials from Toronto. Their hunt gained new speed in 2016, when a new effort was launched.
Eventually, U.S. marshals were able to trace Mann’s family members – it was a relative who tipped them off about the man having assumed the alias “Hailee DeSouza”, and that he could possibly be found in Connecticut.
Mann was found and apprehended in Vernon, Connecticut, in 2018. Finally, Lyneth was able to see her long-lost son again.
Of the reunion, she said: “He said, ‘Mommy, you have my eyes.’ He hugged me and he kissed me and we held for a long time.”
According to U.S. authorities, Mann had managed to obtain counterfeit birth certificates for him and his son when they moved to the States. He had also collected more than US$125,000 in housing and over US$55,000 in Medicaid benefits under his alias.
His lawyer in the U.S. said that Mann insisted he only kidnapped Jermaine 31 years ago because he was concerned for the boy’s safety. He was ultimately extradited to Toronto from New York after serving an 18-month sentence.
Lyneth, meanwhile, was of course delighted beyond words to be able to hold her baby again.
My heart goes out to Lyneth for the grief and anguish she must have felt during those three decades without her son.
Please, share this article if you’re happy that Jermaine and his mother were eventually reunited.
