Save Liam.org
On March 05, 2007 5 year-old Liam Gabriele McCarty, a United States citizen, was kidnapped from his home in Manhattan and taken to Rome. This appalling abduction was committed in direct violation of explicit court orders that Liam not be removed from the United States. The kidnapper is Manuela Antonelli, an internati
onal fugitive who has been diagnosed with “severe personality disorders” and is currently sought by Interpol, the FBI, and now the Italian authorities. She is also Liam’s mother.
For nearly three years Liam’s father and sole legal and physical guardian, Michael McCarty, has been embroiled in a devastating international battle to try and protect his son, and see him safely returned to his proper home.
Rather than return Liam to his father the Italian authorities inexplicably assigned Liam’s custody to the bureaucratic nightmare of Italian Social Services where for the past two years he has been shuttled between orphanages and shelters. Above all this system has ignored Liam’s fundamental right to a competent and loving parent, inexplicably choosing to leave Liam as a ward of the state.
Tragically Liam was recently re-abducted by his mother. On November 18, 2009 Liam disappeared from the Juvenile Courthouse in Rome and is now missing.
IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THE LOCATION OF LIAM McCARTY OR MANUELA ANTONELLI PLEASE CONTACT saveliam.org@gmail.com OR CONTACT YOUR LOCAL FBI OFFICE OR THE NEAREST AMERICAN EMBASSY OR CONSULATE.
This is Liam’s story...
Fighting for Liam: Michael McCarty Rails
Against Italian Courts for Not Protecting Son
Italian Authorities Say They Can't Locate Mom but She Made a Statement to '20/20'
By MIGUEL SANCHO and CHRIS CUOMO
Dec. 17, 2009
For most Americans, a trip to Italy means a romantic getaway. But for Michael McCarty, who has made more than 15 trips to Italy over the past two years, these treks have been anything but an escape.
Dad recalls all-too-real fear that ex-wife would abscond with boy to Italy.
That's because he is desperately trying to bring back what means the most to him in the world: his 8-year-old son, Liam. McCarty's ex-wife, Manuela Antonelli, took Liam to her native country more than two years ago, and he's been fighting to get him back ever since.
After hitting continual roadblocks and runarounds in Italy, McCarty went public with his story this summer.
"This is the most serious business that one can undertake," said McCarty, 48. "I'm here to save my son."
It was 1990 when Michael first introduced himself in New York to a beautiful woman from Italy. Her name: Manuela Antonelli.
"I sort of bucked up my courage and walked up to her and started talking, and asked her what her phone number was, which I still remember, because it was hard to forget," said McCarty, chuckling.
A first date led to a romance and, two years later, to an intimate wedding in Central Park.
"She was very vivacious, energetic. A lot of presence," said McCarty. "She was sometimes kinda kooky, and that was -- we were young. It was attractive."
McCarty was a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and a photographer with a passion for Italy who started his own fine-art printing studio. Manuela had experience as a television producer and reporter for an Italian television network.
Times were good. But times c
hange.
"She went through some episodes of depression," said McCarty. "She started having bad anxiety attacks. We tried some couple counseling, we couldn't seem to get it together. She actually one day told me that she was in love with somebody else. So we were separated."
Manuela's fling didn't last, but the separation did. But just as their lives seemed to be drifting apart, fate drew the couple together again.
We saw each other a few times and spent some time together," said McCarty. "She became pregnant. ... Once it happens, it happens. Then it's a little person and nothing else matters. ... I spent as much time as I could with him. I was fully available for anything to take care of him at any time."
McCarty's close friend Rachel Berg saw how he nurtured his son.
"All of his focus has been on, 'What can I do with Liam? What are we gonna do this weekend?'" said Berg.
"We always had a very tight bond, right from the beginning," said McCarty.
But McCarty's bond with Manuela Antonelli is now frayed beyond repair. The two tried to reconcile. It didn't work. By 2003, McCarty began to suspect that Antonelli might take Liam away for good.
"She started kind of shuttling him back and forth between Italy and New York," said McCarty. "Just spontaneously take him, and then spontaneously bring him back. And finally I got very concerned that she would take him there and not come back. So I finally filed for divorce here in New York, and sought joint custody."
Divorce is rarely a simple matter. But McCarty still hoped the courts would provide him a way to end his marriage and continue his relationship with his son.
"That was all that I ever wanted was an equal partnership in raising my son," said McCarty.
Breaking News: Liam recovered in Rome, physical custody granted to uncle
watch the Fox & Friends interview for more info