"She's not supposed to be with him," said McCarty. "They took him away from her because she was damaging to him."

Even though Antonelli is wanted by the FBI and Interpol, "20/20" found Manuela Antonelli one morning leaving an apartment building and driving off with a young blond boy who looked like Liam.

"That's Liam with Manuela," said McCarty, looking at the images. "She's taking him by the hand."

Would this be the evidence that finally gets Michael McCarty his son back?

"It should be a game-changer," said McCarty. "She's in violation of Italy's own orders."

Awareness Campaign

McCarty finally started an awareness campaign including numerous TV appearances, newspaper interviews, a Web site and fundraisers hosted by his family. The goal was to bring the case front-and-center for the Italian government and the U.S. State

Department. Michelle Bond, a deputy assistant secretary in the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs, said McCarty was not alone in his fight. "We're frequently speaking to Mr. McCarty himself," Bond told ABC News. "We've been working very,

very closely with him to assist." But that assistance is limited. The U.S. government is letting the Italian judicial system handle the case. Aside from complaining about delays in the proceedings and denials of McCarty's visitation rights, Washington says

there's not much it can do.

"The child is under the legal custody of the Italian authorities," Bond said. "This is a very difficult case. There's certainly no nonchalance. That would be completely the wrong way to characterize it."

The only Italian authority who agreed to speak with "20/20" was Amato Berardi, a member of the governing party in parliament. Berardi said it's not a simple case of handing Liam to his father, despite the United States' issuing an international parental kidnapping warrant for Antonelli and the Italian courts' recognizing that Antonelli's actions were damaging to Liam.

"The Italian judiciary will favor an Italian citizen," Berardi said. "The mother is an Italian citizen."

Berardi admitted the Italian system has problems. "The Italian judicial system, as we stand today, might take up to six, seven, eight years to make a decision," he said. "It needs to be updated, it needs to be changed."

That may be nice for McCarty to hear but it doesn't really help. As McCarty's ordeal dragged on, the strain began to show. "He lives with a constant level of pain," psychologist Schaul said. "And the sense of loss is just enormous."

McCarty said, "I'm just pissed off, outraged, for a lot of reasons. I have a little game that I play with myself. And I wake up in the morning, and I say, 'Is today the day that I'm going to give up?' And the answer has been the same every day:

'Not today.'"

'I Can Get Him Back'

After months of getting nowhere, McCarty was finally allowed to see Liam.

"It was incredible," McCarty said. "It wasn't jumping up and down on my shoulders, but it was my son, crying out for me to help him." A new judge agreed that Liam had been psychologically damaged by what had happened. He ordered that

the boy be removed from his mother immediately. The judge ordered Liam back into an orphanage, saying he needed to be in a neutral environment and that McCarty needed to rebuild his relationship with his son.

It was not ideal but, for McCarty, it was a big step in the right direction. "Finally, someone seemed to be an advocate," McCarty said. McCarty left Rome last month optimistic about his chances of reuniting with Liam.

"I believe that I can get him back," McCarty said. "I can get him back to America."The court ordered that Liam be removed from his mother's family so he can begin rebuilding his relationship with McCarty. But just as McCarty arrived back in New York, he got some devastating news.

"Somebody at the court made a mistake," McCarty said. "And released him to the grandparents who were there. And apparently his mother picked him up from the grandparents and they are now missing somewhere in Italy."

In violation of the court's order, Antonelli had re-abducted Liam. Italian police are looking for him but they remain at large.

McCarty was incredulous. "My son is missing," he said. "His legal custody in Italy is in the hands of Social Services and they don't know where he is."

"20/20" has been trying for months to get Antonelli to talk to us.

We confronted Antonelli after an earlier court appearance and asked her why she took Liam to Italy.

"I had custody ... I had full custody," she said.

She refused repeated interview requests but we received a video from her days ago.

"I'm doing what I need to do," Antonelli says in the video. "I'm a mother and I'm doing what I can do at best. I'm protecting my son because that's what he wants."

Still in hiding, Antonelli continues to claim that McCarty abused Liam, despite his exoneration by courts in the United States and Italy. She insists she is a fit parent, saying that Liam wants nothing to do with his father.

"I'm happy because I'm with my son," she says in the video. "My son is happy because he's with me."

McCarty finds himself back at square one.

"I am tired," he said. "I just have to regroup and take it day by day. I am just trying to do what any responsible parent would do."

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