Wrongful Removal or Retention

According to Family Abduction: Prevention and Response, from The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, "The term parental kidnapping describes the wrongful removal or retention of a child by a parent." The parent may be the child's biological parent or a step-parent. "Wrongful removal" includes violations against an existing child custody order, as well as refusing to return a child to his or her previously established place of residence in the absence of a child custody order.

Ron's children, Shelby and Ronald were removed from their established place of residence in Montana state in 1997 and retained without their father's (Ron's) consent and never returned. This was "wrongful removal" according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They still remain unrecovered and unreconciled to this day.