INDIANAPOLIS – Nathan Slinkard was 5 years old when his mother failed to return him to his father as an Indiana court had ordered.
On Tuesday, the 23-year-old man was back home with his father, about a week after he walked into the United States Consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico, identified himself and asked to come home to the U.S.
His return 18 years after he went missing buoyed investigators who hope Nathan’s return leads to a bigger reunion with his siblings and their father, Steve Slinkard.
“We all thought that after all the kids were legal that this would happen. It’s just awesome that it still happened after all these years,” said Hancock County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Ted Munden, the last local investigator in the case.
Nathan Slinkard was 5, his brother, Andrew, was 7, and their sister, Sydney, was 3 in October 1995 when they went missing from Greenfield, a city about 20 miles east of Indianapolis. Authorities say their mother, Trena Slinkard, failed to return them despite a court order after their father filed a motion seeking full custody.