SEATTLE -- The U.S. Attorney's office in Seattle said Thursday a boy allegedly kidnapped by his father from Shilshole Bay Marina has been reunited with his mother in Pennsylvania.
Federal authorities say 9-year-old Billy Hanson was taken by his father, 46-year-old Jeffrey Hanson, against the terms of a custody agreement with the boy's mother in early September. Hanson, who lives on a boat in Shilshole Bay, turned up last week after an international manhunt on the tiny South Pacific island of Niue, roughly 5,400 miles from Seattle.
Video from TV3 News in New Zealand shows the pair last week on shore during Mr. Hanson's arrest. Both appeared in relatively good spirits, with Hanson offering to clean his boat before being taken to jail.
When asked about the journey, young Billy told the reporter the situation was "crazy."
The pair spent roughly two months at sea after disappearing from Seattle in early September. Billy was supposed to be returned to his mother in Pennsylvania.
According to court documents, friends and acquaintances of Hanson accuse him of being an abusive drug addict who gave multiple signs leading up to departure that he planned to take his son.
However, Al Hughes, a longtime liveaboard who has known Hanson for more than 20 years, doubts accusations of excessive drug use.
He does however acknowledge Hanson should have told his ex-wife of his plans first.
"I just didn't think he'd get caught," Hughes said of Hanson, who has sailed around the world twice. "I thought it was going to be many years.
"Jeff loves Billy," he continued. "He would never harm him. I told the FBI I did not fear for the kid's safety at all."
A spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney's Office said Billy Hanson was reunited with his mother at a JFK International Airport gate, before returning to Pennsylvania.
Hanson appeared in a Los Angeles federal courtroom on Monday. It is unclear when he will return to Washington.
"I don't think kidnapping is the right description in my mind," said Hughes. "Maybe legally it's right, but to the general public, that's not what happened."
Attempts to reach Hanson's ex-wife were unsuccessful.
