Karina Garcia, Part II: Fight to Be a Father

Editor's Note: This is the second in an exclusive, three-part series in which Fox Point's Dr. Moises Garcia talks about his 4-year fight to successfully recover his kidnapped daughter, Karina, from Japan. This series chronicles the abduction, Moises' battle to maintain a relationship with her from more than 6,000 miles away, and takes a look at her today, age 10, as she celebrates her first birthday back in America since the abduction. 

After learning that his daughter , Emiko Inoue, in February 2008, Dr. Moises Garcia departed from Fox Point for his native Nicaragua to cope with the loss of his daughter and recharge. 

He returned with a focus on the basics — to maintain a relationship with his daughter over the miles while navigating the legal challenges involved in bringing her back home.

Garcia studied many other cases and discovered that the most important aspect of child abduction cases like his was to establish jurisdiction. So he continued divorce proceedings in the United States. Inoue had left the United States on the day she was to be served with divorce papers and Japan does not have process servers. Instead, Garcia said, he had to publish a small summons in a Japanese newspaper for $7,000.

That established U.S. jurisdiction for the divorce, but didn’t dissolve the distance between himself and his five-year-old daughter. Garcia spent a year learning to speak Japanese; took phone calls from Karina at all hours, owing to the 14-hour time difference with Japan; and even engaged in Skype video chats with the little girl to maintain a connection with her that would prove to be key in her return to the U.S.

"The first few Skypes, she was a little bit weird, but then she was normal again," Garcia said. "We were able to keep the relationship in that way, not ideally, but at least something."

During Garcia's research of other cases, he even discovered a case where a man was denied custody because he couldn't cook Japanese food. 

"The year I was learning Japanese, I also went to a Chicago supermarket and I bought Japanese food and I got a book and I studied everyday," Garcia said. 

His first trip to see Karina was in March 2009, more than a year after she left. Garcia was expecting a full week with Karina, based on a visitation schedule worked out with a Guardian ad Litem two months prior. Instead, he said, Emiko permitted him only two hours.

Garcia said that was the only time he saw his daughter during 13 trips to Japan over the next 12 months. On one trip, in February 2010, he visited Karina’s school even though, he said, Emiko kept the girl home. So instead he met with the girl’s teacher, who shared pictures of Karina and other students in class. 

"I took pictures at her desk, it was kind of sad but I felt close," Garcia said. "Every time I went to Japan I was happy because I was close to her.

Emiko's U.S. attorney, Gerald Boyle, did not return a phone message left on Tuesday.

"Being so close and so far at the same time, it’s amazing," he said. "You get so happy just to walk on the streets, see her classroom, talk to the people that are close to her and they can tell you stories about her. It’s all indirect, one day hoping she’s going to grow and come back and see you."

A custody battle moved overseas

The day they would be reuinted drew a closer in the midst of these visits, in July 2009, when courts in the United States granted sole custody of Karina to her father. The victory had no immediate impact, however, as Inoue had filed her own divorce documents in Japan in March of that year.

"I won the fight here, but now the fight moves to Japan," Garcia said.

Wheels began turning in Japan March 2010, when Garcia was granted a “trial visitation.” Garcia said he, Inoue and Karina were in one room with two-way glass and multiple police officers. During the 15 minute-assessment, the court was looking to determine if it is in the child's best interest to have access to her father. 

"(It's) kind of stupid – you haven’t seen the kid for a year at least and they want to assess how much attachment the kid has to you," Garcia said. "Many kids get scared and cry and they say the kid is not attached so we’re not going to give custody. But Karina did the opposite." 

Garcia believed the calls, Skype chats and postcards he exchanged with Karina assured a warm reunion when they finally saw each other. He earned a second trial visitation in August, for Karina’s birthday. He continued monthly visits to Japan, but never actually saw her on those trips. Over two years, he spent more than $350,000 for less than three total hours with Karina.

Did Garcia ever think about simply stealing Karina back?

"You only think about that like a dream, but you have to think about the implication you’ll have," he said. "As a person, I wouldn’t feel right and I think it would be more traumatic on Karina. I always tried to do the right thing in terms of – she’s always telling them I’m a bad person. If I do that, she will confirm that so, it’s better to do the right thing no matter what because abduction is bad for the kid no matter what. Even bringing Karina now is a big trauma." 

February 2011 was the last time Garcia saw Karina in Japan. He didn't tell anyone his plan. It was a normal school day and he simply walked into her school. 

“We go there and we surprised Karina,” Garcia said with a laugh. “It was 10 minutes. I thought this was the last time I was ever going to see Karina to be honest."

And that would be last time he would see Karina — in Japan.

Tomorrow: A look at what it took to arrest Inoue and force her to return Karina to the United States. And finally, how Karina is adapting to her life back in Fox Point.