Story By: Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Newsflash
An anti-vax couple said to have kidnapped their daughters to avoid COVID jabs are reportedly set to turn themselves in to the authorities after being hunted by Interpol.
After a nationwide manhunt was launched to find them in Paraguay, the German couple, wanted for child abduction have apparently indicated that they want to turn themselves in to the authorities.
Stephan Schultheiss, the lawyer for the mother of one of the girls and the father of the other girl, said on Wednesday, 8th June: “Life on the run was not what they wanted.”
The couple from Germany, who went into hiding with their two daughters in South America, reportedly want to turn themselves in to the Paraguayan authorities in the coming days.
This has also reportedly been confirmed by Ingo Bott, Schultheiss’ colleague from the Duesseldorf law firm Plan A.
Bott confirmed that they were “in constant contact with the authorities” in the Paraguayan capital Asuncion, also telling German media that he had successfully conducted negotiations in Paraguay, resulting in “fruitful talks”.
One youngster – 10-year-old Clara Magdalena Egler – had been reported missing by her anxious mother.
The other – 11-year-old Lara Valentina Blank – is said to have been taken without the consent of her father.
Clara’s father Andreas Rainer Egler and his new wife – Lara’s mother Anna Maria Egler – are said to have arrived in Paraguay with the girls on 27th November 2021.
Clara’s mother Anne Maja Reiniger-Egler denounced her ex-husband at a press conference in the Attorney General’s Office in the Paraguayan capital Asuncion last week.
And she appealed to locals to help track down the girls, going public with her hunt for her daughter.
She said last week, on Monday, 30th May: “We didn’t want that. But we finally went public to hope for the support of the people here.”
She added: “We want to find them and give them back their old life where they were happy.
“I know after spending so many weeks in this wonderful country that Paraguayans have a big heart.
“Please have a heart for our girls and help us in our search. Thank you very much.
“Clara and Lara surely do not feel very well with this whole situation. It cannot be that they continue the rest of their childhood on the run.”
And appealing to her ex-husband, she said: “Andreas, I beg you to end this nightmare.
“This is not a normal life. Contact us. Girls can’t run away all their lives.”
She was joined in her search by Lara’s father Filip Blank.
The Paraguayan Trafficking Unit of the Public Ministry and the anti-kidnapping department of the National Police are reportedly investigating the case.
Anne Maja’s lawyer, Stephan Schultheiss, believed that the couple likely intend to live in an anti-vaccine German settler community in Paraguay.
Last week, he said: “It is a case of violation of parental authority or kidnapping. Both are wanted by the German courts.”
The head of the Surveillance Area of the Coordinator for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (CDIA), Dante Leguizamon, had said on Sunday, 29th May, that the couple did not inform the other parent that they intended to go to Paraguay.
They also reportedly sent a farewell letter in which they said that they were against the girls being vaccinated against COVID-19.
Interpol issued a red alert against the couple. A yellow alert was also issued against the two girls. Yellow alerts are issued in cases including when children are abducted by one of their parents.
During the press conference on Monday last week, the prosecutor in charge of the case, Karina Sanchez, revealed that the investigation had begun more than five months ago.
She said that they had decided to make the case known at the request of Clara’s mother.
Sanchez said that they had managed to locate a home where the girls and the two adults had been living but they fled the property when they realised a search was on.
The authorities denounced “the secrecy and lack of cooperation of the German communities in the areas where the girls were seen”.
