Army vet Stephen James had last seen his two sons on June 20, 2012. At the time, Stephen had sole custody of 9-year-old Zane and 12-year-old Matteo, with their mother limited to supervised visits. Later that summer, she kidnapped the two boys, secretly moving them from Texas to Mexico where they lived in deplorable conditions.
Stephen tried to obtain court orders to return his sons, but to no avail. Though interfering with child custody and kidnapping are felonies in Texas, law enforcement told James there was nothing they could do to help. He even hired an international private investigator. Eventually, they came to KXAN News for investigative help. All the while, James was so distraught and physically ill that he was nearly hospitalized.
Finally, the pressure placed on Stephen's ex-wife was becoming too much. She agreed to bring Zane and Matteo to a meeting point in Mexico. Stephen anxiously waited as a sting operation took place at the border to get the boys back on U.S. soil. Then came the phone call Stephen was waiting for: Zane and Matteo had been safely transferred across the border by investigators and were back in the United States. The moment Stephen told his new wife and step-son the news, he finally let himself cry happy tears.
After 376 painstaking days, James was finally reunited with Zane and Matteo. "It was a long and hard year," Matteo said. "When we first started going into hiding, there was a lot of hot rooms." Reportedly, they did not go to school or to the doctor. The boys were thin when they arrived home and they desperately needed glasses.
These days, Zane and Matteo enjoy video games, swimming, and living a normal, happy life with their grateful father. On July 4, Stephen and the boys watched fireworks while celebrating their own special freedom.
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