On September 23, 1981, Urbandale, Iowa, paramedics responded to an emergency call from a woman in labor having trouble with her home birth. Upon arrival, they were struck by how little furniture was in the apartment.

After delivering the baby, respondees were also bothered by the couple’s lack of emotion. It was the first delivery for paramedic Denny Danford, and he was more excited than the couple, who said their names were Terry and Cathy Roberts. Cathy had given birth to a son they named Michael.

The red flags were ablaze when the new mother was reluctant to go to the hospital, even though she was showing a weak pulse and had lost a substantial amount of blood. Ultimately, the medics convinced her to do so.

As the ambulance made its way to the hospital, the woman’s demeanor did not change; she was vague about the most routine questions regarding her personal and medical history. Her husband was equally evasive.

After arrival at the hospital, the paramedics contacted the police, whose suspicions were also raised, as a background check showed no information on a married couple named Terry and Cathy Roberts. Furthermore, everyone the police interviewed who was acquainted with the couple was suspicious as well.

Urbandale Police put Cathy and Terry Roberts under surveillance. They learned their real names were Cathy and Terry Durkin, ages twenty-six and thirty-nine, and they also learned why the couple had been so secretive.

Cathy and Terry Durkin

Police were granted a warrant to search the couple’s trash. In so doing, they found an envelope with the name “Cathy Fontes” and an address in Oakland, California, nearly 1,800 miles from the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale, Iowa.

When Urbandale authorities contacted their Oakland counterparts, they learned the couple were wanted on kidnapping charges, having absconded with Cathy’s two sons from her first marriage.

Wanted for Kidnapping

Jim Fontes had divorced his wife Cathy in December 1980.  They agreed to joint custody of their sons, three-year-old Robbie and two-year-old Chris.

Both Jim and Cathy soon remarried; Cathy to Terry Durkin.

Chris and Robbie

Jim, an Oakland Police Officer, brought Robbie and Chris to Terry and Cathy’s Oakland apartment on June 23, 1981, where they were to spend the week. On the morning Jim he was to pick up his sons, he received a phone call from Cathy’s mother, who told him her daughter had mailed her a cassette tape. When Jim listened to the tape, his heart sank.

Cathy calmly explained to her former husband that she and her new husband had kidnapped the boys.

Jim Fontes

Five weeks later, Cathy Durkin, under the alias Cathy Roberts, gave birth in Urbandale, Iowa. One month later, the Durkins’ identities were learned, and they were arrested on October 23.

Cathy was released on her own recognizance to tend to one-month-old Michael. Later that day, she posted her husband’s $1,000 bond.

Located in Iowa

Robby and Chris Fontes became wards of the State of Iowa. In Oregon at the time, Jim immediately made plans to fly to Des Moines. The only flight he was able to get, however, included two layovers.

Alameda County, California, District Attorney Robert Hutchins feared the Iowa courts would, in the interim, return Robby and Chris to Cathy. He contacted a social worker in Des Moines, and, in his words, “begged” her not to remand the children to the Durkins but was told the decision had already been made to do so.

Hutchins called a Deputy District Attorney in Urbandale telling him Jim Fontes had a court order and was en route to get his children. The attorney asked District Associate Judge Norman Elliott to hold the boys in protective custody, but the request was denied.

When Jim finally arrived in Des Moines, Terry and Cathy, with Robby and Chris, had fled again. It was found the couple had emptied their bank account containing nearly $20,000.

The flight delays totaling nine hours wound up delaying Jim Fontes’ reunion with his sons for nine years.

Gone Again

On November 14, 1990, over nine years after hastily departing Iowa, Terry and Cathy Durkin were found living with the boys under assumed names in a trailer home on the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Cathy was working as a waitress; her husband was not working. They were arrested on charges of Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution for Parental Kidnapping and were later released on $5,000 bail. I have not been able to find what punishment they received.

One blurb in the Oakland Tribune said Cathy claimed Jim was abusive toward her and that he fabricated the kidnapping. No evidence was found to support the claim.

Captured Kidnapping Couple

Jim Fontes and his new wife were awarded custody of twelve-year-old Robby and eleven-year-old Chris.

A Happy Ending

SOURCES:

• Des Moines Register
• Oakland Tribune
• Ottumwa Courier
• Unsolved Mysteries