About the parents and their children

Yvonne Ambrose

Yvonne Ambrose is an anti-human-trafficking advocate, mother of a beautiful daughter taken from her by traffickers, and a voice for change. Yvonne was met with the horrible reality of sex trafficking in 2016, when her daughter, Desiree Robinson, was taken advantage of by a trafficker intent on stealing her innocence and exploiting her, posting inappropriate pictures of her, and selling her on Backpage.com. On December 24, 2016, Desiree was taken to meet a “John” who responded to the Backpage.com ad. When she tried to protect herself and leave, the “John” raped and brutally murdered her.

Since this horrible act, Yvonne has dedicated her life to getting justice for Desiree and all other Jane Does in the world who don’t have a voice. She has become a sought-after speaker, advocate, and educator for victims, survivors and their families, and others who want to learn more about the dangers of sex trafficking. She has shared her daughter’s story with numerous media and production groups, and through numerous human trafficking awareness discussion panels.

In 2017, Yvonne gave powerful testimony before a Senate committee during a hearing to amend the 1934 Communications Act to increase protections for the ability to take civil action and make criminal prosecution in cases of sex trafficking of children, and cases where children are taken by force, fraud, or coercion. Her testimony helped fuel the unanimous passing by all 65 Senate cosponsors of the Allow States and Victims To Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (SESTA).

In 2018, Yvonne witnessed the signing of SESTA at the White House. She spoke about the importance of this legislation on that day, stating, “To lose your child who has been trafficked, which is modern-day slavery in our country, and to get that call on Christmas Eve that your one daughter, your oldest child, has been brutally murdered because she said, ‘no,’ because she did not want to be a part of this, is the worst thing.” Yvonne has made it her life’s goal to spread awareness about the horrors of online sex trafficking so that children won’t fall victim to predators who profit from exploiting our children.

Yvonne describes her daughter as “a beautiful, young girl born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, with a smile to brighten any room. She had a bright future with hopes of being a physician in the U.S. Air Force.” She also recalls one of Desiree’s favorite quotes: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Elaine Hall

Elaine Hall is the mother of Dylan Redwine. In 2012, 13-year-old Dylan went to visit his biological father near Durango, Colorado, and never returned to his Monument, Colorado, home. On November 19, 2012, Elaine’s former husband texted her to ask if she had heard from Dylan. Panicking, Elaine grabbed her oldest son, Cory, and made the six-hour journey to Durango. Elaine worked with various law enforcement agencies to search for her son. Tragically, Dylan’s partial remains were found in June 2013, just a few miles from his father’s home.

Elaine was steadfast and determined to seek justice for her son’s murder. She learned about the laws and legal structure in La Plata County, where Dylan went missing. She initiated meetings with all who could help — sheriffs, detectives, investigators, the FBI, district attorneys — anyone who would listen. She realized she had to take the lead and become her son’s advocate to find the resources needed to achieve her goal. Without her perseverance, that goal might not have been realized.

In July 2021, after a lengthy battle, Elaine’s ex-husband was found guilty of second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death, and was sentenced to 48 years in prison. “While justice was served for my son, the daily pain of living without him will never go away,” she says. “I have learned so much through this process and would not wish this on anyone. But through it all, I have become a voice for other families, and have the persistence to work diligently with law enforcement agencies to find missing children. To anyone facing such an ordeal, please do not be afraid, intimidated, or feel it is not your place to speak up. You must be your child’s voice when theirs is silenced.”

Visit Dylan’s Facebook tribute page at  facebook.com/FindMissingDylanRedwine.

Dr. Noelle Hunter

Dr. Noelle Hunter is cofounder of the nonprofit group iStand Parent Network Inc., which helps parents and families reunite with their internationally abducted children. In December 2011, Noelle’s 4-year-old daughter, Maayimuna “Muna” N’Diaye, was abducted from her Morehead, Kentucky, home by her noncustodial father, who smuggled her out of the United States to live in his native Mali, West Africa. Noelle began a relentless quest to bring her beloved “Muna” home.

The Mission4Muna campaign garnered international attention, as well as high-profile support at home. Expressing her indescribable pain and heartbreak, Noelle staged protests in front of the Embassy of Mali in Washington, DC, pleaded with the United Nations members to help return her daughter, and worked with a Kentucky congressional delegation to pressure the Mali government to return Muna to her rightful home. “Until she’s home, I won’t sit down, I won’t shut up, I won’t be quiet,” she attested.

Thanks to a global network of Mission4Muna supporters, Muna was finally able to return home in July 2014. Inspired and strengthened by the positive outcome of advocacy work, Noelle formed the iStand Parent Network, which joins forces with other parents, advocates, and friends of internationally abducted children to prevent such crimes and bring them safely home.

Muna – a beautiful young woman and a skillful artist – vividly recalls most of her experiences, which she now shares in her role as a youth ambassador for the iStand Parent Network. She serves as a friend and mentor to other youth survivors of international parental abductions. For more information, see istandparentnetwork.com.

Jeffery Morehouse

On Father’s Day 2010, Jeffery Morehouse dropped off his son, Atomu Imoto “Mochi” Morehouse, for what was to be a weeklong visit with his mother. He has not seen or heard from his son since. While passport and travel restraints were in place for Mochi (since his noncustodial mother was a Japanese citizen), efforts to keep him from becoming a victim of international parental child abduction (IPCA) failed. Although IPCA is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1204, and Jeffery’s sole custody order was recognized as legal by Japanese courts in 2014 and 2017, Mochi remains kidnapped and cut off from communications with his father.

“Imagine being a child whose mother steals you away to a foreign country. Then she tells you that your father does not want you anymore, or that he is dead. Your whole life will be built on a foundation of lies,” Jeffery says. “This is not what a healthy, nurturing parent does.” Every day is filled with triggering reminders of his son – “a familiar phrase, a look, or smell can remind me of life before my son’s abduction. Then I realize he’s still missing. The nightmare continues. The search continues.”

An award-winning filmmaker, Jeffery volunteers much of his time to serving as Executive Director of Bring Abducted Children Home (BAC Home), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the immediate return of internationally abducted children wrongfully detained in Japan. BAC Home aims to end Japan’s human rights violation of denying

children unfettered access to both parents, and works to increase public awareness about the crisis of IPCA. Jeffery is also a founding partner in The Coalition to End International Parental Child Abduction (endchildabduction.org), which unites organizations in their efforts to combat IPCA crimes through advocacy and public policy reform.

Jeffery has testified for and briefed the U.S. Congress numerous times and advocates for improvements in federal and state legislation. In October 2022, he briefed the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva on parental child abduction for its review of Japan. He believes it is vital for parents of internationally kidnapped children to strategically engage in raising awareness about this agonizing human and family rights crisis. To learn more about Mochi’s kidnapping and Jeffery’s advocacy work, visit bringmochihome.wordpress.com and bachome.org.

Colleen Nick

Colleen Nick is the mother of Morgan Nick, who at age 6 was kidnapped from a Little League baseball game while catching fireflies with friends. Since that day (June 9, 1995), finding Morgan has been the top priority for Colleen and her family. Without hesitation, she closed her personal business and began the fight to bring Morgan home.

In 1996, Colleen formed the Morgan Nick Foundation and serves as CEO. Since that time, she and her foundation have assisted thousands of families in crisis, successfully providing intervention, support, and reunification assistance to missing children, missing adults, and their families. The foundation actively provides prevention education programs for children, schools, and law enforcement. Colleen was also instrumental in the adoption of AMBER Alert in her home state of Arkansas.

Colleen is a nationally recognized advocate for missing children and adults. She has spoken to numerous groups, including the FBI’s Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia; the National Homicide Investigators Symposium; and at National Missing Children’s Day with former Attorney General Janet Reno. She has also visited the White House to meet with U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to explore new resources in the ongoing fight for missing children.

As a consultant with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), and an Associate with the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College, Colleen travels around the nation to train law enforcement about missing and exploited children. She is the co-founder of NCMEC’s Team HOPE, a peer support mentoring program for families of the missing. Additionally, she served on NCMEC’s Board of Directors for 17 years and on the Arkansas Crime Victims Reparations Board for 15 years. She is currently an advisory board member for the Criminal Justice Institute, which oversees the statewide network of Child Abduction Response Teams (CART) in Arkansas. Colleen’s passion and unwavering hope motivate her daily fight for America’s missing. As she explains, “Hope is not a strategy; it is an action.” Learn more at morgannickfoundation.com, and watch the documentary “Still Missing Morgan.”

Ahmad Rivazfar

Ahmad Rivazfar, born and educated in Tehran, Iran, emigrated to the United States in 1976. After joining the U.S. Navy, he became a pilot and earned his wings on March 30, 1979. That day would also be special for another reason: He learned that he and his wife were expecting their first child. After a brief return to his native Iran, where the political landscape had dramatically changed (putting a strain on his marriage), he and his wife divorced in 1985 after returning to the U.S. By that time they had three children: daughters Sayeh and Sara, and son Arash, who lived with their mother in Pensacola, Florida (despite Ahmad’s protestations about her ability to properly care for them). Ahmad, who lived in Rochester, New York, worked several jobs to afford the monthly 20-hour journey to see his children.

After discovering that his daughters had reported being physically and sexually abused by friends of their mother, who suffered drug and alcohol problems, Ahmad attempted to gain custody of his family. Soon, however, he learned something terrible had happened to his daughters, and drove 1,200 miles nonstop to be present during the investigation. Upon his arrival in Florida, Ahmad was taken to identify 6-year-old Sara’s body. He then visited Sayeh in the hospital. Both girls had been violently assaulted, with only 8-year-old Sayeh surviving. “That was a very dark time in my life,” Ahmad says of the crimes committed by their mother’s boyfriend on September 22, 1988. Ahmad was granted custody of his children, with Sayeh later calling him the family’s “rock.”

Sayeh channeled her trauma into helping others, becoming a New York State Police officer in 2001. In 1996 Ahmad became a Team HOPE volunteer for NCMEC, and the next year started a foundation with other parent-survivors who lobbied for the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008. Ahmad believes his heritage played a key role in the girls’ reported abuse not being taken seriously, and for “being treated like I was the criminal during the investigation.” In 2010, Ahmad and his friend, Ed Smart (father of kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart), successfully completed a 2,600-mile bicycle ride from Rochester to Los Angeles to increase public awareness about America’s missing children. For more about the Rivazfar family tragedy, see statetroopers.org/blog/181-a-survivor-and-a-fighter-state-trooper-sayeh-rivazfar-shares-her-story-ofovercoming-horror-to-reach-her-goals.

Nacole Svendgard

Nacole Svendgard has been a passionate advocate for social and legal change related to child exploitation and child sex trafficking since 2010. That year, Nacole’s 15-year-old daughter, Jessika, ran away from their Washington State home after being concerned about a bad report card (despite the fact she was a high achiever). She soon found herself at a women’s shelter in Seattle, where she met another young woman who enticed her to join her and accompany a man who said he could take care of them both. But the opposite happened: For several months, Jessika was exploited and trafficked for sex. Not knowing Jessika’s whereabouts tormented Nacole. Her family struggled because they did not know how to navigate the law enforcement process. Also, not knowing how to appropriately handle the family’s reunification with Jessika made things even harder.

Feeling judged by her peers and out of step with her surroundings, Jessika was lured away again by her abuser, but was found 108 days later during a law enforcement sting operation. By then, Nacole said, she had “learned the hard way about the search process’ shortcomings.” To help parents and children navigate its “minefields,” Nacole began advocating for more law enforcement training about child exploitation, and for more support to be provided for exploited youth and their families.

Nacole and Jessika joined forces to address more effective recovery techniques, testifying in state and federal courthouses across the nation to ensure passage of more than a dozen bills for increased victim rights, harsher punishments for sex offenders, and accountability for websites (such as the now defunct Backpage.com) engaged in promoting the illegal selling of underage sex.

On April 11, 2018, the FOSTA-SESTA bill was signed into law, making it illegal to knowingly assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking. Nacole has continued to fight for those “who do not have a voice” by serving on NCMEC’s Team HOPE and speaking publicly about her family’s ordeal.

She recently told Jessika, “I could not be prouder of the woman, mother, and advocate that you have become. Your resiliency has been inspirational, and a light to your family and other survivors.” For more on their story, visit amberadvocate.org/amber-feature/aa48-feature/.