A Fugitive on Facebook: Inside Fort Lauderdale's Most Bizarre Kidnapping
Categories: Crime
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Leslie Delbecq is a fugitive. She has a most-wanted profile, as do her parents.
Since kidnapping her daughter from Fort Lauderdale in August of 2010 and fleeing to Dubai, Delbecq has been pursued by the FBI, Interpol, and her ex-husband. But she's not exactly hiding. It didn't even take an honest day's work for New Times to track her down.
Thanks, Facebook.
"First of all, the FBI has no jurisdiction in this country," Delbecq said during a recent phone interview. "I'm living in Dubai. I have my own place. My parents are in Abu Dhabi. And yeah, we're living a very happy life. Everything is going very smoothly."
Over the course of several conversations, there was never a chink in Delbecq's confidence. She spoke openly about growing up in Africa, joining the U.S. military, and falling in love with a man she would divorce after only four months of marriage.
Delbecq admits that she is a bit nervous but insists she did what was best for her daughter. She says her ex-husband, Christopher Dahm, kept his criminal ventures a secret until two weeks after she gave birth.
And while Delbecq rattled off justifications for the daring, three-country escape with her daughter and talked about how well they're doing in the Middle East, the fact remained that Dahm has sole legal custody of the missing child.
The FBI has been mum on the case, revealing little information to Dahm. But when told that New Times has been in contact with his ex-wife, Dahm's voice jumped to a higher pitch.
He sounded as surprised as he did nervous.
Read the feature here.
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