Bring Corban Home International Child Abduction

Hello, my name is Heather Sawyer-Carvajal and this is my story:

BRING CORBAN HOME

(Brief Synopsis with the full story below)

My youngest son Corban has been missing from the United State for over 4 years now. He is being considered illegally detained in the country of Spain by his father Miguel Carvajal. Miguel has been found guilty of wrongfully and purposefully detaining Corban in Spain and has been ordered home with a Final Judgment of the Court to return Corban Immediately, orders he adamantly refuses to obey.

I have been ordered full and sole custody of Coran by the 17th Judicial Court of Broward County Florida. Miguel is not complying with the orders and has told the Court that he has no intention of following any orders of the court, leading to parental interference and International Parental Kidnapping which is a crime that holds a felony charge. Miguel has engaged in the most severe form of parental alienation for four years. He has alienated Corban from his mother, his two older brothers, his grandparents, his cousins and aunts and uncles. He has not allowed Corban to see his home country, his house, his bed, his bedroom, his toys, his friends and life of 9 years here in the United States. He ripped Corban from his life here and forced him into a strange and foreign life. Forcing him to learn a new language, make fake family (people that Miguel had just met after moving into Spain that he made Corban call aunt, uncle, grandma, brother, and even Mommy). Corban has no family in Spain but has been forced into a relationship with a young girl as to cause him to have an emotional connection in Spain. He was dropped into a school that he does not like to attend all so that Miguel can pretend that Corban has formed attachments in Spain. It is a trick and a manipulation and is hurting not just Corban but Elijah, and Enoch as well. Miguel has also brainwashed, maniputated and forced Corban to believe lies, vicious lies, that his mommy doesn't love him, that she gave him away, that she doesn't want him. That his brothers and grandparents don't love or want him either. Corban has become angry and confused and just wants to be loved and so Miguel rises up as the hero to love him and need him and so Corban clings to any love he can get and what he can see. Corban is alienated from us and does not get to have our love.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have taken the case, The FBI, The US State Department, The US Attorney's office, The Embassy, The Consolate, The Spanish Central Authority are all involved. But the biggest thing that we have to do right now is hire an attorney in Spain to have the orders of the US to be upheld in Spain. Once that happens Miguel will either comply and we will have Corban home or he will not comply and will go to jail or get deported and we will have Corban back.

So I am asking for everyone to donate anything they can. Skip your coffee this week and donate to help bring Corban home. What is a small amount to you will add up if we all come together to help bring home a little boy who deserves to know the love of his mommy, brothers, grandparents and family who deserves to sleep in his own bed again and be in the safety and comfort of his own home.

By the grace of God we are also getting help from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children who are rising up like no one else has done in the process of bringing Corban home. They are the most amazing organization and I tell anyone who is suffering with this type of pain to reach out to them and let them help you. We are getting therapy through them and they are going to be helping in the journey over to Spain to retrieve Corban once we retain a lawyer and Spain upholds the orders of the US.

How the funds will be used:

I am now forced into the position of needing to hire a lawyer in Spain. I will need to travel back and forth to Spain for as long as it takes to bring Corban home, these plane tickets to fly back and forth to Spain are quite expensive running into thousands of dollars. Hotel stays will be important near where Corban is being held so that he will be able to come for visits with me. I will need to do these things for however long the courts in Spain are requesting me to do so during the process. Food and drink will be costly as I will not be able to cook from home and will be out on the road most days. I will also, during the summer, bring Enoch to Spain with me so that he will finally be able to see his little brother and he has longed to do so for so long now. Hopefully, Elijah will be able to take time off work to come as well although he has a very difficult time still even talking about Spain. Then there is the loss of work during this time which will have a major impact on the bills I am required to continue to pay back home in the states during this whole event. The lawyer in Spain is requesting a 10000.00 Euros retainer fee and legal and court fees. I have to pay back credit cards that I had to max out to pay for a court-ordered Guardian Ad Litem, as well as to pay to ask lawyers to answer questions I have had along the way over these years. I have had to pay house taxes, house repairs and maintenance, and every bill and activity regarding the home and the children for the past four years alone. I have been told I will need to hire psychologists to help the boys including myself when we, hopefully, and prayerfully, finally can bring Corban home.

I cannot express the importance of your help but I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what it would mean if you all could help me bring my son home. I've learned that prayers, in the supernatural, and money, in the natural, is the way that I am going to be able to accomplish bringing my baby home. It is the consensus that the US State Department, FBI, Spanish Central Authority, Coming Home International, US and Spanish Embassies, US Attorney's Office, The National Center for Exploited and Missing Children and several other very important people have explained to me that I will need the funding for all these entities to work together to do what they need to do. They have all expressed their condolences that a mother has to go to such great pain and lengths to bring her child home from an abduction. I am grateful for the support I am receiving from each of these authorities but sadly it is just not enough to bring Corban home. It is now time to bring out every weapon in the arsenal and to let the professionals do what they do best and win this case and bring my child home. We could have never guessed that Miguel would put us through such torment and make me and every one of these authorities jump through such hoops, but since he has, it has put a fire into heart of so many people. I pray no mother or father ever has to go through what I have been through and no child has to choose a side or hate their left behind parent ever again. I would like, and plan on, helping make people aware of the dangers of international travel of minors and the International child abductions, parental alienation, child custody battles, abuse and self-litigation in court and that time is of the utmost importance in all of these cases. I also plan to make people aware of the importance of knowing national and international laws regarding travel, custody, The Hague, Citizenship, being married to and divorcing a non citizen in a foreign country and the dangers of such. All things I was completely ignorant to until it was at my doorstep and slapped me in the face. God help the people who have done this to children and God help the children who have been the victims of such abuse.

Believe it or not, this is a brief synopsis of this story the depth of it is far more. I can and will answer any questions. My phone is always open as is my email to anyone who would like to know more. Below this signature you will find the full story if you choose to read more of this story.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you in advance for all your help.

With Love,

Heather, Elijah, Enoch and Corban

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((((FULL STORY- LONG READ))))

How did Corban get to Spain? My husband, Miguel Carvajal, at the time after he was deported from the United States for a felony crime and a life of crime that I was unaware of at the time. I didn't know it at the time but it was God removing this man from my life as my children and I suffered emotional, mental, psychological, spiritual, and on many occasions physical abuse if we didn't obey. I was separated from my husband but we remained in relation for the sake of our children and for his immigration issues. So I lovingly but naively allowed two of my three children to go for a short visitation with their father. I was tricked, deceived and mentally brutalized for doing what I thought was kind, loving and in the best interest of my children. He took my children and physically, mentally and emotionally abused my oldest, Elijah, and beat him into concussion. Elijah tried to flee the country with my youngest but a fight ensued and he was not able to get my youngest, Corban, out of the country. Causing Corban to be stuck in Spain.

I am fighting with every bit of my being to have my son returned to me from Spain as he is being wrongfully detained, abducted/kidnapped and alienated from me, his mother, as well as his brothers, grandparents and family by his father Miguel. This child is having half of himself erased by someone who says he loves him and cares about him. Love would never allow such a thing to happen. Love is patient and kind, it does not envy or boast, it's not proud and does not hurt or dishonor others. It is not self-seeking, easily angered and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. It always hopes, protects, trusts and perseveres.

Miguel and I have four sons Elijah, Enoch and Corban and one that is in Heaven. We had a tumultuous marriage and we tried to make it work for 20 years. It was a marriage that was riddled with abuse of all kinds mental and physical, it was inconsistent and confusing. I knew in my heart that it was wrong but I kept it a secret because I loved this man and I wanted a family. I wanted to grow old with my husband, have grandchildren and have an intact home so I dealt with all of the abuse, always hoping and praying that it would end once he realized it was wrong. I had hoped he loved me more than his need to be right or punish me for disagreeing with him. It was a confusing marriage as Miguel was very charming and had a way of convincing me that when he was angry and abusive that it was my fault and that he was sorry and it wouldn’t happen again. I believed him every time and I decided to get therapy/counseling for 15 years in which I was never fully honest with the abuse because I knew I would be told to leave him and I was terrified of doing that as I wanted our marriage to work. The saddest part is I felt Miguel truly loved me and would do things that I thought no one would ever do for me. He supported me in every way and encouraged me in all things. He told me daily how much he loved me and how beautiful I am, he would cry and be repentant when he was abusive and my heart, while confused, always found a way to forgive him and love him through it. Yet it always left me wondering why he didn’t love me enough to not abuse me in the first place. On a fairly daily basis, he could be fantastic towards me …… until he wasn’t and when he wasn’t it was devastating to me and the boys. After 20 years I knew it would never truly get better and when I saw how badly it was affecting the children as they had witnessed too much abuse and had experienced their share of it as well. My heart began to grow cold. I knew I had to make an important decision but I was terrified and knew that everything I had ever wanted and worked so hard to have would all be over if I made this choice to leave and so I stayed. I would lose all that I had given up and sacrificed to have my family, home-school, business, friends and family but I NEVER could have imagined what happened next and the most painful loss ever.

On September 7, 2017, Miguel was deported from The United States for a felony crime. After his deportation, he moved to Panama with my help and support as a loving caring wife. I chose to bring the kids over to Panama so that they could be with their dad and he would not be alone. During that time I had already started my path of separation and Miguel and I had spoken about it several times. He tried to make it work and surprisingly was trying to be a new man and I started to believe that maybe this was a new start for us…… until one day it wasn’t and there was an incident, the worst one in a long time. All the pain from the prior abuse hit me and there was not much I could do as I was far from home and in a foreign land. My children experienced something that they can never un-see, un-feel, un-hear, or forget. I chose that day that we were not meant to be together any longer but that I would stay married to him on paper for his immigration papers and that I wanted to have a civil and friendly relationship for the sake of our children and our future grandchildren. I still loved him unconditionally and would do anything for him but I could no longer live a life with him by my side as it had proven to be too painful with the ups and downs and varying levels of abuse. After the kids and I left Panama as our Visa was up, I explained to Miguel that I truly was not coming back but that I would keep the paperwork intact for his immigration. He then immigrated to Spain to try and set up our soccer academy in Madrid, the home of soccer. This is where he currently resides. Miguel is not a citizen of Spain but rather a citizen of Honduras.

Miguel and I remained friendly for the most part when he wasn’t calling me terrible names or trying to convince me to stay in the marriage. We typically worked together on what was best for the children. I sent him forty thousand dollars to help him get established in Spain and get an apartment and a bank account. After Miguel was established in Spain he asked if I would send the boys for a visitation with him. I was hesitant because they had not left my side since they were born and it gave me great anxiety. Every thought entered my head except one. I thought what if they got sick or hurt? What if they were scared and I wasn’t there to console or care for them? How could I homeschool them, he couldn’t do it he has never done it before. What if someone kidnapped them? What if Miguel abused them? My thoughts were racing and Miguel calmed and comforted me assuring me they would never leave his sight. That they would call me every day and they would be safe. I thought for a moment I should go too but then I knew that would not be a good choice as he would surely convince me to come back to him and I probably would and the life I was trying to escape would come right back and maybe even worse. So after a lot of deliberation, I decided to let them go and visit. I knew that Elijah, my eldest son, would keep Corban, my youngest son, safe as Elijah was and is such an amazing brother and young man. Corban cried and held onto me and did not want to leave Mommy, but I assured him it wouldn’t be long and he would see me very soon. …………..We (Me, Elijah, Enoch, Grandma and Grandpa, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends) have not seen Corban in 4 years here in the states!

Two months after allowing them to visit their father in Spain Covid-19 reared its ugly head. All the world was shutting down. I begged to have my children sent home to me and was answered by Miguel telling me that he is not allowed to leave his apartment and cannot send the kids home. He assured me that Spain was on strict and severe lockdown. I did my research and found that he was not lying about that and so I had no choice but to sit and wait. Things ramped up around the world and I don't have to tell you all that happened next. However, I continued to beg for my children to come home and was faced with the same response that due to the lockdown it’s impossible to travel. Even if they lifted travel bans they were not allowing people in the streets so they could not get to a train station, cab, or walk anywhere unless it was to the store on their allotted time to go.

I fought for months and was told that as soon as travel bans were lifted that Miguel would send my children home. I was reassured over and over that the plane tickets had been purchased and that Elijah and Corban would be coming home soon. I spent hours on Facetime with my sons, watching movies and other activities just so we can be together.

When I noticed travel bans being lifted I purchased tickets that allowed my children to travel home earlier than the tickets that were purchased previously. I was told by Miguel that he could not get them to the airport as they were still not allowing anyone on the streets. I was confused because they said they were allowing US Citizens to travel home to the US with the agreed 14-day quarantine after arrival. I was told that it was impossible to get them to the airport but that as soon as they opened the streets for travel that he would get them to the airport to come home.

When restrictions were lifted Miguel told me that he had no intentions of sending them home. I was furious as I had trusted that what he had said up until that time was the truth. I found out the hard way that I had been tricked, lied to and manipulated. So I went to the courts and filed the divorce papers that I had been waiting to file since March of 2020, papers that I could not get notarized or filed due to Covid-19.

This was the beginning of the nightmare. I was then restricted on how much and when I could speak to Corban. I was hung up on if I discussed Corban coming home. Corban began to speak to me with anger telling me that I was a bad person and that I was bad to his dad. I found out through my older son that there was drug use and alcohol use in the home daily and that my oldest son Elijah was being forced to use drugs and alcohol with his father and other "players' in the home. There are video evidence of Miguel giving the kids drugs and even video evidence of Corban at 9 years old taking shots of whiskey. Things got volatile in the home and Elijah would call me to tell me that he now suffers the abuse that I used to take from Miguel. My heart was ripped apart and obliterated at hearing this terrible news. I threatened to call the Spanish Police if they weren't sent home, but no authorities got involved. Elijah was finally beaten so badly that he sustained a concussion from Miguel beating and punching him in the face over and over, choking and throwing him over a counter. Elijah ran out of the apartment and into the streets barefoot, shirtless and dazed all in frigid weather. After calling me my mommy heart was in panic mode. What could I do? I was able to get him to a friend’s house six hours from Mostoles Spain and from there, my friend helped me fly Elijah home. Elijah was devastated by the mental, emotional, psychological and physical abuse that he had suffered as well as the guilt he felt by not being able to rescue Corban as Miguel would not let him take Corban with him. Miguel said he refuses to send Corban with Elijah back to the States. His exact words were, "Over my dead body will I send Corban home to you".

Miguel houses many soccer players, for a hefty fee, young men and adults in his apartment in Spain. It has been a revolving door of strange unknown people in and out of this home. Corban is constantly being left alone or in the care of strange men, women and underage caretakers that he is encouraged to call uncle, aunt, cousin, etc. A woman named Amalia Pabon entered the picture in 2019 and was impregnated by Miguel in hopes of gaining citizenship in Spain. She is now the mother of a child to Miguel even though he and I are not yet divorced. She lives in the house with them and the players. Corban has been encouraged to call her Mom and me by my first name to which he says that she is his real mom and loves him more than I do. He has been told that I abandoned him and gave him away because I didn't want him. Corban has been told that the only people that love him are his dad and the people in Spain. That they are his real family, yet he has no family in Spain other than his dad and new half-sister. Corban has called me every terrible thing and has told me he doesn't want me anymore. He then calls me "secretly" whenever he can to tell me he loves me and wants to come to Florida and then I'll get a message that says I don't want to be with you I want to be with my dad so leave me alone. He says things like well as soon as the divorce is over I will come home. If I come home before that you’ll never send me back to see my dad. My mommy's heart is so devastated that someone would do this to my baby. That his father would lead him to believe such lies and cause him to hate his mommy, brothers, grandparents and country the way he does. I cannot sleep at night and when I do I dream of Corban. The devastation it causes to a little boy is so far reaching. I think about him all day every day and think of ways to bring him home even if it means going Renegade.

It has been four years that I have been fighting Miguel and this case in the courts and doing everything I have been told to do and doing everything the legal way and through the system. They strategically caused the case to be drawn out and delayed in an attempt to take away my rights as a mother. His lawyers had gotten in between a mother and a child and have helped alienate a mother and child. Parental Alienation is best described as a strategy whereby one parent intentionally displays to the child unjustified negativity aimed at the other parent. The purpose of this strategy is to damage the child's relationship with the other parent and to turn the child's emotions against that other parent. Parental alienation occurs when a child refuses to have a relationship with a parent due to manipulation, such as the conveying of exaggerated or false information, by the other parent.

When the separation between parents begins, the future alienator puts more pressure than usual on the child to support him or her emotionally. The child can often find this situation untenable and unable to resist the alienator’s emotional need to denigrate the other parent. The child is placed in the position of being an emotional caretaker. This is what Elijah explained to me that Miguel did to both him and Corban. Causing them to begin hating me. It wasn’t until Elijah was out of the situation that he began to heal and the relationship between him and I was healed. Corban is told that he is needed and that Miguel could not survive without him. That Corban is his best friend and that Mommy abandoned him and didn’t want him but Daddy wants him and lives for him. That mommy wants to be free and not raise him anymore. That daddy will keep him safe and love him but mommy loves others more than she loves him. That mommy is bad and ungodly and will not raise him well and will leave him with other people all the time while she goes out and parties. Sadly Corban has believed all these lies regardless of how much I tell him they aren’t true, no matter how many times his brothers tell him none of those things are true, no matter how many times his grandparents told him none of those things are true. Corban has called us all liars and his dad is the only one telling him the truth and his dad is the only one that loves him. Corban has said, “I don’t have brothers or grandparents. He says that his true mother is Amalia ( Mommy Amalia) she is the one that loves him and his dad and is the only good mother”. It is truly sever abuse of a child and I pray against this evil every day. I have been told that if I take him from his dad that he will punch me in my face and that the best thing God could do for me is send me to hell.

In cases of parental alienation, A father could tell a child that the child's mother hates him and never wants to speak to him when in reality the mother calls to speak to the child every day. I have about 700 pages of WhatsApp documents showing that I have not missed a day of calling or messaging Corban to tell him that I love him and want to hear his voice. On a rare occasion, he may answer a call or respond to a message, but it’s so rare that I don’t ever expect a response. Offenders may blame the other parent for the collapse of the marriage punish the child for wanting to pursue a relationship with the parent, make them feel guilty for wanting a relationship with the left-behind parent, coerce the child with toys, clothes, money, activities, and in Corbans case a job as a professional soccer player making millions someday. Corban has been told that his newest responsibility is to be a big brother and care for his new baby sister whom Amalia and Miguel brought into this world before Miguel is even divorced. What child could be strong enough to fight against such things and remain mentally intact and healthy? Why doesn't Miguel encourage Corban to want to be with his big brothers who beg for him to come home? The easiest thing for a child to do is to agree with the alienating parent and follow in their footsteps. They cannot fight it and cannot want anything except what the alienator gives them. Corban has been told that the only time he will be allowed to visit the US is after the divorce is finalized, which has been finalized on May 5, 2024 and he is still not allowed to come to Florida, because he has been told by Miguel that I will never let him go back to Spain which would mean he loses his place as a pro soccer player, he loses his dad, and he loses his toys and friends. He has been told he will lose everything and only gain this lousy mother, brothers and grandparents and that is not good.

I have fought harder than I have fought for anything in this world to bring my son home, but when you are up against a narcissist and manipulator that only loves himself and will stop at nothing to damage then sometimes you need the assistance of every big gun out there. The 17th Judicial Circuit Court of Broward County has issued several orders for the return of Corban but Miguel has defied every order including and especially the FINAL JUDGEMENT of sending Corban home immediately. There isn’t one authority that is denying that this is parental alienation and abduction/kidnapping but it still has to go through all the legal avenues for reunification. There is a lot that needs to happen unless by some miracle of God Miguel decides to do what is right and return Corban and allow for healing and restoration with his family that is fighting like mad for him and love him beyond what words can describe.

So I am asking for as much help as I can get. I have not received a penny of help from Miguel as he has told me I am unworthy of receiving a penny from him and he will never give me a dime. He has not given a penny to his other sons here in the States. I’ve asked why he would want me and the children to suffer this way and he has said it is my fault for wanting a divorce and this is what I get and what happens. He is also trying to take half of my house from me and has had me watched and followed and taken pictures of even having people look in my windows. After I had sent Miguel over the forty thousand dollars so that he could establish himself in Spain he wanted more money and when I didn’t give it to him, he became angry with me. Sadly within a month of that altercation I was robbed of everything I have, all money I had saved, heirloom jewelry from my father before he died and from family, every piece of jewelry I ever owned, priceless things I had for my children as well as my gun. They ripped the safes out of my home and left me with massive damage and ruin as they ransacked the house to make it look like a robbery. The police said that in 37 years of being in this line of work had ever seen a more personal job than this one. I did not have two pennies to rub together after this robbery. If it weren’t for the help of my mother, father and a very dear friend who has been there for me along the way I would not have been able to pay my bills or get to where I am now.

Due to a severe lack of funds I have been Pro Se (self-litigated) in the courts since December of 2020 and I have fought with all my might against Miguel and his many lawyers. By the grace of God and the wisdom and knowledge of the Judge and Magistrate of the 17th Judicial Court I was granted Sole and Full custody of Corban.

Now our next battle begins. Letting the FBI, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, The US Attorney's Office do their work. I have been told by each of these agencies that while they are going for criminal charges against Miguel I still need to acquire a lawyer in Spain who can get the orders to the Spanish courts and have the orders upheld. So this is where all of you come in and I am asking you to help me to raise the money to get the lawyer in Spain so that we can finally finish this brutal fight and prayerfully bring Corban home.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story and help our family and the authorities in this fight for the life of a beautiful little boy and his heart, mind and soul.