Child Snatching Case: RI Law Was Changed in 1988 to Criminalize Parents Who Take Their Own Children

WARWICK, RI—Elaine Yates, formerly of Warwick, is expected in Kent County Superior Court on Wednesday to face child-snatching charges connected to her and her children's disappearance in 1985.

Yates allegedly ran away from her Warwick, RI home and her husband and went into hiding for more than 31 years. She took daughters, Kimberly, then 3 1/2 years old and Kelly, 10 months, with her. They were considered missing until Monday when Rhode Island State Police, acting on a tip, tracked them to Houston, where they were living under new names.

It was not a crime in 1985 when Yates allegedly went into hiding with her children to take the children away from the other parent, according to Thomas Lynch, an attorney who was then a member of the General Assembly. The law was changed in 1988.

Russell Yates, who still lives in Warwick, was a constituent, Lynch said. He told Lynch his story and wanted help so one parent could not conceal the children's whereabouts from the other parent.

Lynch could not say for sure if the new law was the same one he proposed or a similar one, but he said the law definitely was changed in 1988.

Without researching the case, he said during a telephone interview, he could not say how Yates was being charged now since it was not a crime when she took the children. But he speculated it might be this: by staying in hiding, after the new law was enacted, she had denied Russell Yates any contact with his daughters.

The arrest warrant was not issued until 1988.

According to the state police press release "further investigation by law enforcement and the Office of the Rhode Island Attorney General led to a felony warrant for Child Snatching for Elaine C. Yates (Pigeon) on November 16, 1988."

State police did not divulge the daughters' new names but said they have their own families now and were living in Houston. No information was provided about whether they knew their father had been looking for them or if they plan to contact him.

Their mother was also living in Houston and using the alias Leina Waldberg.

Lynch said he might go to court tomorrow to see the arraignment.