Child Snatching Case: Newport Judge in 1990 Ordered Children's Grandmother to ACI

NEWPORT, RI—The grandmother of the missing girls died in 2000, but she became a target of ex-husband Russell Yates's efforts to find his wife Elaine (Pigeon) Yates and their daughters.

Related Story: Alleged RI Child Snatcher Found 31 Years Later With 2 Missing Daugthers

According to the New York Times in 1990, Yates sued Mary Pigeon and insisted she knew the children's whereabouts.

He won the case. The 77-year-old grandmother was ordered to reveal the information.

Pigeon said she did not know where her daughter and the grandchildren were.

Judge Mark A. Pfeiffer ordered her to perform 60 hours of community service a month at a child victim's society and read their stories until she felt compelled to give any information she had.

After she did not, he ordered her held at the Adult Correctional Institution but then reversed that part of his ruling after the Gov. Edward DiPrete and the Rhode Island Corrections Department asked she be allowed to stay in home confinement, instead of prison.

The Times also reported Elaine Yates left her husband after an argument over finding him on a boat with another woman. He admitted hitting his wife during that argument, the Times also said.