comscore Missing boy found safe on remote Pacific island | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Top News

Missing boy found safe on remote Pacific island

Honolulu Star-Advertiser logo
Unlimited access to premium stories for as low as $12.95 /mo.
Get It Now
  • COURTESY FBI
    Billy Hanson
  • COURTESY FBI
    Jeffrey Ford Hanson
  • COURTESY FBI
    The FBI believes Jeffrey Ford Hanson may have taken his son Billy Ginger Hanson to Hawaii.

A missing nine-year-old boy, whom federal authorities say was kidnapped in by his father from Seattle, has been located and is safe in an island 1,500 miles northeast of New Zealand. according to the FBI.

Jeffrey Hanson, the boy’s non-custodial father, is being detained on the island of Niue, the FBI said.

The FBI issued an alert earlier this month advising mariners in the Pacific that Billy Hanson and his father set sail from Seattle on Sept. 4, in a sailboat called “Draco,” and may have sailed to Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and other Pacific islands.

A federal arrest warrant was issued for Billy’s father, Jeffrey Ford Hanson, on Sept. 12, in the U.S.  District Court in Seattle after he was charged with international parental kidnapping.

The FBI and the Seattle Police Department Major Crimes Task Force worked with local, state, federal, and international partners to locate Billy, who is from Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and was last seen with his father in Seattle.

Federal officials said Hanson is a known drug abuser with a volatile personality. 

Authorities are working to reunite Billy with his mother, the FBI reported.

Comments have been disabled for this story...

Click here to see our full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. Submit your coronavirus news tip.

Be the first to know
Get web push notifications from Star-Advertiser when the next breaking story happens — it's FREE! You just need a supported web browser.
Subscribe for this feature

Scroll Up