TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – This wasn’t the way the day was supposed to go.
Rachelle Smith had so many plans for her son Dexter’s fourth birthday.
Rachelle decorated the dining room and had cupcakes ready. She packed goody bags for Dexter’s classmates. She was ready to sing to her son and celebrate on this special day. There was only one thing missing.
Dexter wasn’t there.
Her baby boy was a world away in a war-torn, foreign country. He was with people he doesn’t know, in a place he’s ever been.
Until now.
In the midst of a bitter custody battle, Dexter was taken by his father and brought to Lebanon where the two have been staying with family in Beirut.
With tears in her eyes, Rachelle had a message for her little boy, halfway across the world.
“I would say, ‘happy birthday. I love you so much. We’re going to have our Jurassic Park birthday party waiting for you when you get home. And, I cannot wait to see you,'” she said.
Rachelle’s son has been gone for 18 days.
His father, Ali Salemy, violated a judge’s order and left the state with the child at the end of August.
While the United States considers the father a fugitive, Lebanon does not. In fact, the country does not recognize extradition policies practiced in other countries.
“He thinks he’s gotten away with it. And, he has. He has, unless our government starts acting the part,” said Patrick Leduc, Rachelle’s attorney who also happens to be a former Army colonel.
The Tampa attorney is currently working with lawmakers in Washington, as well as the U.S. State Department and the U.S. embassy in Lebanon, demanding action for Dexter.
Monday, he reviewed an email sent by U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Bil Nelson to the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon.
This little boy, Leduc says, deserves justice.
Meanwhile, Dexter’s mother suffers from a broken heart, desperate to see her son once again, terrified of what might happen to him.
It’s been almost two weeks since Rachelle has seen Dexter via FaceTime.
After that last conversation, the contact ceased.
Rachelle says Dexter’s father told her that their son was no longer asking for her, so the phone calls would stop until the little boy brought up her name once again.
“I know he’s asking for me,” said Rachelle. “He’s my little guy. His dad is doing this to hurt me.”
Rachelle plans to travel to Washington in two weeks to meet face to face with lawmakers, hoping her voice will be heard by those who can get her son back on U.S. soil.
“We’re not putting up with this, here’s the line to be drawn,” said Leduc. “This guy is a fugitive from justice.”
The attorney says he won’t stop fighting until Dexter is back in Rachelle’s arms. That goal, he maintains, will be met. He said it will take a combination of positivity, hard work and, most of all, the power of prayer.
“Our government needs to do what it’s supposed to do. But, at the end of all this, God will be given the glory. He will get this child home.”
“There’s a light at the end of all this. I will get him back and he will be home,” Rachelle added.
