Married dad, 45, fled to Mexico with girl, 16, after signing her out of school
Steve Robson
~4 minutes
Kevin Esterly posed as Amy Yu's stepdad before the pair disappeared on March 5
Kevin Esterly is charged with interference with the custody of a child after allegedly signing 16-year-old Amy Yu out of her school at least 10 times posing as her stepfather
A married dad-of-four and a 16-year-old who disappeared together have been found in Mexico.
Kevin Esterly, 45, had been posing as Amy Yu's stepdad for weeks to sign her out of school without her parent's knowledge.
The teen stole her mother's passport and fled with Esterly on March 5.
When Amy's mother came to pick her up from school, she was told her 'stepdad' had already collected her.
Esterly emptied $4,000 (£2,800) from his family's account leaving wife Stacey and their four children in financial crisis.
Stacey, from Allentown, Pennsylvania, has now filed for divorce and sole custody of the children.
She admitted she had become concerned by her husband's close relationship with Amy, a friend of their teenage daughter.
John Waldron, her lawyer, said: "Amy's been known to the family for like eight years.
"They've gone on vacations, they've gone to the shore, amusement parks, but the situation with Kevin kind of has gotten more serious over the last eight months."
Stacey said husband of 12 years Kevin had told her he was being a 'father figure' to Amy, who lives with her mum Miu Luu and younger brother.
Their father lives in China.
But she suspected the pair were involved in a relationship, especially after she found 'inappropriate' messages and a picture of Amy in a bikini on Kevin's phone.
Mr Waldron added: "Stacey did not believe it to be merely a father-daughter relationship and that’s why there were fights.
"They were fighting every day over Amy."
Image:
Miami-Dade County Corrections Department)
Amy's mum Mrs Luu had also found out about Kevin signing her out of school and threatened to call police.
Kevin, a concrete contractor, had apologised and promise never to do it again, the Morning Call reports.
Eventually both sides had staged an 'intervention' telling Kevin and Amy they were not see each other any more.
But evidently it did not work.
As Mrs Luu reported her daughter missing on March 5, the pair were on an American Airlines flight to Mexico.
They were tracked down to last weekend and taken into custody.
Kevin Esterly has been arrested and extradited first to Miami, Florida, and will soon be back in Pennsylvania.
Amy's mother is now planning legal action of her own, suing Mr Esterly and possibly her school and American Airlines for allowing her 16-year-old daughter to leave the country without her knowledge.
American Airlines has said a 16-year-old does not need parental consent to travel as long as they have their own passport.
But Amy was able to use her mother's passport, it is claimed.
Her lawyer Everett Cook said: "As a parent and as a lawyer it's absolutely terrible what he [Kevin Esterly] did.
"We don't have to have all the facts on what he did while he had her in Mexico and then over the past couple of years, but one can imagine that none of it's good.
"It just sounds like nothing good came out of this relationship between him and this young girl."
