All articles tagged with #custody dispute
Former 'Survivor' contestant Jaime Dugan is wanted by the FBI after failing to return her 16-year-old son, Harper, to his father following a weekend visit in South Carolina. A judge has issued an arrest warrant, classifying the teen as missing and endangered.
The FBI is investigating the disappearance of former 'Survivor: China' contestant Jaime Dugan and her 16-year-old son, Harper Huffman, after she failed to return him to his father following a weekend visit on Aug. 30. A South Carolina judge has issued an arrest warrant for Dugan after she missed multiple court dates and refused to disclose their whereabouts. Harper's father, Erik Huffman, has sole custody and is actively searching for his son, expressing concern for his safety. The case stems from a contentious 2024 divorce, during which Dugan made unsubstantiated abuse allegations against Huffman that the court deemed unfounded.
Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, a 77-year-old couple from Dublin, California, were charged with the murder of their son-in-law, Jonathan McKinsey. Prosecutors allege the pair staged a planned ambush at Dublin Sports Grounds on September 26, killing McKinsey in a parking lot while children were nearby. The shooting occurred during a bitter custody battle between McKinsey and his wife, Candice Jang. Both suspects remain in custody without bail, facing charges that include lying-in-wait, which carries a potential life sentence.
Jonathan McKinsey, a 40-year-old engineering executive at The New York Times, was fatally shot on Saturday in a Dublin, California, parking lot. His in-laws, Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, were arrested nearby and charged with first-degree murder. Court records reveal a volatile history between McKinsey and his wife, Candice Jang, including dueling restraining orders and allegations of domestic abuse. McKinsey had recently sought unsupervised custody of their three children, a request Jang opposed due to alleged child abuse. The shooting occurred amid a bitter divorce and custody battle, with no official motive yet confirmed by police.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan declined to intervene in a high-profile custody dispute, allowing a California couple to retain legal authority over a baby born in Texas with a severe heart defect. The surrogate, McKenna West, had refused to terminate the pregnancy as requested by the biological parents, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, after a fetal diagnosis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome. West moved to Texas to give birth and sought conservatorship to ensure the child received medical care, arguing the parents might not provide it. Lower courts in California and Texas ruled in favor of the biological parents, and Kagan’s refusal to block those rulings leaves the parents in control of the child’s critical medical decisions. The case highlights tensions between surrogacy contracts, abortion access, and parental rights across state lines.
Justice Elena Kagan denied an emergency request from McKenna West, an Alaska surrogate, to halt a California court order granting parental rights to the biological parents of a baby born with a severe heart defect. The case, which spans Alaska, California, and Texas, centers on whether West can retain custody or medical decision-making authority after refusing to terminate the pregnancy as requested by the contracting couple. Lower courts have consistently ruled in favor of the biological parents, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, while West argues they may not provide necessary medical care. The Supreme Court’s refusal leaves the existing legal framework in place, allowing the parents to continue managing the child’s critical care.
Justice Elena Kagan declined an emergency appeal from surrogate McKenna West, leaving in place a California court order granting parental rights to the biological parents of a newborn with a severe heart defect. West had refused an abortion requested by the parents after a 20-week scan revealed hypoplastic left heart syndrome, instead traveling to Texas to give birth. The case involves a complex multistate legal battle over custody and medical care for the infant, whom the parents named Rumi and West named Gabriel.
Justice Elena Kagan declined to intervene in a multistate custody battle involving a surrogate who refused an abortion after her fetus was diagnosed with a fatal heart defect. The decision leaves in place a California court order granting parental rights to the biological parents, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar. The baby, born in Texas in August, has undergone heart surgery and remains in critical condition. The surrogate, McKenna West, argued that the California ruling violated her due process rights and that she was being excluded from the child’s medical care. The biological parents’ attorneys stated that the child’s survival is the priority and that West’s legal efforts have been rejected by lower courts. The case has sparked national debate over surrogacy contracts, abortion access, and parental rights.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in a custody dispute between a California couple and a surrogate mother over a newborn with a severe heart defect. Justice Elena Kagan rejected an emergency appeal from McKenna West, who had sought to halt a California court order granting parental rights to Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar. The case involves a surrogacy contract that allowed for termination due to fetal abnormalities, which West refused after a diagnosis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome. West gave birth in Texas, where she argued for custody, while the couple maintained they were providing necessary medical care. The decision leaves the child in the care of the couple, who have been providing ongoing treatment, while West remains excluded from medical decisions.
Justice Elena Kagan denied an emergency request to intervene in a multistate custody dispute involving a newborn with a severe heart defect. The case pits surrogate McKenna West against California parents Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, who had previously requested an abortion after a fetal abnormality was detected. West, who refused the termination and gave birth in Texas, argues the parents are withholding medical care. The parents maintain they are providing critical treatment. The Texas Supreme Court recently authorized the transfer of the infant to California for specialized care, prioritizing the child's medical needs over the legal jurisdictional conflict.
Russell Ashford, the father of Antoinette Forbes’s 10-year-old son, is jailed in Beaver County, PA on a Montgomery County, MD warrant for a probation violation. Authorities say no charges have been filed in Forbes’s disappearance, and there’s no public link between Ashford’s arrest and the case. Forbes was last seen in Northwest DC, with Forbes’ family noting her belongings left behind. Court records reviewed by 7News show Ashford was convicted of first-degree assault in 2021 after a violent incident with Forbes, which left her with serious injuries, and a custody dispute between the two extended through at least 2025. The defense and prosecutors have described ongoing custody conflicts and alleged boundary-crossing, while investigators caution that previous violence does not prove what happened in Forbes’s disappearance. Ashford remains in custody awaiting extradition to Maryland.
A Wyoming mother, Madeline Veronique Daly, who fled with her 11-month-old son to New Mexico in violation of a custody order, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder after shooting and killing him in a Grant County RV; she faces life in prison with sentencing scheduled later.
Jurors in Florida heard the murder-for-hire case against Mario Fernandez Saldana, accused of helping plan and fund the killing of Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan, with Henry Tenon identified as the gunman. The trial centers on a bitter co-parenting dispute involving Bridegan’s ex-wife Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, and Kirsten Bridegan testified about a final, silent phone call after Bridegan dropped off the couple’s children. Prosecutors tie the alleged plot to years of custody battles, while Saldana’s defense argues the state cannot prove solicitation or intent. Separate trials for Gardner-Fernandez and Tenon are expected to follow.
Brady Harmon, father of Harper (13), Hudson (11), Gavin (10) and Gracelynn (10), whose grandmother Amy Steadman and mother Sarah Myers allegedly killed the children in a Mechanicville, NY, murder‑suicide—poisoning three and stabbing Gavin—before taking their own lives, says the killers deserve a “special place in hell.” Investigators found notes by Steadman accepting responsibility and claiming Utah abuse, and letters from Myers alleging abuse; Harmon had not seen his kids since 2019 amid a bitter custody fight. The bodies were discovered on June 23; syringes were found at Steadman’s home, and authorities say the abuse allegations could not be independently verified.
Dancing with the Stars pro Gleb Savchenko seeks emergency custody of Olivia (15) and Zlata (8), accusing ex Elena Samodanova of abducting and permanently relocating them to Hong Kong without his consent; he requests temporary sole legal and physical custody and a lawyer for Olivia, and has filed a Hague treaty petition for Zlata. Samodanova opposes changes to custody and the girls’ schooling in California, and mediation is set for Aug. 5 with a hearing on Aug. 18.