Area man can relate to mother of abducted Alabama boy

Julian Hernandez, an Alabama boy missing for 13 years, was found living with his father, who police believe abducted him, in Cleveland this week.

The crack in the case came when a school counselor, who was helping Hernandez figure out an issue with his Social Security number to apply to colleges, discovered he was listed as missing by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Kent Swaim, formerly of Clayton, knows what it’s like to have his children abducted by a parent. His two sons, William and James, were taken to Japan by their mother, Miyuki, while Swaim was at work. Swaim was granted sole custody of the boys but was unable to bring them back to the U.S. because Japan did not honor custody rights of parents at the time.