Dad faces charges of kidnapping kids 18 years ago

Daughters, told mom was dead, learn she isn't

April 21, 1998
Web posted at: 9:21 a.m. EDT (1321 GMT)

Fagan at Logan Airport in Boston Saturday

In this story:

• Lawyers trade charges
• Father's occupation unclear
• Related stories and sites

FRAMINGHAM, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Stephen Fagan, accused of kidnapping his daughters 18 years ago during a custody dispute, taking them to Florida and letting them grow up believing their mother was dead, was expected to plead not guilty on Tuesday at his arraignment in suburban Boston.

The daughters -- Lisa and Rachel -- are now 21 and 23 respectively.

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A L S O :

Mother will 'always love' daughters taken 19 years ago

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Fagan, 56, who used the alias William Martin and lived for years with his daughters in lavish mansions in the Palm Beach area, was portrayed by his lawyers as a devoted father willing to give up everything to rescue his children from an unfit, alcoholic mother.

The claim is disputed by Fagan's ex-wife, a cellular biologist who moved to Virginia and readopted her maiden name of Barbara Kurth. She is expected on Tuesday to break the silence she's kept since learning last week that her daughters had been found.

But Kurth, 48, has made no immediate plans to contact the women. Her attorney says she is trying to give them time to adjust to the idea that she is alive.

Lisa, left, was 2 years old and Rachel was 5 years old when they were taken from their mother in 1979

Lisa is a college student in California. Rachel lives and works on Long Island, New York. They were told their mother died in a car accident.

Lawyers trade charges

Since the arrest, lawyers for Fagan and his former wife have begun trading the same kinds of accusations that marked the couple's divorce after five years of marriage.

"These children are behind him 500 percent," said Richard Egbert, Fagan's lawyer. "(He took the girls) because he believed there was no other alternative left to assure the safety, health and well-being of his daughters."

Kurth had been awarded custody in the divorce case, said her attorney, David Cherny, adding that Fagan's neglect allegations never were substantiated in court.

"That doesn't give someone the right to take the law into their own hands, violate a court order and wrench these girls from their mother," Cherny said.

Father's occupation unclear

After her children disappeared in 1979, Kurth told her attorney that her ex-husband was a scam artist who forged checks and stolen identification to obtain valuable artworks and oriental rugs.

Fagan's posh home in Palm Beach, Florida

Fagan has emerged as a shadowy figure who lived in a Palm Beach mansion valued at more than $1.4 million, despite no discernible source of income.

While serving on the Palm Beach Opera's board of governors and volunteering with charitable organizations, Fagan apparently told acquaintances at various times that he was a Harvard professor, CIA agent, chemist, lawyer and foreign affairs adviser under the Nixon and Carter administrations.

Fagan, who was found through an anonymous tip and didn't fight his return to Massachusetts, promised the truth would come out in court.

Correspondent Gary Tuchman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related site:

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• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

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