Japan Frees U.S. Father in Custody Case

Japanese police say they have released an American man nearly 20 days after his arrest for allegedly snatching his children from his ex-wife.

Police said Thursday that while prosecutors have not pressed charges, they haven't yet dropped the case either. They decided to release him on grounds that he was not a flight risk.

Christopher Savoie was arrested Sept. 28 after allegedly grabbing his two children, ages 8 and 6, from his Japanese ex-wife as they walked to school in southern Japan. The case is among a growing number of custody disputes involving a foreign parent in Japan.

Savoie told CBS News producer Lucy Craft in early October, after more than a week in jail with drug users and hardened criminals, that he was "very frightened".

"We weren't able to get very much detail," Craft told "The Early Show" after her off-camera interview with Savoie. "He wasn't allowed to talk about it. But he did say that he was very frightened because he's being housed with suspects in violent crime."

Craft, speaking from Tokyo, noted that Savoie's hair was unwashed and had a lot of stubble on his chin. She told his wife, Amy Savoie, in New York, her husband looked "disheveled" and "haggard" from his stay in the jail.