Stephen Michael Palacios: Man Reads About Own 1993 Abduction, Father Surrenders

BEDFORD, Texas (CBS/KWTX/AP) Authorities say it was 1993 when Stephen Michael Palacios, then 3 years old, was abducted by his father during a divorce battle in Waco, Texas.  Three weeks ago, Palacios - who's now 20 - apparently read about his "disappearance" in the newspaper, and persuaded his father to surrender.

And 17 years after his alleged abduction, Palacios could soon be reunited with his shell-shocked mother.

Palacios and his father, Stephen Palacios Jr., went to a Houston attorney's office Thursday and the older man turned himself in to federal authorities. He was jailed on charges of interference with child custody.

A U.S. Marshal tells CBS affiliate KWTX the pair walked into Houston attorney Paul Nugent's office and identified themselves.

"If he made a mistake, he was motivated by love, not ill will," Nugent told reporters outside the Harris County Jail.

The suspect's ex-wife, Dee Ann Adams, of Bedford, Texas, is remarried and has several other children. She told The Associated Press that she's overwhelmed but happy with the discovery of her long-missing son.

Adams declined to say when she planned to reunite with him. He's currently with relatives in the Houston area, reported KWTX.

Authorities have not said where the father and son were living for the past 17 years.

Adams says her son read about his own abduction in an Aug. 29 story in the Waco Tribune-Herald, in which police were asking the public for help in the case.

The disappearance was listed on the website of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

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