Convicted felon dad with history of abuse abducts kids during "visitation" (Eldorado, New Mexico)

Dad STEPHEN HILLA, a convicted felon (now on parole) with a "bad temper" and history of abuse, has cycled in and out of prison for years. But that didn't stop him from getting visitation rights with his three kids. Now Dad has abducted them.

Rather than say anything more, I'm just going to quote some of the comments published after the article below:

"This really gets me angry. I bet you a million bucks the felon father was allowed to see his children, because the JUDGE thought it was a good idea for the children. Unfortunately in this state more of the "bad parents" are able to spend more time with the child then they really should, even though there is a possiblity this can happen!!!! I am going to court soon on custody and because the father of my children is crazy it doesn't matter. The judge will probably give him unsupervised visitation rights anyway. All I have to say if something like this happens to my children, because the Judge has a court order and allowed him visitation for my kids. I will be suing the state and county for alot of money!!!!! It is time for judges to carefully think visitation and how the "other" parent is allowed to see their children so that the custodial parent does not have to go through this! This is any moms worst nightmare!!!"

"If you live in Santa Fe avoid Judge Raymond Z. Ortiz & Hearing Officer Margaret A. Kegel until you have certified proof the two grabbed a tornado to Oz & each received a brain from the Wizard. Ortiz was the presiding judge in the Hilla divorce. How any judge would give an ex con on parole, with a violent criminal history like Hilla's, unsupervised visitation simply boggles the mind. The divorce was granted on 11/02/2009. A hearing is scheduled for child support on 12/16/2009. We can only pray Hilla abducted the children to avoid paying child support & they will be returned to their mother unharmed. This guy's brain is badly warped."

"you don't have to live in new mexico to see the stupid decisions judges make in childrens lives when it concerns divorced parents. here in phoenix a mother asked for permission to take her son and leave her abusive ex husband and the judge said no and ordered family counseling because he wanted the family to work at it together, well you guessed it he came and killed the ex wife and her mother and then himself, leaving the little boy an orphan. this judge was openly critisized in the media for making this decision based on the knowledge he had about the father and his abusive past. me personally the state of new mexico is a joke when it comes to the rights of kids. i am owed about $15,000.00 in back child support and even though i constantly tell the child services where the father is they can never find him. i live in phoenix and they refuse to let me write them directly from here in az, i need to hire a lawyer who will charge me $1600.00 to file a motion to see why this guy has not paid one penny so i truly understand what you are implying about the system there. i truly hope this putz does not hurt them in order to avoid paying child support."

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1305262.shtml?cat=504

Mother pleads for children's safe return

Posted at: 12/10/2009 6:50 PM Updated at: 12/10/2009 6:59 PM
By: Gadi Schwartz, Eyewitness News 4; Charlie Pabst, KOB.com

An Eldorado woman is pleading for her ex-husband to bring her three children home after she says he picked up the kids for lunch earlier this week, and then vanished.

What was supposed to be a 2 hour lunch has turned into a 2 day nightmare for Johanna Hilla, after her ex-convict husband took her three children and has not been seen since.

Johanna Hilla's brother, Ed Fisher, said Thursday, "She is not sleeping, she is not eating - barely drinking water. She woke up this morning and worked the phones."

Johanna Hilla is trying to post as many fliers with her kids' pictures as she can.

Johanna said, "My children need to know that I love them so much and I want them to come home, and we are doing everything we can to bring you back. Everybody here is worried about you, and your friends miss you and are worried about you and love you— and everybody is looking for you."

On Tuesday, Johanna says her ex-husband Stephen Hilla, who is on parole, promised to have 8-year-old Emily and 10-year-old twins Justin and Timmy back after lunch. That never happened. When she called hours later, she says his phone was turned off, so she went by a house he had just moved into in Eldorado and noticed everything—including his two dogs—were missing as well.

Stephen Hilla has been in and out of jail for years. His trouble with the law usually connected to a bad temper and abuse.

"I don't know what he is thinking and what he is doing," Johanna said.

Hilla says her ex-husband told her he wanted to talk to his kids about a job interview in North Carolina.

She also says her son told a teacher last week that his dad was moving.

Johanna said, "Stephen did change houses last week but he said my dad is moving to Mississippi, so I don't know where Mississippi came from."

Stephen Hilla was last seen in Amarillo, Texas, driving a blue 2001 Dodge Ram Extended Cab with a New Mexico license plate of 101-PTD.

Anyone with information is asked to call police.