Birth Certificate and Private Investigator Help Reunite Missing 6-year Old With Mother

A happy reunion happened for a 6-year old when he was reunited with his mother after his father was discovered hiding out with the boy in a resort in Mexico after being on the run for the past 18 months. The father, Daniel O'Neal is currently in Miami and awaiting extradiction to Georgia to face charges and flight to avoid prosecution.

The boy's mother and stepmother formed a united front to find the missing 6-year old after the mother was reportedly told by an FBI agent that "it was not a priority for him — that he had other things to deal with." The two women eventually found Jake Schmidt, a private detective from Beverly Hills, California who agreed to take the case for no charge. Gibson, who contacted Georgia's elected representatives for help, credited a call made by an aide to Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss for prodding the FBI to move in on O'Neal in Mexico.

In a phone interview, Schmidt states he takes a few cases of missing children for free each year; "These cases become an annoyance to federal authorities," the private detective stated.

The FBI had the case for 8 months but was treating it as solely a flight to avoid prosecution case as the child was the biological son of O'Neal and even though O'Neal was wanted for the sexual assault of another child, his son was not thought to be in danger from O'Neal.

The private detective followed leads to a Mexican cellphone number, which turned out to be O'Neal's. Going to Cancun, he found the father and son at the Mayan Resorts and asked the FBI to arrange extradition. Schmidt said he left Mexico after the Atlanta FBI agent overseeing the case advised that the legal action would take "up to a year."

In fact, FBI officials went to Cancun and took action after receiving the tip from the private investigator, Jones said. When the agents discovered O'Neal was using a fake birth certificate and claiming to be Mexican, they produced a faxed copy of his U.S. birth certificate, he said. O'Neal then admitted his real identity, making it easy for Mexican authorities to promptly deport him.