Birmingham Police Had No Reason To Believe Child Was In Danger
By: Stephen Crews
Updated: January 19, 2011
A Birmingham child was kidnapped outside her apartment by her father and taken overseas. Now, the father is in custody and four year old Diana Hofmann is in the care of authorities in Amsterdam.
Birmingham police say there was no need to issue an amber alert because leads immediately started coming and there was no reason to believe Diana was in danger in the hands of her father who resides in Europe. A department spokesperson says it was simply a custody issue.
Tuesday morning, police say Diana was leaving for school with her mother who has primary custody. That's when they say her father, 29 year old Christian Hofmann, showed up at the Cameron at the Summit apartment complex. They say he hugged Diana then ran off into the woods with her.
"It happens from time to time. But it happens locally and parents usually work it out on their own before contacting police," said Sgt. Johnny Williams, a spokesman for the Birmingham Police Department.
Williams says this case was a little uncommon in that Hofmann, who has custody of Diana from time to time, lives in France.
Police aren't sure if that's where he was headed when he was stopped in Amsterdam.
"The issue is he took her period. No matter where you take the child- if you don't have legal custody, you've broken the law," said Williams.
Police say Diana's mother produced custody papers showing she had custody, so Hofmann could face federal charges for kidnapping Diana.
Her mother didn't want to speak with on camera but is happy her daughter will soon be home safe.
