Kidnapper Kory Wright found via Columbia Ultimate website

The last thing I ever expected to see displayed on my monitor was probably this:

A photograph of Kory Wright, one of the core group of kidnappers who caused my four children to disappear from their homes in Aloha and Hillsboro in Washington County on February 12, 1996.

My children had a home in Hillsboro with their mother and her third husband, and a home a bike ride away in Aloha, with me and my mother, Olive Cruz.

I was my mother’s sole caregiver at the time. She was frail, elderly and had been housebound for years.

But that was another life, other lives, in a faraway place and time.

My mother passed away four years later without seeing or hearing from her grandchildren again.


Back to the present:

A hunch, expand the search from Utah, Google….

And there it was….the face of the Devil himself, aka Beelzebub, Old Stinky, Diabolus….

Thank you, Google, and a hunch….

I never thought Kory Wright would ever want to leave Utah, much less move to the Kidnap Zone, where the crime began.

Some people think, apparently, that once the statute of limitations runs and no criminal prosecution is possible, the crime is forgotten.

But kidnappings stretch out into infinity, take my word for it….

Kory Wright arranged for the housing in Utah used to conceal my children, executing a plan that had been in the making for some months, and later committed perjury in the misdirection campaign the abduction team ran to shield themselves from criminal prosecution.

One crime begets another…and another…

This plan also required the assistance of two of Kory Wright’s associates, whose part in the crime was to help get the kids out of school and on the road: David Holiday and Evelyn Taylor, both of Washington County.

Those who were living anywhere in the Pacific Northwest on February 12, 1996 will recall that day as one of the worst ever, with roads closed and more than 500 mudslides active in the Portland area alone.

On that day, these people had had my children out of school for ten days already, bouncing them from place to place.

My last contact with my children was by phone the evening before.

I asked my son if he knew if they would be going to school in the morning and where.

He said he didn’t know.

They vanished into the storm that next morning, the storm now commemorated in Portland with the “Worst Day of the Year” bicycling event.

Three weeks later, I still had no information about my children.

But Kory Wright and his associates knew exactly where they were.

Months went by. My children’s former schools in the Hillsboro School District received no requests for records from anywhere.

Later, I received a copy of Kory Wright’s sworn affidavit, dated March 2, 1996, (written at a time when I had no information about my children's whereabouts or condition) which states in part:

“I, Kory Wright declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the State of Utah that the following statements are true and correct….

“In the short period they have lived here the children have increased their circle of friends, been involved in numerous activities and made a home for themselves. The schools they children attend are among the best in the state of Utah…. Clearly, the move here has been a tremendous benefit to both Gina and her children.

“If Shaun (sic) is truly seeking that which is best for his children, then let them live where they are the happiest. The economic boom in Utah would afford Shaun (sic) ample opportunity to provide for him as well as his support obligations. Since he currently has no employment restrictions keeping him in the Northwest, a relocation would not be difficult for him.”

That last paragraph has always had me wondering. I was fired from my job at Vic Alfonso Cadillac two weeks after my children disappeared, a week before Kory Wright wrote this statement.

….And at that moment, 800 miles away, in the mountains east of Ogden, Kory Wright contemplates my employment opportunities in Utah, extends an invitation to relocate via the Clark County Courthouse.

He offered no indication of what the group of kidnappers thought I should do with my invalid mother, other than to swear under oath that "...a relocation would not be difficult for him."

My employer was very explicit about the reason for terminating me: I didn’t have my mind on my job.

No doubt about that point; no argument at all. My mind was on nothing but my missing children and how to care for my mother. My job was definitely not in the top two.

I had told my supervisor, Gil Fuchs, about the disappearance of my children the day it happened.

He said, “Are they with their mother?

I said, “I don’t know. She’s missing, too.”

He told me not to worry about it, that they would be fine.

As a parent, you know with absolute certainty that your children are not “fine.”

You try to get through the grief, the shock, the unbearable pain….

Ten days later, Gil walked into my office and said, “You’re out of here.”

That was it. Someone came over to watch me clean out my desk, make sure I didn’t pocket a stapler on my way to the bus line.

Meanwhile, all of my children’s mail was secretly being forwarded to Evelyn Taylor in Washington County, mere blocks away from the abduction site, instead of wherever they were holding my children.

They tried to think of everything. Months of planning, secret meetings, budgeting, lying, coercing….

In legal terms: taking, enticing, keeping....

Here’s what Oregon law has to say about kidnapping, as should have been applied to every participant in the series of crimes:


163.245 Custodial interference in the second degree. (1) A person commits the crime of custodial interference in the second degree if, knowing or having reason to know that the person has no legal right to do so, the person takes, entices or keeps another person from the other person’s lawful custodian or in violation of a valid joint custody order with intent to hold the other person permanently or for a protracted period.

(2) Expenses incurred by a lawful custodial parent or a parent enforcing a valid joint custody order in locating and regaining physical custody of the person taken, enticed or kept in violation of this section are “economic damages” for purposes of restitution under ORS 137.103 to 137.109.

(3) Custodial interference in the second degree is a Class C felony.

163.257 Custodial interference in the first degree. (1) A person commits the crime of custodial interference in the first degree if the person violates ORS 163.245 and:

(a) Causes the person taken, enticed or kept from the lawful custodian or in violation of a valid joint custody order to be removed from the state; or

(b) Exposes that person to a substantial risk of illness or physical injury.

(2) Expenses incurred by a lawful custodial parent or a parent enforcing a valid joint custody order in locating and regaining physical custody of the person taken, enticed or kept in violation of this section are “economic damages” for purposes of restitution under ORS 137.103 to 137.109.

(3) Custodial interference in the first degree is a Class B felony.


It boils down to this:

[] Take, entice or keep a child in violation of a valid joint custody order: Class “C” felony.

[] Take the child out of the state of Oregon OR expose that child to a substantial risk of illness of physical injury: Class “B” felony.

Guilty on both counts, guilty as Sin itself. All of them, Kory Wright, Evelyn Taylor, David Holiday....

But no law enforcement agency could be motivated to investigate the Cruz abduction, and while these criminals drained the innocence and childhood out of my four children to the last drop, the statutes of limitations expired on the crimes.


To this day, I have no information as to how long Kory Wright and his associates kept my children out of school or the route they took in removing my children from the state.

I do know that my children never recovered academically from the abduction, that they were denied access to competent health care while they were on the run in Utah, and I learned earlier this year (2007) that both of my sons dropped out of high school five years after arriving in Utah.

Kory Wright identifies himself in the affidavit as functioning in the capacity of a counselor or mediator, using both words to suggest to the Court some form of professional capacity or relationship.

But according to the Columbia Ultimate website, the company’s mainstay is “collecting money.”

And it looks to me that Kory Wright’s job at the time the abduction of the Cruz children began had more to do with scraping chewing gum from the undersides of movie theater seats in a highly economical and successful fashion than anything remotely resembling counseling or mediation.

But you be the judge. Here’s the link:


http://www.columbiaultimate.com/about/press/112106.aspx


More on this later.

Count on it.