2-Year Search Ends : Father Lost Much, but Never Hope of Finding His Son

A Van Nuys man said Wednesday he spent $40,000 on private detectives and helicopters, lost his job and went broke trying to find his 4-year-old son who was abducted more than two years ago.

“At one point, I was renting helicopters at $800 a flight to follow up leads,” said Johnny Dean Guerino, 37, who was reunited with his son, Joshua Guerino, Tuesday morning in the Chicago suburb of Lombard.

Authorities said they found the boy through an anonymous tip, received after Joshua’s photograph was shown last week on a television program about missing children, and through a lead uncovered in Texas.

The boy’s mother, Audrey Christine Nelson, 28, and grandmother, Audrey Maxine Nelson, 52, were arrested Monday by Lombard police and held on suspicion of child stealing.

Boy Abducted in 1984

During a press conference Wednesday at the Beverly Hills office of Assemblyman Gray Davis (D-Los Angeles), Joshua sat on his father’s lap while Davis and the father talked about the case.

Guerino and the boy’s mother lived together for several years, but broke up about six months before the abduction in January, 1984, Guerino said. The couple were not married.

Joshua and his father were outside their Van Nuys home when the mother approached in a car, grabbed the boy and sped away, Guerino said.

At a custody hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court a week later, the mother was present as the judge granted custody of the child to the father, Guerino said. The judge allowed the mother to keep Joshua for the weekend, but the boy was never returned, Guerino said.

Ran Out of Search Funds

At first, Guerino was able to finance his search, he said, but after a point, he said, “your funds disappear and it becomes so frustrating and emotionally draining.”

About three months ago, Guerino lost his job as a truck driver for Swaner Hardwood Co. of Burbank after attending a press conference to talk about his missing son, Guerino said.

Jim Gaviglia, general manager of the company, said he understood and agreed with Guerino’s commitment to Joshua. But he was forced to release Guerino because the company needed its truck on the road every day, Gaviglia said.

There were many discouraging moments, Guerino said, but support from parents of other missing children kept him thinking that “I was going to find him again and the black cloud would be gone.”

When Lombard police arrested the mother Monday, she was living under the alias of Mary Lesh, Lombard Police Detective Gary Johnston said.

Guerino’s flight to Chicago, paid for by Davis’ office, arrived about 5:15 a.m. on Tuesday, and he went to the Lombard police station for the reunion with his son.

“When I saw him, my biggest worry was, ‘Would he remember me?’ ” Guerino said.

Joshua was shy at first, but, as they left for the airport, “he was clinging to his dad,” Johnston said.

Guerino said his most important task now will be helping Joshua to adjust as the boy “begins to realize that he was living a lie” for the last two years.

The father said he plans to let the boy’s mother visit Joshua.

“I’m hurt and crushed, but there’s no vindictiveness in my heart,” Guerino said. “I’m fearful of letting her be alone with him but I don’t want to keep her away.”

Guerino, who sold his Corvette, a power boat, two other cars and a motorcycle to finance the search, is looking for employment.