picture of her boys, refused to let the u.s. state department to take a photo of adam and jason, and for a dozen years denied their father a single image. these undercover pictures blurred to protect their identities will be the first michael shannon has seen of his children since august 22nd, 2001. listen, i want you to do something. nelly s got a computer in front of you. i want you to just open up that computer and i want you to hit play. i see it. and what i m looking at a young man with a black and yellow tie. reporter: does he look familiar? no. are you serious? are you talking about the the man with the tie? reporter: yeah. and then you should see another
but she refused to give us any pictures. in a phone call to a cnn producer she threatened to sue if these pictures we took were broadcast. when asked why she would consider a lawsuit if the photos were not of her sons, she didn t answer. through it all, michael shannon cannot pull himself away. that s definitely not an egyptian boy. that could be adam. what s going through your head right now, seeing these pictures? what? why why why did it take 11 years for one photograph? this is only two miles from the
that was told to the father, as to where the children were going to be in new york, when they would be back. the fact she was visiting was part of the impetus for the father allowing the children to visit, and spend time with the grandmother. and she was actively involved in helping the children travel, to egypt. and it was well planned. it was well planned. reporter: it had to be. michael shannon held the passports for both of his boys in a safe as home. he had legal custody of adam and jason was not allowed to leave maryland without the father s consent. but there was loophole. early in 2001, one parent could simply call the state department and report a child s passport lost. apply for a new one, and it was granted. that is exactly what she done. the egypt air tickets were purchased in new york by a
company, green mail. i finally got a hold of them, and that sunday afternoon i called the baltimore county and ann arundel county police, and i just knew what had happened. look at the one picture she left. see the picture above the bed? they were out of the country before we even knew they were gone. reporter: they had gone straight to new york, straight to jfk, straight to egypt air. and before michael shannon had even realized they were gone, nermeen khalifa, adam and jason, and their grandmother, afaf khalifa were landing in cairo. untouchable. confirmation would finally come at the most unlikely time. oh, yeah. i received a call from adam right after 9/11, and he said, i m not in america anymore. i m not even in new york. because he thought new york was a separate country. he was only 4 years old at the time. he says, when are you and pop-pop coming to get me?
ambassador susan jacobs had no real answers either. in this specific case, michael shannon has not even seen a photograph of his children in 12 years. i mean, and this is true in other of the 22 cases. i m not going to speak about a specific case, but all of these cases are very sad, horrible cases where one of the parents has been deprived of their children for long periods of time. half of the cases are more than 10 years old and the others date from 2012, but those only the cases that we know about. reporter: michael shannon says the last time he spoke with his older son adam was years ago, and it was a bitter phone call. about six years ago, on his birthday, she let me speak to add all. the time he was 10 and jason was 6. and he was, you know, i ll have