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A visit with no one from the shannon family present. he will join his infant brother jason on the trip to visit a cousin. their older half-brother mike shannon recalls just how nervous his father was. nobody wanted to say it, but the thought always was in the back of your mind, you know, what are they getting at here? why all of the sudden change? but at the end of the day you kind of want to understand that from a grandmother s standpoint she wants to have some time with her grandson. reporter: the shannon family s trust in afaf khalifa was misplaced. thomas fleckenstein, the state s attorney in ann arundel county, maryland says the facts would later reveal adam and jason s grandmother was the co-conspirator of an international kidnapping weeks in the works. she came from her home country of egypt. she came here. she participated in the planning of the removal of the children from maryland. she participated in the story ....
Was the guardian for watching adam for a weekend? and i remember how difficult that situation that decision was. reporter: august, 2001. her mother flew from her home in ki troe boug cairo to visit her daughter and there was something else. she was asking permission to take her two grandsons and her daughter for a rare weekend trip out of state to new york to visit a relative. shannon was suspicious, but reluctantly agreed. i said to my father i said, well, there s no way she can take them to egypt. i have full custody. vie full rights. i have their passports locked in a safe. how could she possibly get them out of the country? reporter: sunday night, the boys weren t back. phone calls to the cousin in new york went unanswered. and it just becomes, let s get in the car and go find out what s going on. ....
It is in all parties best interests that it be done as quickly as possible. at any time do you know if there was some kind of negotiation with the family in egypt to say, okay, we give, we re going to bring these kids back? not that i m aware, no. reporter: a judge heard the case and sentenced afaf khalifa to ten years in prison on multiple counts. a sentence later reduced to three years. a 60-year-old woman, she began serving her time here at the maryland women s prison in jessup, maryland. 14 months passed. then afaf khalifa, the only bargaining chip michael shannon had left to get back his children, disappeared. she was suddenly gone. reporter: deported back to egypt. before the state of maryland, before the prosecuting attorneys, before even michael shannon knew she d been released from prison. ....
If this can be accomplished, the prosecutor wrote, i believe it is in all parties best interests that it be done as quickly as possible. reporter: at any time do you know there was some kind of negotiation with the knapp egypt to say, okay, we give. we re going to bring these kids back? not that i m aware, no. reporter: a judge heard the case and sentenced her to ten years in prison, on multiple counts. a sentence later reduced to three years. a 60-year-old woman, she began serving her time here at the maryland s women s prison in jessup, maryland. 14 months passed, then the only banking chip michael shannon had left to get back his children, disappeared. she was suddenly gone. reporter: deported back to egypt, before the state of maryland, before the prosecuting attorneys, before even michael ....
Parent lose as child, it s when they die, you die with them at that age. and i my wife in the last two years finally cleaned out adam s room. everything was the same as the day he left. but i can t stop picturing them as a 5-year-old and a 1-year-old. reporter: maryland prosecutor thomas fleckenstein says legally speaking, michael shannon has done all he konchts the only criminal prosecution was done by our office. he brought a civil suit for damages that actually ended up being pretty groundbreaking in maryland. he s won every step of wait. he has availed himself of every legal option that s available to him in his 12-year fight to get his children back, and yet notwithstanding having won it every step of the way, he s still with all of that not in a position to compel their return from egypt. reporter: in washington, ....