(Part 2 of 4 parts) Reuniting a family

April 06 2003

James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer


After two years of living with no more than memories of his missing children, Don Anderson finally received a taste of all he's prayed for. Yet even the pleasure of hearing his sons' voices came with pain.

On the heels of a Daily Herald report about Anderson's quest for his kidnapped boys, he received two phone calls from the woman who took them. Anderson said his ex-wife Sonia Galindo called from Mexico to tell him she made a mistake in taking Bryan and Sean. She wants to come back to the United States with the boys.

The former students in Lincolnshire-Prairie View District 103 are now 13 and 14 years old. They were 10 and 12 when Galindo kidnapped them.

It's everything Anderson wants and works for, a dream come true. Perhaps too good to be true.

To come back, Galindo, a former Buffalo Grove resident, wants all charges against her dropped. She faces four felony warrants as an FBI fugitive. She also wants her job as a teacher in the Chicago Public School system back. To cap it off, she wants money from Anderson to make the return trip.

"It was a two-sided feeling hearing from her," Anderson said. "There is a consideration that she'll make a deal and we'll get them back. But at the same time, it's psychological warfare going on. I think her dealing is really a scam."

If it is, Anderson and police handling the case said it won't be the first time she's duped those around her.

Galindo didn't have legal or even joint custody of the boys when she abducted them. To even get near them, she filed charges against Anderson, claiming he had abused Sean and Bryan at his Vernon Hills home. Courts dismissed all the charges and police believe those charges were lies Galindo developed with help from at least two people with intimate knowledge of the law and its loopholes.

Police now are building a case against those two individuals and hope to bring charges soon.

As far as Galindo, Buffalo Grove Police Officer John Heidersheidt said the goal is to get her communicating and work out a way to have Sean and Bryan returned to the United States.

Heidersheidt said he wants to make the transition as painless as possible for Galindo and the boys to come back. That's why he'll push for her to stay out of jail if she returns.

"We don't want to create a negative impact on the children," he said. "We want to bring her back to the United States and help her get her life back in order so her children can have a normal life. You can't have that with mom in jail."

The last contact with Galindo was several weeks ago. As of that conversation, police halted investigations against her accomplices in the kidnapping because they believed the goal of bringing her and the boys back was near. Charges against those accomplices would not be necessary if Sonia and the boys returned voluntarily, Heidersheidt said.

Now that Galindo is back in hiding, the march toward prosecuting the accomplices will continue.

"It's incredibly frustrating," Heidersheidt said. "Her outright refusal to talk is certainly not looking very positive in her light.

"These warrants will never go away," he continued. "They will be there when the boys are 18 and can go and do whatever they want. Authorities will catch up to her sooner or later, with or without the boys. If she doesn't turn herself in and law enforcement finds her, there's going to be nothing but a bad outcome for her and a bad impact on those boys."

Police encourage local people with information on Bryan and Sean's whereabouts to come forward with information.

Anderson remains hopeful he'll see Bryan and Sean again.

"The setting they are in is almost like hostages," Anderson said. "Talking to them was great, but it was also horrible. At least they heard my voice and they know that I love them and miss them."

How to help ...
If you have information on the Anderson case contact:
Buffalo Grove police officer John Heidersheidt at (847) 459-2560.