Abducted child's mother on her way to Auckland to reclaim her

WELLINGTON - Julie Coleman -- the mother of kidnap victim Taylor Hill -- is on her way to New Zealand to reunite with her daughter and take her home, the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper reports.

She told the newspaper it was a day she had believed would come but was afraid to hope for too strongly.

Taylor, 4, hasn't known her real name and doesn't know her little sister, or her mother after being allegedly abducted by her father, Arlen Dean Hill.

He picked up the girl for a two-week visit from her Jefferson County, Missouri home on June 8, 2002, and never returned.

Earlier this week, he was arrested in Auckland and yesterday was indicted by a federal grand jury in Missouri on one felony charge of international parental kidnapping.

Ms Coleman said before boarding the flight to Auckland on Thursday that there were some big adjustments to be made by her daughter.

"I want to think that it will go smoothly, but I'm not expecting her to remember me or to be like I hope to be in a month or two".

"I expect that it will take time for her to adjust because the lifestyle that she's been living is not the lifestyle that she will be living."

For Taylor -- renamed Lena by her father -- it will be a day in which she sees a woman her father had told her was no longer a part of her life. "He told her I was dead," Ms Coleman said.

Since Monday, New Zealand welfare workers have given Taylor information about her past. Bearing family photos and two of Taylor's favourite stuffed bunnies, Ms Coleman will try to trigger Taylor's memories.

Ms Coleman learned there was a break in the case about a month ago.

A man from Illinois, Jeffrey Williams, told authorities he believed he had met Arlen Hill -- from Pinckneyville, Illinois -- in the Philippines. Hill, authorities said, was using the alias Paul Reynolds.

While discussing each other's pasts, the man realised he had played pool with Mr Williams' brother-in-law, Lonnie James.

Because Hill had used an alias, Mr James couldn't pinpoint who he was -- until further discussion revealed that the man had left Pinckneyville for St. Louis and that he helped build golf courses for a living.

Before Taylor was abducted, Hill worked as course superintendent at Fox Run Golf Club in Eureka.

The Williams family contacted Ms Coleman's family, the Perry County Sheriff's Department became involved and Mr Williams paid a visit there to share what he knew.

There, detectives showed Mr Williams a photo of Hill.

"We pulled it up for him," said Sheriff Keith Kellerman, "and he said, 'That's him.' ... It really blew us away."

For the next few weeks, the Sheriff's Department, US Marshals Service and other federal and international authorities worked to track Hill to New Zealand, where he moved last year.

Police arrested him without incident in Auckland about 8am on Tuesday and Taylor was placed with foster parents.

He is being held at Auckland on a charge of having allegedly used a false passport and is expected to be returned to the US within a couple of weeks to face a felony child abduction charge.

Hill is believed to have taken Taylor to Mexico, Spain, Singapore and the Philippines.

Ms Coleman said that for three years, she wondered who was taking care of her daughter, what her interests were, and what she looked like.

She wanted her younger daughter, Lauren, to meet Taylor, and for the baby she is expecting in August to be welcomed home by two big sisters.

On Monday, Coleman got a peek at her missing daughter when authorities emailed her a photo of Taylor.

"She looked healthy," her mother said. "Did she look real happy? I don't know. It's not the smile that I remember. I'm sure she's been through a lot."

Paul Broom, director of Recreational Services, in Auckland, said that the man he knew as Paul Reynolds joined the 165-employee turf management company in November 2004 and was a manager in the golf course construction division.

"He was an exemplary employee and had shown to bear only the highest of standards. He had an excellent range of golf and management skills and he was a credit to the company."

Hill's employment was approved by the New Zealand Immigration Service.

- NZPA