A federal jury in New York has convicted Virginia hate-merchant Philip Zodhiates for international parental kidnapping.
A federal jury in Buffalo returned the verdict against Philip Zodhiates, of Waynesboro, on Thursday after hearing during a weeklong trial how he had driven Lisa Miller and 7-year-old Isabella Miller-Jenkins from Virginia to the Canadian border in 2009 so they could fly from Toronto to Nicaragua, and had helped with their living arrangements in the Central American nation.
Neither Miller nor Isabella, now 14, have been seen in the United States since.
Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins were in a same-sex civil union in Vermont and, via artificial insemination, Lisa Miller became pregnant and bore Isabella. The relationship between Miller and Jenkins subsequently foundered, Miller became an evangelical Christian, and fled to Lynchburg, Virginia. Courts in both Virginia and Vermont upheld Jenkins’ parental rights.
Then, Miller abruptly disappeared, aided by Zodhiates and a Tennessee pastor named David Miller (no relation); he has been separately tried on kidnapping charges and also found guilty.