EVA MARIE FIEDLER - 6 yo (1984) - Somerville NJ

Deputies arrested an Incline Village woman after she said she was wanted for the 1984 abduction her 6-year-old daughter, who she did not have custody of, according to the Washoe County Sheriff's Office.

Nancy Fiedler Dunsavage, 57, was arrested Tuesday at her Incline Village home. She is being held at the Washoe County Detention Facility on the no-bail warrant pending extradition to New Jersey, according to WCSO.

Authorities believe Dunsavage abducted her daughter, Eva Marie Fiedler, then 6 years old, in August 1984 in Somerville, N.J., during a court recess.

On Aug. 23, 1984, police believe Nancy Fiedler fled from the Somerset County Courthouse with her daughter, Eva Marie Fiedler, then 6 years old, during a child custody hearing in which the father had full custody of the child.

On June 28,1985, Nancy Fiedler failed to appear for an arraignment on an indictment charging her with interference with custody, said Somerset Prosecutor A. Peter DeMarco, Jr. She has been a fugitive since.

Throughout the years, Somerset detectives followed dozens of leads both domestic and international in an attempt to locate Nancy Fiedler and her daughter. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children helped the investigation.

WCSO deputies contacted the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office Tuesday because an Eva Marie Fiedler, now 31, tried to change her name to “Melissa Reed” for a marriage license in Washoe County.

A background check showed that the National Crime Information Center listed Eva Marie Fiedler as missing.

Somerset detectives requested the help of the Washoe County Sheriff's Office to find Nancy Fiedler Dunsavage at the Incline home provided by Eva Marie Fiedler.

WCSO deputies contacted Nancy Fiedler Dunsavage at 8:16 p.m. Tuesday, at her Incline residence. Nancy Fiedler Dunsavage first identified herself as Debbie Reed. Deputies noted that Debbie Reed matched the description in the crime information center warrant.

Nancy Fiedler Dunsavage was taken into custody and subsequently said she was Nancy Fiedler. She was charged with being a fugitive from justice.

Throughout the years, Nancy Fiedler was able to remain undetected by changing her and her daughter's identities, detectives said.

The following agencies assisted in the investigation: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; New Hampshire State Police Troop “C”; Washoe County Sheriff's Office Operation Bureau Patrol Division; Middle Atlantic Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network; and the Doe Network.

Nancy Dunsavage said little at her arraignment at the Washoe County Jail this morning, but court documents she filed earlier this week told of an abusive marriage, a bitter custody battle and a flight to avoid threats of violence. The documents that set in motion a chain of events that put her behind bars were applications for name changes, a move she believed would allow her daughter to marry. Their life in hiding, she said, became necessary because she feared her ex-husband Greg Fiedler. During their marriage in New Jersey she said she lived fear day to day. There were threats of violence that at least twice turned to physical violence. "(He) held a knife to my throat and threatened to kill me. Another time he squeezed my throat, choking me and leaving bruises….” She said he had a number of guns and told her it would take only seconds to load one and blow her away. "Time after time he threatened me that if (we) planned to leave he would ‘hunt us down’ and ‘end it all for both of us.’” Nevertheless she said, in the end that's what she decided to do to remove her daughter form a life of threats and fear. Divorced in 1983, the pair was locked in a legal battle over custody and visitation rights by the next year. During a recess in a custody hearing, she fled to relatives in California and then to Incline Village where she and her daughter adopted new identities becoming Debbie and Melissa Reed. It was a secret she kept, even from her daughter until a few days ago. It was her daughter's upcoming marriage, she said, that finally gave her the courage to reveal her real identity. Knowing she couldn't get a marriage license under an assumed name, she decided both would file to legally changing their names to those they had been known by for the past 26 years. Those applications are usually routine, but the details in their story, prompted Judge Janet Berry to check and she quickly learned Eva Marie Fiedler was listed as a missing and endangered child. That discovery led to Dunsavage's arrest later that evening. She has declined requests for interviews and a family attorney has asked for privacy, but Dunsavage's daughter, in her own name change application pledges support for her mother. "I have virtually no memory of my father," she said. "My mother has cared for me throughout my life and has provided a good home for me. I know my mother has a real fear of my father finding us and hurting her or me." Friday, Nancy Dunsavage, AKA Debbie Reed, waived extradition. New Jersey authorities say they will come to Nevada to return her next week. Sunday, was the day Eva Marie Fiedler had planned to marry. That won't happen. Without a legal I.D. with her legal name, she was unable to get a marriage license. A "commitment" ceremony is planned instead.

The former New Jersey woman who fled the state 26 years ago to avoid turning her 6-year-old child over to her ex-husband pleaded not guilty today to interference with custody, and a judge set her bail at $2,500. Nancy Dunsavage, 58, who has been living under the name Debbie Reed, appeared before state Superior Court Jude John Pursel in Somerville for an arraignment on the decades-old indictment. Defense attorney James Wronko argued for his client to be released on the normal bail for a fourth-degree offense, a range of between $1,000 and $2,500. Somerset County Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Van Hise argued for 10 times more, a bail of $25,000.“This is a case that’s 26 years old because the defendant has shown her utter and complete disregard for compliance with the law,” Van Hise said. The prosecution has said the former Somerville woman was supposed to appear for a custody hearing on Aug. 23, 1984. Instead, she left and ultimately settled in the tiny community of Incline Village, Nev. On June 20, 1985, the prosecutor’s office secured an indictment for the offense and she has been a fugitive since June 28, 1985, when she failed to appear for an arraignment in that case.
During the arraignment, Wronko said there is no history of a case with a bail as high as $25,000. This is not an instance of a defendant being charged with a crime and deciding to run, he said. Pursel dismissed that theory. “She knew what was going on. She left the state of New Jersey and did not return,” he said, refusing to let Wronko detail the specifics of the case today. Dunsavage has told authorities that she left because she was afraid of her ex-husband, Gregory Fiedler, a man she married in 1980 and divorced three years later after enduring abuse that Fiedler has denied. She took her 6-year-old daughter, Eva Marie Fiedler, and raised the child as Melissa Reed. The young woman is now 32 and recently married John Olszewski, 40.Wronko has said his client didn’t know the law was looking for her. If she had, Dunsavage never would have asked an attorney to file a name change on behalf of both women on the eve of her daughter’s wedding.Nevada attorney John Rogers has said the woman he always knew as Debbie Reed came to him on Sept. 29. She wanted her daughter to get a marriage license, but feared using their real names. She worried that her ex-husband would find them. Rogers said he tried to have the file sealed for confidentiality, but the judge refused.
The attorney filed the papers on Oct. 5, and authorities from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office discovered that Eva Marie Fiedler — Reed — had been listed as missing since 1984, and Nancy Dunsavage Fiedler was wanted on an outstanding warrant. Dunsavage was arrested, waived extradition and detectives from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office brought her back to New Jersey Wednesday. She has been held at the Somerset County Jail since then.