RALEIGH, N.C. — A woman who abducted a pair of 17-month-old Apex, N.C., twins has taken them to Canada, the FBI said late Thursday.
Allison Quets, 49, is wanted by federal authorities on criminal charges of international parental kidnapping. The FBI released a statement that said Quets crossed the Canadian border on Saturday with two children.
Quets gave birth to Tyler and Holly Needham but gave them up for adoption approximately a month after they were born, her sister Gail Quets said. Quets, who conceived the children through in-vitro fertilization, become severely ill during her pregnancy and worried about her ability to care for the children.
Denise and Kevin Needham, an Apex couple, adopted the twins after meeting Quets through a mutual friend, Gail Quets said.
Quets was in the midst of appealing the adoption and had been granted visitation rights pending a decision by a Florida court.
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The Needhams last saw their children on Friday when Quets picked them up. The couple said Quets agreed to meet them Sunday at a mall in Durham, N.C., to return the children.
The Needhams contacted Durham police a half-hour after Quets failed to meet them.
An alert about the missing children was not put out until 24 hours later, when the Apex Police Department got involved.
Quets works as a systems engineer with Lockheed Martin in Florida during the week and traveled to Durham on weekends to visit with Tyler and Holly, Gail Quets said.
Police initially thought she might have been headed for Florida or Louisville, Ky., where Quets' mother and sister live.
Gail Quets said she hadn't spoken with her sister but didn't think she would harm the children.
She also said Allison Quets was frustrated with the progress of her appeal.
"It was dragging on and dragging on and dragging on," Gail Quets said. The longer the appeal took, the more her sister feared she wouldn't regain custody, she said.
Adoption matters generally are sealed in Florida. The Needhams have been advised not to talk publicly about the case.
FBI agents did not specify where they think Quets and the two babies crossed the Canadian-U.S. border.
Warrants on the kidnapping charges were issued Wednesday but not publicly disclosed until Thursday evening.
