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At some point, he called me and started telling me everything that was going on. He wanted to leave her, but I don't know that he ever used the words that he was afraid to leave her, but that he didn't know how to live.

I can see that he was afraid to leave her. And so I talked to him and walked him through some tape the passports. Do this Eric, you're strong. You can do these things.

I was walking and talking him through the whole process. He called me. I've gotten the passports. I was proud of him. I put them in a safety deposit.

He gave the passports back to her and that was when she kidnapped him. On April 14, 2016, four-year-old Nicholas Johnson or Nico, as most people call him, was taken from his home in Moreno Valley, California.

But he wasn't just taken from his home. He was taken from his family and the country in which he had been born. To an entirely different nation with a different language, customs and culture.

Nico's story is an uncommon one, with complicated twists of family courts, international law, and diplomacy that often forget the best interests of the child.

Amarissa and from Wondery, this is episode 263 of The Vanished. Nico Johnson's story.

Nico Johnson was born on September 27, 2011. By all accounts, he was a happy baby, whose magnetic smile brought everyone joy.

We spoke with Nico's aunt Colleen for this story. And though she had only met Nico a few times, she vividly remembers her nephew.

Because I do live in Florida, you know, I had only met him a few times. I met him when he was a baby. And then his mother and father came to Florida for a month.

And so my husband is realtor. He helped them find a place like an Airbnb kind of thing. And so I spent some time with them a couple summers ago, while he was more than five summers ago.

So maybe he was a baby. So five summers or so ago. But because I live here, or I live here and they lived in Dallas and in California, I didn't really spend a ton of time with him.

Oh, he was a cute baby. He was a good baby. We bonded when he was here. I remember we went to a Peruvian festival. And so I got to spend, you know, the day with him then. And there was some Peruvian. It was a red Peruvian drink.

And he had a red, you know, mustache all day. You know, I remember that having a good time and just giving him, you know, as an aunt, a great aunt, you can kind of do what you want to do and then pass them back off to mom and dad.

So he was just, he was a good baby. He was a happy baby.

Like Colleen, Nico's dad, Eric has nothing but fond memories of his son's birth and early childhood. We talked with Eric at length for this story. And we asked him to share with us what he remembers about his son's birth and emerging personality.

From the baby just, I mean, really just a little doofball. That's funny because of that little baby. But just really fun. I mean, we would Nico me would constantly just be laughing and stuff like that and doing small little things that really just was fun.

Nico was just four years old when his world and Eric's world would change forever in November of 2014 when Nico was just over three years old his mother Alexandra or Alex took him to Peru on a trip to help out her father.

The trip was planned for several months and Eric was going to go down to visit during the holidays. The trip took an unexpected turn in early 2015 when we talked with Eric. He told us about their trip.

He just told me that, Hey, my dad needs help in Peru for about three months, me being the, you know, supportive husband had, you know, naive had no idea. Like, yeah, definitely, you know, I'm going to miss you, but I understand family is important.

So November 2014, Alex left for Peru with Nico for an agree three months, self-order father. December of 2014, I actually go to Peru for Christmas hang out with them and everything January of 2015, I returned. So then in February, I find out from her sister that Alex wants a divorce from me and I can

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