SMITHVILLE, Mo. — After three months of aggravation and worry, a Smithville, Mo., father has been reunited with his son.
“I am extremely happy to have him back home. It’s been too long,” said an overjoyed Timothy Olah of Smithville.
For the last three-and-a-half months Olah has been separated from his eight-year-old son, Noah.
“It’s like Ground Hog Day,” Olah said. “I mean, you wake up and he’s not there. You wake up the next day and he’s still not there.”
Olah said on July 12 Noah’s mother, Rebecka Olah, picked up their son during a weekend parental visit. The parents are divorced and have joint custody of the third grader. Olah said hours passed and his ex-wife never brought Noah home.
“It was aggravating. I couldn’t stop worrying about him,” Olah told FOX 4’s Robert Townsend during a telephone interview Tuesday night after he drove to Branson, Mo., to pick up his son.
Tuesday afternoon Olah was ecstatic after he says federal authorities called him and said they, along with Branson police, tracked Noah and his mother to a hotel in Branson. Investigators say Noah’s maternal grandmother was also in the hotel when they found Noah and his mother.
“I don’t know anything other than the U.S. Marshal says he’s going to call me on Wednesday morning to give me all the particulars,” Olah said.
Other relatives were excited to hear the news that Noah had been found and hope their reunion will be an easy one.
“That child had a smile that would light up the world when he was taken away. I just hope that smile is still on his face,” Noah’s cousin, Danielle Wrabec, said.
So far, according to his father, Noah is doing just fine.
“Noah looks great, happy. I’m very glad to see him and he’s pretty happy to see me too,” Olah said, who says now he just wants to spend a “whole lot of time” with his son.
Meantime, Rebecka Olah remains in custody in Taney County, Mo., on a federal warrant.
