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On Sunday June 8, 2003, 5-year old Isabelle was not returned by her father after visiting with him, while her mother has full custody. It soon appeared that the father had abducted the little girl and had disappeared. Because they had possibly gone to Belgium, assistance was asked from the Missing Persons Unit of the Belgian Federal Police. Thanks to their immediate response it soon became clear that Isabelle and her father were indeed in Belgium. On June 17 the father was arrested at the request of Dutch authorities and Isabelle could be reunited with her mother.

PR Newswire Wednesday, March 27, 2002 10:37:00 AM

Missing Pennsylvania Children Recovered in Europe as a Result of ADVO's 'Have You Seen Me?'(R) Missing Child Card

Latest Recoveries Represent Children Found Farthest From Their Home In Program's History

WINDSOR, Conn.,  ADVO, Inc. announced today that an anonymous lead resulting from the nationwide distribution of its "Have You Seen Me?"(R) direct mail cards led to the recovery of two missing Bushkill, Pennsylvania siblings, Berenger and Emilie Grecula, ages 10 and 3 respectively. The cards were distributed in December 2001 to 77 million households nationwide and featured pictures of Berenger and his father, Ronald Grecula, the alleged abductor.

The Grecula recoveries -- the 115th and 116th for the program -- represent the children found farthest from home in the almost 17-year history of the ADVO effort. Berenger and Emilie returned to the U.S. with their mother, Monique Grecula, on March 1. The children were allegedly abducted by their father Ronald during a Thanksgiving vacation in November 2000. When he did not return with the children, Monique alerted law enforcement officials who searched Ronald's apartment and found letters indicating he had been considering moving to Estonia, Costa Rica and Malta.

In December 2001, a Maltese private investigator hired by Monique spotted Ronald on a public bus in Malta. However, the private investigator later lost Ronald in a crowd and was unable to relocate him. In January 2002, the ADVO card reached the home of an individual who knew of the Greculas' whereabouts but had been unaware that the children were abducted. After receiving an anonymous lead from this individual, FBI officials were able to work with the Maltese government to locate and arrest Ronald. He is currently in Malta awaiting trial prior to extradition.

"I am so happy to have my children back and to be able to watch them grow up," said Monique Grecula. "This sounds almost strange, but throughout the abduction, the ADVO cards provided me with a sense of normalcy. I felt so alone in the world and the cards helped remind me that there are other people out there going through the same thing. I have friends throughout the United States that get these cards and look at them, so it made me feel good to know that other people were looking for my children, too."

"Every recovery is due to the efforts of many individuals, often including local, national and international law enforcement officials, National Center caseworkers, private investigators, lawyers and conscientious individuals who actively look at pictures of missing children in their mailboxes each week," said Vince Giuliano, ADVO's Senior Vice President of Government Relations. "Through the joint efforts of all these individuals working together, we can tackle the most challenging cases, including international abductions, and bring hope to searching families." 

ADVO launched the America's Looking For Its Missing Children(R) program in 1985. Since then, ADVO has coordinated with the NCMEC to distribute over 40 billion pictures of missing children on its direct mail cards. ADVO is the nation's largest full-service targeted direct mail marketing services company with annual revenues of over $1.1 billion. The Company's shared mail advertising programs are distributed nationally to over 100 million households. ADVO has 22 mail processing facilities and 60 sales offices nationwide. ADVO's corporate headquarters are located at One Univac Lane, Windsor, Connecticut 06095. The Company and information on its efforts in helping find missing children can be found at its Web site.