Mother reunited with son 31 years after his abduction in Toronto, tells others to never give up hope

Image Courtesy: Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press

TORONTO: A Toronto-based woman was recently reunited with son nearly 31 years after he was abducted in 1987.

While trying to overcome her emotion, Lyneth Mann-Lewis urged others to never give up hope of finding their missing loved ones.

The woman was told by the authorities last week that they have found her missing son in Connecticut.

Jermaine Mann, now 33, was a toddler when he was abducted in 1987 in Toronto.

“I grabbed him, and I squeezed his head and wanted to feel if he was real. I touched him and said, ‘Oh my God, my baby,'' the woman said while addressing a news conference.

Her son responded by saying, “Mommy you have my eyes.''

He then kissed his mom and hugged her in utter disbelief that they have finally met after 31 long years.

During the news conference, the woman also recalled the hardships she faced over the past 31 years but said that she never gave up the search for her missing son.

“The words ‘your son is alive, we found him,’ that is breathtaking,” she said, adding my “constant worry is finally over.”

“I want to encourage other families with missing children and loved ones not to ever, ever give up in finding them. I am the proof that after 31 long years of suffering one should never give up,” she was quoted as saying by CBC News.

“Be patient, be strong, and believe that all things are possible,” she added.

Boy's father Allan Mann Jr was recently arrested in Vernon, Connecticut, and accused of abducting his then-21-month-old son during a court-ordered visitation in Toronto on June 24, 1987.

Authorities said he had then entered the US - where he had relatives - and obtained fake identification for himself and his son, including bogus Texas birth certificates.

He was arrested after the authorities received a tip from a relative that he might be living in Connecticut in disguise.

The 66-year-old Mann was produced in a federal court in Hartford on charges of making false statements in transactions with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Allan Mann is expected to be extradited to face an abduction charge in Canada.