Updated: 10/16/2009 8:33:31 AM
Written by Mitchell Kline, The Tennessean
A sign taped to a window at Chris and Amy Savoie's home Thursday morning asked reporters to contact their press agent.
Now that her husband - who had been held in a Japanese jail after attempting to take his children back to the United States - has been freed, Amy Savoie says the family wants to reclaim their privacy.
The case has received national attention since Sept. 28, when Chris Savoie was arrested in Fukuoka, Japan, while trying to get his two children into the U.S. Consulate there.
With her husband 7,000 miles away locked in a jail cell, Amy Savoie made appearances on CBS' The Early Show, NBC's The Today Show and had spoken to many reporters, providing details of her husband's messy divorce and his attempt to reclaim his children from their Japanese mother.
"Chris and I are not public figures at all," Amy Savoie said in her doorway Thursday morning. "We'd like our privacy back."
Amy Savoie said the couple has hired a press agent to deal with the slew of reporters asking when they'll be reunited, how her husband handled being in jail for more than 16 days and what's happening with his children, ages 9 and 6.
Amy Savoie said she can't discuss where her husband is and when he'll come back to Tennessee. She said she spoke with him after he was released from jail. She said he was "despondent" and "devastated" about his kids.
"It's both a traumatic time and we're very grateful he's been released," Amy Savoie said.
"His children Isaac and Rebecca will grow up without a father. Chris is grieving the loss of his children now. I hope the press sees this and treats him like a grieving father."
Dan Mann, a representative with Ambassador Agency, the group hired to represent the Savoies, said the family was "very, very grateful" but had no further comment on the case.
Chris Savoie, 38, went to Japan to bring his children back to the United States. He was awarded custody by a Williamson County judge after his ex-wife took the kids to her homeland.
Savoie was accused of grabbing the children from their mother, Noriko Savoie, and trying to take them to the U.S. Consulate in Fukuoka. Japanese police stopped him outside the consulate gate. He was never officially charged with a crime but was held in jail for 16 days.
His lawyer in the United States, Jeremy Morley, said Savoie was subjected to non-stop interrogations and "atrocious conditions" in the jail.
"I'm very relieved that he's been released," Morley said. "We didn't know when it would come to an end."
Not under surveillance
According to The Associated Press, the Fukuoka District Prosecutors Office refused to comment on the case, but said a suspect with a pending investigation is released on the condition he or she consents to undergo further questioning.
Police said Savoie is not under surveillance, but it was unclear whether he could leave the country.
Prosecutors said Savoie told them he regretted breaking Japanese law and promised that he would never repeat the mistake, according to Japan's Kyodo News agency.
Savoie also told prosecutors that he planned to resolve the custody dispute with his ex-wife through dialogue, it reported.
Williamson County court records indicate that Savoie is a Japanese citizen and his ex-wife, Noriko, was a legal permanent U.S. resident.
Noriko Savoie has been charged with custodial interference for absconding with the children in August, against a court order. Chris Savoie had warned a Williamson County judge to stop his ex-wife from leaving, asking that her passport, and those of the children, be held by the court.
The ex-wife accused Savoie of having an affair and said she wanted to return to Japan, where the children have lived most of their lives, according to court records. In February, Noriko Savoie wrote an e-mail to Chris Savoie indicating that she was having a difficult time living in the United States. She stated that the children were losing their Japanese identity.
In court records, Noriko Savoie states that "for the most part" her ex-husband was not around her or the children during the past seven years and that he moved to Tennessee without them in January 2008. Noriko Savoie was served with divorce papers days after she and the children came to Tennessee.
Morley said Japanese law does not recognize U.S. custody orders.
"I have many, many cases where clients' kids have been abducted and taken to Japan," Morley said. "Japan does nothing to discourage mothers from doing that and everything to encourage it. Possession is the law there and the children were in (Noriko's) possession. Since the mother has physical possession, there is nothing the court or any Japanese agency will do."
