Palms Springs Father Reunited With His Children 2 Years After They Were Abducted

PALM SPRINGS (CBSLA) – Following a nationwide search, a Palm Springs man has been reunited with his two children after they were allegedly abducted by his ex-wife just over two years ago.

Bobby Harris had just gained full custody of his children, 9-year-old Malachi and 11-year-old Sariah, in March of 2017, when he says their mother, Angelina Raylene Villa Harris, took them and disappeared, according to KESQ-TV.

"And after months go by, and birthdays and Thanksgiving and Christmases, and we're into the second year, it starts to really break me," Harris told KESQ Monday.

The Riverside County District Sheriff's Department and Riverside County district attorney's office worked to try to locate them. Finally, the children were spotted last week at a zoo in Tacoma, Wash., according to KESQ.

"To be honest, it took me awhile to believe it, we got a lot of calls over the past two years that they thought they spotted our children," Harris said.

Their mother had changed her children's names while they were missing, KESQ reports.

According to inmate records, Angelina Harris was arrested by Tacoma police on April 2 on a count of fugitive from another state and booked into the Pierce County Jail, where she is being held on $50,000 bail. She is awaiting extradition back to California.

Harris was reunited with the children on his birthday and they are now back in Palm Springs.