IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 821 
Condemning the abduction of Dylan Benwell from the United States and 
calling for his return. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 5, 2004 
Mr. CRANE (for himself, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. DELAY, Mr. HYDE, Mr. 
LAMPSON, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. 
LIPINSKI, Mr. FOLEY, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. SMITH of 
Michigan, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. WELLER, Mr. KIRK, 
Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. DREIER, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. RYAN of 
Wisconsin, and Mr. COSTELLO) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on International Relations 
RESOLUTION 
Condemning the abduction of Dylan Benwell from the United 
States and calling for his return. 
Whereas Dylan Benwell, a 9-year-old lawful permanent resi-
dent with an application pending for United States citi-
zenship, was taken from his home in Winthrop Harbor, 
Illinois, on July 22, 2004, by his maternal grandparents, 
Timothy and Ethel Blake, both of whom are citizens of 
Ireland; 
Whereas Dylan and his mother once lived in Ireland with his 
maternal grandparents;
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Whereas Dylan has legally remained in the sole custody of his 
mother Serena Benwell, and adoptive father, John 
Benwell, after a Virginia juvenile district court ruled on 
December 14, 2001, that Dylan should remain in the 
custody of his mother and stepfather; 
Whereas Dylan and 3 of his siblings have been adopted by 
John Benwell, a United States citizen; 
Whereas Dylan and his 5 brothers and sisters are a part of 
a caring and loving family; 
Whereas Ethel Blake attempted to kidnap Dylan in 1999 
from his kindergarten class in Virginia, and was charged 
with domestic battery upon John Benwell; 
Whereas on July 16, 2001, Dylan told a Virginia social work-
er that he did not want to live in Ireland again with his 
grandparents and that he wished to live in the United 
States with his immediate family; 
Whereas on November 29, 2001, Dylan told a social worker 
with Winthrop Harbor Schools, in Illinois, that he wanted 
to live with his mother, stepfather, and siblings and he 
also expressed worries that his grandparents might try to 
take him away again; 
Whereas on December 6, 2001, after an individual session 
with Dylan, a social worker with the Great Lakes Naval 
Hospital reported to the Virginia juvenile district court 
that Dylan feared his grandparents after the first kid-
napping attempt, after explaining that he did not wish to 
live with his grandparents because he had no friends to 
play with in Ireland, and implying that his grandparents 
spent a large part of their time drinking beer; 
Whereas in recorded telephone conversations in the posses-
sion of the police department of Winthrop Harbor, Illi-
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nois, Dylan told Timothy Blake that he did not want to 
live with the Blakes in Ireland; 
Whereas in 2001, a petition for the return of Dylan from the 
United States to Ireland, filed by Timothy and Ethel 
Blake in accordance with the Hague Convention on the 
Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, signed at 
The Hague on October 25, 1980 (TIAS 11670) (‘‘Hague 
Convention’’), was rejected by a United States court 
which held that the Blakes had no custodial rights to 
Dylan upon relocation of the child’s mother to the United 
States with her American husband; 
Whereas Timothy and Ethel Blake succeeded in kidnapping 
Dylan from his home in Illinois 5 years after the initial 
attempt in Virginia, and have shown little concern for the 
trauma that the abduction of Dylan has caused their 
other grandchildren; 
Whereas warrants for the arrest of Timothy and Ethel Blake 
on charges of aggravated kidnapping, a felony, have been 
issued by the State of Illinois and United States officials 
have filed a Hague Convention petition for custody of 
Dylan on behalf of the Benwell family; 
Whereas the Congress, in 1932, enacted the first Federal kid-
napping statute, in response to the kidnapping and mur-
der of the infant son of Charles Lindbergh; 
Whereas the Congress recognizes the gravity of international 
child abduction and enacted the International Parental 
Kidnapping Crime Act of 1993 (adding section 1204 to 
title 18, United States Code), the Parental Kidnapping 
Prevention Act of 1980 (adding section 1738A to title 
28, United States Code, and section 463 to the Social Se-
curity Act), and substantial reform and reporting require-