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His wife whisked the boy away on June 16, 2004. They were supposed to be gone two weeks, little vacation in Brazil. Goldman drove them to the airport, carried their bags, kissed them goodbye. Once in Brazil, the wife called and told him they were never coming home to New Jersey. It has now been five months since she died. For Goldman, the clock is ticking more furiously than ever. Bruna Goldman, known as Bruna Lins e Silva once she remarried in Brazil, died on Aug. 22 after giving birth to a baby girl in Rio de Janeiro. Her Brazilian husband, a prominent lawyer from an influential family, has since done everything in his power to keep David Goldman from seeing his son. Over the past 4 1/2 years, Goldman has been engaged in a battle he could not win. The other side simply refused to play by the rules. Goldman was stuck with the bills, legal fees, trips back and forth to Brazil, a total of about $350,000 so far, he estimates. He is not a rich man. He takes people out fishing for a living. Over the past five months, he has stepped up his campaign. He went on TV, “The Today Show,” “Dr. Phil,” “Greta Van Susteren,” the whole gang. NBC's “Dateline” will soon air an hourlong investigative piece. Goldman spoke with Clifford Sobel, the ambassador to Brazil. He met with Sen. Frank Lautenberg. His supporters held a rally at the Brazilian consulate. In October, in the heat of the presidential campaign, one of Goldman's friends wrote to Sen. Barack Obama. Based on what his staff had learned, Obama wrote back, “The United States is working . . . to purse Sean's return under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.” “You may rest assured that I will keep your concerns in mind,” he added. “As a father of two young children, my heart goes out to the Goldman family.” As the story is told and retold, the Goldman family has come to sound more like a distant concept than an actual entity. You have the father in New Jersey, a shattered man, and you have the son in Rio, an 8-year-old kid whose early childhood memories must be fading fast at this point. But there is a Goldman family. Ellie and Barry Goldman, Sean's grandparents, live in Wayside. Leslie Goldman, David's sister, lives in South Orange with her husband and two children. They are directly affected by this terrible story. Phyllis Goldman, who died two years ago, was Sean's great-grandmother. She lived in Long Branch. She, too, was affected. She spent the last two years of her life worrying, wondering if Sean would ever come home. “It really hit me hard when my mother died and Sean wasn't there,” says Barry Goldman. “Who knows how long I'll be around? I'm 75 years old.” Tears come to his eyes. He is not normally an emotional man. He was a charter boat captain until he sort of retired in 2003. He still takes people out fishing every now and then. His wife, Ellie, works at Fort Monmouth. She has been there for 25 years. She retired once, as well. They don't want to discuss money, though. David will tell you that “everybody has chipped in, my parents, my grandma, everybody.” Barry Goldman doesn't agonize over money. He misses his grandson. “Sean was a neat little kid,” he says. “He was the same age David was when I first started taking him fishing. Then all of a sudden, it ended.” Ellie remembers the times she would drive over to pick up her grandson. He'd be sitting on the front steps, waiting for her, a big smile on his face. “I just wanted to hug and kiss him,” she says. “Little boys don't like that, though. So when I'd put him in the car and strap him in, I'd tell him 'Now I can hug you and kiss you all I want, because you're trapped.'” And he would laugh and giggle and squirm, the way little boys do. “This has robbed my parents of so much,” says Leslie Goldman. “Not only have they lost their grandson, they've essentially lost their son to this as well, because he's not the same man he was. “My brother lost the love of his life and what he thought was the perfect family. The first two years, David couldn't be around my children. It was too difficult for him. They would always ask about Sean and Aunt Bruna.” “It was a hard conversation to have,” she says. “You never think you're going to have to have that conversation with your kids.” No one ever thinks anything like this could ever happen, not to them. Ellie and Barry Goldman had brunch with Bruna and her parents at the Turning Point in Little Silver on the day they left in 2004. David and Sean joined them there, after the new swing set was delivered to the house. Over brunch, Bruna talked about a Brazilian girlfriend who once lived here. She got her U.S. citizenship. Then she got a divorce, went back to Brazil and married a doctor. “She said it as if that was a neat thing she did,” Barry recalls now. Then she said, “You must think I'm some kind of witch.' She had something on her mind. She had a strange look on her face.” Still, he didn't think much of it at the time. Who would? This was a happy family having brunch at their favorite spot. When they were done, they hugged and kissed, and David drove his wife, his son and his in-laws to the airport. Four and a half years later, it is not such a fond memory.
Copyright © 2009 Asbury Park Press - Reprinted with permission |
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t has now been 4 1/2 years since David Goldman last saw his son, Sean.| · Home | · David's Story | · Media & Documents | · Donations | · Blog | · Forums | · How To Help | · Contact Us | · Support |
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