it is in all parties best interests that it be done as quickly as possible. at any time do you know if there was some kind of negotiation with the family in egypt to say, okay, we give, we re going to bring these kids back? not that i m aware, no. reporter: a judge heard the case and sentenced afaf khalifa to ten years in prison on multiple counts. a sentence later reduced to three years. a 60-year-old woman, she began serving her time here at the maryland women s prison in jessup, maryland. 14 months passed. then afaf khalifa, the only bargaining chip michael shannon had left to get back his children, disappeared. she was suddenly gone. reporter: deported back to egypt. before the state of maryland, before the prosecuting attorneys, before even michael shannon knew she d been released from prison.
their dad? well, certainly the charge and the arrest is to prosecute her for her own criminal acts. certainly, if the ability to get the children back and reunite them with their father resulted from that, that would certainly have been a goal as well. reporter: it took nine more months for the case to be heard here, in this colonial-era courthouse in annapolis, maryland. prosecutors even offered in writing to drop the charges in exchange for return of the children. if this can be accomplished, the prosecutor wrote, i believe it is in all parties best interests that it be done as quickly as possible. at any time do you know if there was some kind of negotiation with the family in egypt to say, okay, we give, we re going to bring these kids back? not that i m aware, no. reporter: a judge heard the case and sentenced afaf khalifa to ten years in prison on multiple counts.
negotiation with the family in egypt to say, okay, we give, we re going to bring these kids back? not that i m aware, no. reporter: a judge heard the case and sentenced afaf khalifa to ten years in prison on multiple counts. a sentence later reduced to three years. a 60-year-old woman, she began serving her time here at the maryland women s prison in jessup, maryland. 14 months passed. then afaf khalifa, the only bargaining chip michael shannon had left to get back his children, disappeared. she was suddenly gone. reporter: deported back to egypt. before the state of maryland, before the prosecuting attorneys, before even michael shannon knew she d been released from prison. were you notified? no. no. the office was not notified that she d been paroled, nor that there would be any action taken
he said, i don t know, i think it s like around 6:00 or 7:00 at night in california. and i said, well, they re online right now. why would they be online at 3:00 a.m. in the morning? reporter: they weren t. nermeen s mother, afaf khalifa, and nermeen s father were in fact at the family-owned condominium north of san diego. they had flown there not knowing that afaf was the subject of an international arrest warrant for her part in aiding and abetting the kidnapping of adam and jason. we thought it was too good to be true. we didn t really think too much of it. but hey, what the heck? let s just go ahead and call out there. and sure enough, someone picked up the phone at their home in california. i called the fbi. i said, they re in san diego at their house. i called the number. impossible. she s red-flagged. she can t get through customs. she can t get through i.n.s. i finally had the maryland state police call out there and say they were with pacific bell and electric company an
back? not that i m aware, no. reporter: a judge heard the case and sentenced afaf khalifa to ten years in prison on multiple counts. a sentence later reduced to three years. a 60-year-old woman, she began serving her time here at the maryland women s prison in jessup, maryland. 14 months passed. then afaf khalifa, the only bargaining chip michael shannon had left to get back his children, disappeared. she was suddenly gone. reporter: deported back to egypt. before the state of maryland, before the prosecuting attorneys, before even michael shannon knew she d been released from prison. were you notified? no. no. the office was not notified that she d been paroled, nor that there would be any action taken by immigration officials. at the time. reporter: if you re wondering how that could have happened,