Mother of Swedish missing child speaks exclusively with EAS
For Maria Elfversson, news that her missing six-year old had been seen safe and well with her father just days before she arrived in Cambodia - and had then disappeared once more -was bittersweet.
The distraught mother of Alicia Elfversson, allegedly abducted by her father, says only a mother can understand the relief she felt when she heard recent news of her daughter during a visit to Sihanoukville this week after nine months of waiting.
But there was more disturbing news, too - the witnesses knew little Alicia as a boy called Al, and said the man she was with who identified himself as her father, Norwegian Torgier Nordbo, had cut her hair short and was dressing her in boy's clothes, possibly in an attempt to disguise her.
Maria, from Gothenburg, Sweden, said during an airport interview on her way home that just hearing from people who had met Alicia and said she appeared healthy was overwhelming.
Because of Maria's visit, Cambodian police have now absolutely confirmed that Alicia was last seen in Sihanoukville, 240 kilometers south-west of the capital, in February, and staff at a local bar as well as residents unhesitatingly identified the child when her mother showed them a photo.
Because of Cambodia's porous borders, it is unclear whether the little girl is still in the country or if her father has taken her back into Thailand or even to Vietnam.
But Maria is disturbed by the reports as well, and fears for her daughter's mental wellbeing. She claims the girl was abducted illegally by her father and says he had made her look like a boy and cut her hair against her wishes for at least a year before he disappeared with her, making her wonder how long he had planned this trip.
"While we were in Sihanoukville a girl aged about 13 skipped up and said 'are you Al's mother?' - is she a girl? I thought she was a boy," Maria says. "That didn't make me happy. That worried me."
The 35-year-old also fears Nordbo has told the little girl, who turned six in January, that her mother has abandoned her and wants nothing more to do with her.
"When I am home I go to her room and even though I know she is gone, I still expect her to be there. Sometimes I sit on her bed, hold her toys and look at her picture and just cry," she says. "The room is exactly the same as the day she left it. I haven't changed a thing."
The day Alicia left was June 4, 2007, according to the official Interpol report. The international police organization has issued a missing child alert for Alicia. Maria has sole custody, but had been accommodating with access visits by her father for the child's sake.
"I never thought he would do anything like this. The day they left, she was only supposed to be going to visit his family in Norway. There was no sign of anything wrong, or different about him, but then he drove straight to the airport.
"I still don't know why he did it. I know he was unhappy that I chose to come home instead of staying in Thailand, but I never restricted his right to see her. I think it's a control thing. I don't know how Alicia will cope with this. It's something no child should be put through."
Nordbo has extensive business interests in Thailand but travels back and forth to his native Norway on a regular basis. Maria and Nordbo were separated for a lengthy period before he allegedly abducted his daughter.
Maria and her sister Anna tracked the father and daughter's flight through a number of destinations including Morocco before finally returning to his starting point in Thailand, and then Cambodia, where he frequented the Angkor Arms pub with Alicia. No one in Sihanoukville had suspected he was anything but a single father on holiday at the time.
When Alicia's January 17 birthday passed with still no sign of her return, Maria decided she could bear no more and must return to Southeast Asia to search for her herself.
She has only praise for the Cambodian police and hopes that between Cambodia and Thailand, someone can track Alicia down.
"Before we came here, we were told the Cambodian police were corrupt and inefficient. They have been anything but that. (Anti-trafficking police chief) General Bith Kimhong immediately met us personally and they were so genuinely concerned. They love children, they really do. They even asked 'if we find her, who would you like her to stay with until you can pick her up'. That's quite amazing. They were wonderful."
And what would she say if she could talk to Alicia's father tomorrow?
"Please, just bring her back … it isn't fair to tear a child apart like this. And tell Alicia I love her."