she will stop at nothing to get the kids. nothing. she's unof the scariest people i have ever met. tonight -- the "20/20" exclusive. "on the run." two little boys, two different dads and the same beautiful ex-wife. going on vacation. but never coming back. >> you had no idea that you were married to a mystery woman? >> she was very good at disguising who she was. >> a woman for a taste with money and men or fathers who shouldn't be with their boys? the ex-husbands joining forces in the international manhunt. >> you got a internet hit that puts her in this area. >> following the trial from los

angeles, to paris, to geneva. and then the video that shocks everyone. >> that's the first time that you first saw your boys since they went missing. how strange is it to see your son disguise as a little girl halfway around the world. >> that mom always one step ahead. the fathers, breaking down. >> i'm just feeling overwhelm right now. >> "on the run." here now, david muir and elizabeth vargas. tonight, a heart-pounding "20/20" exclusive. two little boys. suddenly gone. abducted by their own mother and her two ex-husbands, the boys' fathers begin an international manhunt to find them. >> tonight, we take you inside that hunt for a fugitive mom like you have never seen before. we're there for the calls, the clues and the shocking video

that disguises and you'll see what happens when we finally track down that mother on the run. >> okay, once upon a time -- >> reporter: this is the story of two beautiful little boys. two brothers. like so many children across america tonight, they are boys who try to push the limits at bedtime. >> this is jerry. >> it's time to go to bed. >> no, it's not. >> yes, it is. it's almost 8:30. >> guess what, no. >> reporter: and there's sasha, laughing here as he jumps on the trampoline. but the laughter from both boys goes silent. they vanish, and what follows is the international hunt to find them. and we're there as this case breaks wide open. but to understand how and why they disappeared in the first place, you have to go back to the hollywood hills where scripts and screenplays are filled with fictional family drama. but right here in los angeles, two different fathers finding themselves in the middle of a real-life horror. for 18 months, both of them

asking where are their sons? those boys? and will the mother who took them, the woman each of them were once married to, ever be found? >> jerry is everything to me. without him, i can't live, i can't breathe. >> reporter: can you hear his voice still? >> oh of course. it's strange because i feel like i'm with him all the time and except he's not here. >> reporter: the last time larry hummel saw his son sasha, he was just 3 years old. >> he always said i want to go on the purple dinosaur. >> he wanted a suit, he wanted to dress up, so we got suits. >> reporter: bob pfeifer last saw his son, jerry had just turned 9. >> no, it tears at the core of everything that one stands for and knows about. >> reporter: this l.a. story actually began 6,000 miles away from california during a visit to prague, when bob pfeifer

meets a stunning young woman who had american dream. her name, maria misejova. >> oh, she was beautiful girl. very tall, athletic, blonde, blue eyes. beautiful girl. >> reporter: an accomplished runner she tells bob she's training to join the olympic team from her native slovakia. and that she's planning for medical school. what did you see in her? >> innocence. i was living in hollywood, a town filled with the disingenuous. and i thought i met an innocent person. >> reporter: and bob, a hollywood insider is attractive to her too. a high-level record executive in the '90s, he then works in the booming video game industry. but something is missing. he is ready for a family, and so is she. so you married in july and she was pregnant within a couple of months. >> yes. >> and was there excitement? >> i thought there was. >> reporter: maria moves to los angeles, but the love story born in prague - begins to sour even

before the baby arrives. >> it starts to fall apart? >> everything i thought she was, was false. >> reporter: in fact, bob has already filed for divorce by the time their son jerry is born. and what would follow is a bruising battle over custody of their little boy, caught in the middle watching it all unfold. >> did they live happily ever after? >> well, they lived, no so happily. >> was it contentious, or -- >> it was contentious, but i was very much involved in my son's life. >> reporter: bob's love life is unraveling and it seems his professional life is too. he finds himself facing charges and pleading to a felony in a high-profile case, the pellicano wiretapping case. and when you look back on it, what, what do you think? >> regret. >> reporter: pfeifer ends up helping the prosecution and later, judges decide his past should not get in the way of custody of his little boy. and as it turned out, beautiful maria has blemishes too. her friends say they see the

wholesome, health-conscious mom. but others see a different side, a woman who enjoys the los angeles nightlife company of wealthy men and there are questions about where she's getting her cash. a judge at one point saying, she showed an appalling lack of credibility. >> there are at least two personalities -- you have the whole foods bio, organic, cotton only, and then you have the party, drugs, alcohol. >> so these were two very different images? >> reporter: they finally settle on sharing custody of jerry. bob is tickled and so is his boy. maria, meanwhile, moves on with her life. meeting a new man. larry hummel, a hollywood voice-over agent, and like bob before him, falls head over heels for the stunning slovakian.

do you remember proposing to her? >> it was on my birthday and i said that, that the most joy that i could for my birthday would be if you would marry me. >> and she said? >> she said yes. >> reporter: she says a lot of other things too. for one, that her name is "maya," no longer going by maria. what did she tell you about her background, her life? >> she said that she was a medical student. she said her mother was a doctor in prague. >> reporter: how much of that was true? >> very little of it. >> but you had no idea that you were married to a mystery woman? >> correct. >> reporter: and just like bob before him, now larry and maria are expecting a baby. and soon another nasty break up too. >> she was very much about material things, and she had to have the best stoller. >> reporter: maria leaves him, and larry is crushed. but you were having a hard time

with the break up? >> oh for sure. it was -- it took a toll on me. >> reporter: he says maria tells him sasha might not even be his son the break up he admits leads to a mental breakdown. larry so heart sick reaches out to an unlikely ally, the first husband, bob, who has heard it all before. >> it was like, having a mentor in the situation. >> and i said, you don't understand, you are at war. >> she made some serious allegations about you. >> mm-hmm. >> she said you were abusive. >> not true. >> controlling. >> not true. >> a drug addict. >> not true. >> and then the custody battle. >> yes. >> reporter: now the sequel the second custody battle to come. maria wants full custody of her youngest son sasha. but larry wants sasha too. and like the first husband, larry, too, questions her mysterious income. the judges hear the allegations from both side and in the end

still determine that both should take care of their son. you had sasha during the week a couple of nights, you had him every other weekend? the proud dad taking this home video of his son on the drum set. but larry has no idea how often he will soon be looking back at this video. the last one he would take of his boy sasha. it is summer 2012, and maria has planned a summer vacation back to her native slovakia with both of her boys. did you know this family visit was coming, this trip back to slovakia? >> yes, she had done it before. >> reporter: but on previous trips, maria had always come back. not this time. flight 9683 landing in los angeles and they are not on it. >> she was not on the plane she said she was gonna be on, and i just remember thinking, this is so surreal. >> reporter: a mother and her two boys gone. when we come back -- "20/20" on the international

hunt for the fugitive mom. the addresses, the fugitive squad launched to find her and the crucial clue from perfect strangers. the video that is about to stun everyone. how she is disguising the boys. when we come back. [ woman ] gorgeous grains at your service. eat right. not less. [ woman ] hi, this looks interesting! what's going on here? would you like to try some hot cereal? [ female announcer ] special k nourish hot cereal. special k? wow! wow! [ female announcer ] made with superfoods... superfoods sound good to me. there's quinoa, barley. i can definitely taste the quinoa. good! i can't believe that's less than 200 calories. [ female announcer ] ...to help you truly shine. this is a way to be good to me. [ female announcer ] nurturing yourself. what will you gain when you lose? mattel started in a garage. disney started in a garage. amazon started in a garage. ♪ the ramones started in a garage. my point?

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we continue with "on the run." here again, david muir. >> reporter: somewhere in europe a mother and her two sons on the run. and we're right there on the trail. "20/20" following the leads. the tips. two fathers are convinced will bring back their boys. maria pfeifer has taken her two sons on a summer vacation to her native slovakia, defying her two ex-husbands and the courts, she does not return. her last e-mail to one of the dads, sent just hours after they were supposed to land back in america, saying "i had to reschedule. the youngest boy was sick. thank you for understanding." >> she went dark on her phones, went dark on e-mail. >> we couldn't locate them or find them. >> reporter: authorities say what maria has done is sadly growing increasingly common. just this week, the state

department revealing that 1,000 children have been taken this way. but, this case is unique, not only because maria has the two boys from two different dads, but she didn't return to her home country to simply resume her old life she simply disappeared, authorities are convinced this is a mother on the run. >> it's tragic enough to take a child away from one of the parents, it's another thing to live a fugitive life with a child. >> reporter: with maria failing to return from that vacation as promised, the los angeles courts now award full custody of the boys to their fathers. and both men get to work. >> the world is too small a place. everyone leaves a footprint. >> reporter: but the weeks quickly turn into months. maria remains one step ahead. changing e-mail addresses. eluding a bounty hunter hired by larry to try to find the boys. it didn't work. >> we didn't know what we were doing, and we just kind of threw a lot of money at it. >> reporter: the other dad, bob, wants far more than a bounty

hunter, he wants the law on his side. his friend stacey dutton helps him. >> he devoted every single waking moment to trying to get his kid back. >> reporter: he spends months pressing for criminal charges. meeting with the los angeles police and the d.a. and he's about to turn to one more place. >> we had no money left, had no leads. so the idea came up to go publicand use social media. >> reporter: he decides to build an army from the very kitchen where he used to make jerry breakfast. facebook. twitter. all of it. to bring jerry home. >> i helped him build the facebook page and build, little "jerry's army." >> we have 12,110 people on it. >> reporter: e-mails begin pouring in. the mother no longer in slovakia, but now hopscotching around europe, she'd left possible traces in prague, in munich. then the muscle behind the movement bob is hoping for, the l.a. d.a. pressing charges against maria. he now knows if he finally gets

a solid tip he has the charges to go after her. >> she's charged now. >> reporter: i mean, this is a big deal. >> that's huge. i prayed for a year. >> reporter: right around then, that maria might be sending e-mails from right here in paris. and that tip came in from one of her own friends in los angeles. and based on that new tip, bob tells us that after all of these months he can still hear his son's voice. he was about to use his own. he heads to paris and without an appointment walks straight into the u.s embassy there demanding a meeting with special agent eugene casey with the fbi. had you ever seen a case like this before, a dad? >> no. >> reporter: who shows up at the paris embassy? >> never. >> reporter: the agent is upfront about the years that often go by when children are stolen, taken overseas. when bob asked you, what are the chances i'm going to get my son back? you had to be honest with him? >> yeah, i told bob she could have told them you're dead. >> reporter: you warned bob that these kids, their names could be different, their appearances could be different? >> yes.

>> reporter: but, despite the odds, agent casey immediately begins chasing the leads from that dad. tips from perfect strangers all over the world and that one clue that she could be e-mailing from paris. so, you alert the fugitive squad to hunt down this maria pfeifer just outside paris? >> that's correct. >> reporter: and they were on their way? >> yes. >> reporter: they find an address. an apartment building with a maria pfeiffer living in it. apartment 129. maria pfeifer. she points us to the next building over, where we find her name on the door. we ask neighbors if they'd ever seen that beautiful young mother and her two blonde boys. do you know her? >> no. >> reporter: everyone telling us what they told investigators. that it was the wrong maria pfeifer. the lead is a bust. now back in california, bob is back online. and what he does next changes everything. concentrating on maria's home country now, slovakia. posting images of maria and the boys everywhere.

>> and literally post it on every facebook page in the target area. >> reporter: reporters in slovakia get word of this and soon start asking the questions bob's been asking for 17 months now. the headlines now everywhere. the blonde maria and her boys missing for more than a year when suddenly the biggest break in the case. the fugitive mother and her boys spotted. look at the video of maria and her sons. she's right there in the orange shorts out in the open at a resort in slovakia. and what's most startling, take a closer look at the boys. both of them now have long hair. the youngest, sasha wearing pigtails. complete strangers sending these clips to bob after hearing about the mother on the run. and that's sasha, to the left? >> that's sasha, in pigtails, disguised as a girl, in the yellow shirt. >> reporter: and jerry is coming around right here, right? >> jerry.

jerry is in the -- with the long hair. >> reporter: how strange is it to see your son disguised as a little girl, halfway around the world? >> it's surreal. >> reporter: and just as special agent casey had predicted to bob before, another clue comes maria has given the boys new names. the sources telling bob that jerry is no longer jerry. now "milos." sasha is now "elie." and to hide her movements, maria is no longer using credit cards. >> she is using a lot of cash. >> reporter: where is this cash coming from? >> that's the million-dollar question. if we could follow the cash, we would have her. >> reporter: bob turns the stunning images over to the fbi. the international dragnet is now tightening. and one more crucial clue is about to emerge. >> i'm waiting right now for the word from law enforcement to get on a plane and go to europe. >> reporter: you hope that call comes? >> i dream of and pray that call comes. >> reporter: when we come back, they get the call and both fathers cannot believe what

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"20/20's" "on the run" continues. >> reporter: it's less than a week before christmas when suddenly two fathers get phone calls in los angeles. >> hello. >> his ex-wife maria is about to be arrested. >> reporter: we're there as larry answers the phone, and what he hears, he cannot believe. his ex-wife, maria is under arrest. >> it's surreal, i mean i don't even believe it's happening. you know? >> reporter: "20/20" following those leads across europe. looking for the fugitive mother. the e-mails. the tips from strangers. and finally that call those fathers had been waiting for. when the first of those calls

came, those dads told to rush to the airport. their destination? right here in geneva, switzerland, one of the richest, most beautiful cities in the world. maria had been spotted in one of the luxury hotels here. in fact, the tip came from a woman halfway around the world, who heard the story of the mother on the run, the woman e-mailing bob from 6,000 miles away, saying maria had been living here in geneva with the children and her mother, even putting the children in a school just over the border in france here and one more familiar clue. the woman saying the boys had been introduced to her as milos and elie. >> i want to make sure i got my passport. >> reporter: larry races to the airport in los angeles. >> geneva via frankfurt. >> reporter: already there bob, who once fell in love with the same woman -- now both of them so close to catching her, all of this moving at lightning speed. the fathers now rushing to get to geneva before maria can post bail and flee with the boys again. there are no promises. just listen to bob on the plane he knows how much is at stake.

>> we're going be really beat up but i got to be strong for jerry and be strong. >> what a day. what a day. pictures for his passport. >> reporter: his attorney there warning him - she tells us there is still plenty that can go wrong. >> that the mother might try to get an order from either the french court or the swiss court to prevent larry from taking the child home to california. >> reporter: her words prophetic. because by the time bob's flight arrives a stunning phone call. >> reporter: we're there as bob learns maria has made bail. she's trying to get to the boys first. the children will now stay in an orphanage and all hopes of those boys returning to america with

their fathers is in jeopardy. >> jerry was free two hours ago and now he's not. >> reporter: bob rushes to talk to his french attorney. who actually saw his son, jerry, before he was whisked away. we listen to her describe what jerry looks like. >> he's very thin and very long hair. >> does he know i'm coming? >> yes, i said to him you were coming and he was surprised. >> reporter: and bob's attorney says it seems maria is still disguising her boys. she says, even the french police at the school were confused. >> the policeman policeman said, i take her under my protection. and i said, no it's a boy. >> so it sucks, it's a major hiccup. i mean, they are not letting anybody see them. >> there's no way a child is happy in an orphanage, in a system like this, and i'm appalled that i wasn't able to protect my son.

>> they must head to court. as christmas day approaches, both fathers with perhaps their one christmas gift, bob and larry learn they can each have one hour with their sons. it will be the first time they have seen them in 18 months. >> he's in such horrible shape. he's bone thin, and the cops thought he was a girl. >> reporter: we're with larry as he heads to a french toy store. armed with a list, but without the language. >> you know how to say puppets in french? puppets? puppets? >> yeah! >> reporter: morning arrives, days have passed since they arrived here in france thinking they were bringing their boys home. instead preparing for that one hour visit. and as we travel with them, larry reveals to us he's still looking over his shoulder. >> good morning. >> i'm terrified that maria's going to find out that we're here and, you know, she will stop at nothing to get the kids, nothing. >> reporter: and bob wonders

what his 10-year-old son jerry has been told about him, if he thought his father would ever come. >> i can't tell you how nervous or anxious i am to see what is up, if he runs in my arms or if he's freaked out and brainwashed. >> reporter: finally, inside those grim walls father's day comes early. we see images of bob and jerry reuniting for the first time. >> he hugged me and he said, i love you and i missed you. and we just held each other. >> reporter: you have been waiting for that moment? >> yes, and he was happy. it was just, like, we had never been apart. >> reporter: while in another room, sasha just 4 years old, barely saying a word. he speaks little english anymore, but larry is determined to break through to his son.

>> i was prepared for the worst, but i could tell he recognized me right away. he knew that i was someone i recognized. >> reporter: it goes by quickly. their hour is up. they return to their hotels, still waiting and still hoping. >> i'm just feeling overwhelmed right now. he walked me hand in hand and hugged me and said, are you coming back? when do you come back? and when do i get out of here with you? that's what he wants. >> reporter: but no one knows what that french judge will decide. as we follow that fugitive mother who was on the run for so long with her boys, we wonder, is she now ready for battle?

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"on the run" continues. once again, david muir. >> reporter: it's now the day after christmas, bob pfeifer and larry hummel have both spent only those few precious moments in the orphanage with the boys they had not seen in 18 months. we're with them as they now prepare to head into a french court to ask a judge for perhaps the greatest christmas gift of all -- that they be allowed to take their sons home. we listen in as bob's lawyer gives him last-minute coaching. >> you're a nice guy. very smart. be yourself. >> reporter: inside the hall of justice where cameras are not allowed, they come face to face for the first time with their ex-wife, maria. but we wanted to hear from maria ourselves, could we find her?

we drive through geneva to the address where it's believed she'd been living with her two boys. we knock, there's no answer. suddenly, a window opens. it's maria's mother. "2020" we came all the way from america to talk to you. that same grandmother who raced to that school, to the boys, before their fathers could get to them. how are you? >> no, not good. i am sad for my grandsons. >> reporter: you are sad for your grandsons? >> yes. >> reporter: she tells us to come back in one hour. but we wait, right across the street, and suddenly maria appears. she has not seen her boys, not spoken with them, since they were sent to that orphanage. but she is now ready to talk to us. do you think about them every moment? >> every second. and even in between. >> reporter: she tells me she's lost without them. >> i love them more than my life, and i'm not scared to fight for them. >> reporter: so, why leave? why take the boys and run?

>> i didn't run. i left on family vacation. i just didn't return. i was getting e-mails from mr. hummel's lawyers, alleging when i come back my custody's going to be taken away. >> reporter: just the latest threat she says from two husbands during ten years of legal battles. she argues she could not afford attorneys anymore. up against two dads and their teams. >> i was not sleeping. i was preparing for court hearing. going through papers with my broken english. while jerry was asking why i am not going to sleep, why am i crying and going through paperworks? i mean, it was so absurd. >> reporter: but we ask why not share custody of both boys. you were sharing custody with jerry? >> yes. >> reporter: were you prepared to share custody of sasha? >> yes. to the extent as it is safe. >> reporter: his safety. she says she had concerns over the youngest boy after sasha returned with minor injuries after visits with his father. she also tells us she had questions about that father's mental health. the judges looked at that, though. the judges knew that about

mr. hummel. >> the judge doesn't know what is going on there. he hears, he sees the e-mails, but he doesn't see all the evidence. he doesn't see what happened. >> reporter: but we ask her is it fair, that the children were being forced to live a life on the run. >> they were not living a gypsy life. they had a very good life here. jerry will sign up for next year to private school that costs $20,000 a year. >> reporter: how could you even afford that? >> i didn't afford it, but i have help. >> reporter: but how are you making a living? how were getting the cash you had? >> the cash? well, i had a fiance who was taking care of us. >> reporter: so you have never made any extra cash? >> never. >> as an escort, as a companion? >> no. >> reporter: and what about the hair? the youngest in that video in pigtails. we saw the video of the boys. sasha had very long hair. his hair was in pigtails. jerry's hair was very long. >> i wanted a little disguise.

>> reporter: and what was your reason? >> my reason was i was afraid for my life and my children's life. >> reporter: she takes us inside her small apartment, arguing the boys were well taken care of during their 18 months away. pointing out their favorite toys. >> this is first jerry's bear. he loves it. that's his favorite. >> reporter: even still? >> even still, so -- >> reporter: and for the first time, maria shows me the videos documenting their year and half much of that time on the run. >> this is jerry's play. >> reporter: she points out her oldest son jerry joining other children on the stage right there on the right. the ordinary family moments. sasha playing with his pizza dough. here, speaking to him in slovak while back home visiting her family. >> he was very funny, very cute. >> reporter: the bus trips through europe. jerry holding the camera as he sings.

♪ happy birthday to you ♪ no happy birthday me >> reporter: a milestone missed back in america. the boys playing with their mother seen here on the trampoline. all while their fathers wondered where they were. if they would ever come home. and for all of the smiles, we also notice something else. a growing boy, jerry, at times appearing disinterested. quiet. absent. they had a different life for a while. >> they had a great life full of fun. >> reporter: but a life without their dads. >> all boys' clothes. >> reporter: inside the apartment, in the bedroom, we notice the boys' clothing folded on the bed. i sense that your sensitive that people thought you were dressing them as girls? >> i'm not. but i'm just packing so i just want to show you because you asked me if he was camouflaged like a girl and he wasn't. >> reporter: she now tells us

she has many regrets. >> i could not in my worst dream, imagine that my children would end up in orphanage, and i am responsible for it. i am responsible fully for marrying who i married. i'm responsible for making my wrong choices. but i want to make it up to the children. i want to make their life the best i can. i hope it's not too late. >> reporter: but will she get that chance to deliver that message? will she see her boys again? because bob's attorney is about to read the judge's decision right from her phone there. why that decision surprises everyone when we come back. [ man #1 ] we're now in the approach phase, everything looking good. ♪ velocity 1,200 feet per second. [ man #2 ] you're looking great to us, eagle. ♪ 2,000 feet. ♪ still looking very good. 1,400 feet. [ male announcer ] a funny thing happens when you shoot for the moon. ahh, that's affirmative. [ male announcer ] you get there. you're a go for landing, over. [ male announcer ] the all new cadillac cts,

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"on the run" continues. once again, david muir. >> reporter: as the sun rises in france, the two fathers wait anxiously for the judge's decision in their hotel rooms. >> i've been holed up in a hotel for 36 hours because, i'm deathly afraid of running into maria. >> reporter: then the decision comes, not with any courtroom fanfare instead in a fax.

we're right there as bob's attorney reads it. >> so the fax just arrived and it says, it's released and the judge said -- move to give -- >> let's go. >> -- the child to mr. pfeiffer. she says the child has to be with the father. >> reporter: an extraordinary moment. the judge making it clear these two boys who've had their mother their entire lives will now go home without her. larry, bob, now rushing to the orphanage to take custody of their sons, to take them back to america. >> jerry say good-bye! >> bye! >> bye! >> you don't want to stay here do you? >> no. i hate the children's home. i mean, like it's the worst, i mean it's not the worst, but like, it's not good. >> who's that, sasha? >> darth vader.

>> darth vader? >> reporter: that night larry and sasha skype with the grandparents waiting back in america. >> sasha, are you upside-down? >> oh, i think he's had a long day. >> reporter: the next morning they're headed to the paris airport, their final leg home. >> jerry wants to get home as soon as possible and just exhausted. >> we got our passports. we're going home. >> reporter: they arrive in los angeles, the fathers exhilarated and exhausted. >> we did it, we did it. >> reporter: one of our producers right there as jerry comes home. >> what does it feel like to be back in the united states? >> um, surprising, um, nice. >> you want to go to sleep? >> maybe. >> yeah, i think so.

>> reporter: jerry walks past those balloons right into his dad's house. inside, the presents from christmas and he checks in with his beloved pet. the bearded dragon named cherry jerry. and outside, who could forget about his prized turtle, speedy. while over at larry's house, 4-year-old sasha's return is more subdued. his father reminds us most of sasha's english is lost. since his mother had been speaking to him in slovak. >> we're home, i'm so happy. >> reporter: larry knows it will take time. the sudden disruption, the experts say, traumatic for a boy who's never been this long without his mother. both of the boys are seeing therapists. it's a lot for a young person to -- >> it's a lot, because, it's a lot for him to process. we actually put a book together that's called sasha's story, per the therapist's advice. and it tells the entire story,

from when me and his mother met, to when we divorced, to the abduction, to being where we are now. >> reporter: now six weeks after their return to america, we're invited to check in on jerry. heard a lot about you. fun to see your friends? >> yeah and yeah. >> reporter: that's good, how's school going? >> um, good. >> reporter: you have to catch up a little? >> i have to catch up a little but everything else is good. which way is the hollywood sign? will you show me? right over here. as we walk the trails above the hollywood hills, jerry, who's been gone so long -- still able to point out all of those landmarks of home. he's rejoined the fifth grade, and eager to show me his drawings. that's pretty cool. how long does it take you to do one of these? >> like two hours. >> really? >> an hour? >> reporter: the math part, the fractions he's learning not so much. >> so you have to make them all

the same -- the denominators all the same? >> yeah, i don't like that. >> reporter: i know it's hard, i told you right? and he is now making up for lost time with his father. >> i think there's things going on, from this experience, that he has to deal with. uh, but yeah, he's very happy. >> reporter: does he miss his mom? >> he hasn't said that. >> reporter: for sasha -- ♪ happy birthday to you >> reporter: a fifth birthday surrounded by his father's family and friends. we pay a return visit to the little boy who is still adjusting. >> hey! >> reporter: how are you? sashas is back in preschool, now learning his english again. >> everyone that has seen him his therapist, his teacher, my family, friends, has said wow, he is doing remarkable for such

a short amount of time. >> reporter: and back on the tv, the same favorite movie that was playing before he left. "the iron giant." and the little giant about to show me his moves. okay, you show me. but you're a dad 24/7 now, i mean you went from one extreme to another. >> i did indeed, yeah, it's a lot, it's an intense experience and you know what i love it. >> reporter: and we notice something else. that right there in the living room above the toys, pictures of his mother. >> his therapist recommended putting photographs of his mom and his brother. >> reporter: does he ask about her? >> he doesn't ask about her that much. what he'll do sometimes is he'll put a toy aside and say this is for mommy. this is for my mom, i say, okay, that's fine. >> reporter: and as those photos sit in sasha's view, his mother maria, thousands of miles away, revealing to us one last daring move. >> we are

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crunch! that's serious heat hitting your tastebuds. what? five wings for $3? that's spice and price. better get yours quick. there's something for everyone to love at mcdonald's. ba da ba ba ba! ♪ once again, david muir. >> reporter: back in geneva, tonight, it is now the mother without her boys, maria, now facing extradition to america on those abduction charges. and perhaps surprisingly, extraditing her should be easy. because she reveals to us she wants to return to america. >> we are just moving and everything is in the boxes. so -- >> reporter: where are you moving to? >> i'm going back to -- the l.a. -- you know? >> reporter: you're going back to l.a.? >> yeah. >> reporter: and how soon? >> i don't know yet. soon. >> reporter: she shows us the unopened christmas presents she's already packing. >> these are sasha's presents. >> reporter: and a sword? >> and a sword. >> reporter: a mother who knows

her son. and for jerry? >> this is jerry's cat, the beast. he probably misses that a lot. >> reporter: but, she is also packing something else. the case she's building to get back at least partial custody of her boys. she reads me some of the letters from parents, teachers who knew the boys when they were here. >> maya was always an extremely attentive, protective, and loving mother. i keep the memory of dynamic, trusting boy, smart and happy i never heard him complain and he obviously adores his mother. >> sasha. >> reporter: so, you will go back and face criminal charges? >> yes, i didn't do any crime. but, i will go inside the u.s. because they are my children. >> reporter: it's been many days now. >> many days. >> reporter: you go to bed at night and you wake up without your children. >> yes. >> reporter: and tell me what that is like. >> i cannot describe it. it's like when you lose your

heart, that's it. >> reporter: can you hear their voices? >> i can hear and feel them and everything but, i'm just trying not to think about it. >> reporter: while in california tonight, larry and bob say they're not taking any chances. they've both been granted restraining orders against maria. both say they're worried she might come back to take the children again. are you always looking over your shoulder? >> yes, i feel threatened, yes. and i'm protective of jerry. >> reporter: authorities will not predict what will happen. but one thing they do acknowledge is the work of both of those fathers. jerry's dad in particular. his work on social media getting the world to listen. and getting that fbi agent in france, eugene casey, to listen too. ultimately, in the end how big of a role did this dad play in finding those two boys? >> i think it was critical. i mean, what he did was absolutely essential to -- to locating her. >> reporter: in fact, tonight, bob is now focused on the

hundreds of other children stolen across borders every year. the parents now fighting to bring their children home. because bob knows what can happen when perfect strangers reach out to help. they brought his boy home. >> you find people around the world who give you hope and strength, and ultimately, help you locate your child. and there's hope.

are you facing a weekend washout? spencer christian with the forecast and our reporters with live team coverage on on the storm.