Neighbors: Arguments could be heard coming from home of teen who went missing
ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Several neighbors, including a woman who lives just two doors down from the family of a teenage girl who went to Mexico with a friend's father, say they heard loud arguments coming from the family's home for months before the teen left the United States with 45-year-old Kevin Esterly.
"We've just been hearing a lot of fighting, the cops had been here a lot," said Kathleen Smith of Allentown. She said the 16-year-old teen, Amy Yu, "was pretty upset a bunch of the time and you could tell something was going on. Something was going to happen sooner or later and it wasn't going to be good."
Smith is happy the nearly two-week search for her young neighbor is over, CBS Philly reports. "I can't imagine what her mom was going through with her being missing," Smith said. "It's crazy."
But Smith said she is unsure how the reunion with her family will go. "I hope they can work things out, so that this does not happen again," Smith said.
The international search for the two ended last week after U.S. Marshals located Yu and Esterly -- a father of four -- in Mexico. They were flown to Miami, Florida, on Saturday night.
As of Monday night, Esterly was in police custody. Authorities had not charged him with kidnapping because they believe Amy went with him willingly. Police charged him with interfering with the custody of a child, which is a felony.
On Monday, Esterly waived extradition to Pennsylvania. He was expected to return to the state sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Esterly's wife, Stacey, has initiated divorce proceedings.
"She's happy that Kevin is incarcerated," said attorney John Waldron, who represents Stacey. "In fact, Kevin has been calling her every day trying to get a hold of her, but she hasn't picked up the phone because she doesn't want anything to do with him."
Sources said the 16-year-old has returned to Allentown, where CBS Philly was told she underwent a mental health evaluation.
A criminal investigation has probed how long the relationship existed between the couple.
A family attorney said warning flags went up about the amount of time Esterly had been spending with the teenager, who was just two years older than his own daughter.
"They had an agreement that Kevin was not going to have any contact with Amy anymore. That lasted less than 24 hours. He couldn't help himself. He had to see her, had to be with her," said Waldron.
