Ripped Apart

Marsha’s brief marriage to Tyler, her high school sweetheart, ends after six months. She leaves Alabama and settles in Atlanta where she meets Eric, a well-known dance instructor and thirteen years her elder. Impressed with his maturity, Marsha marries Eric before learning his true nature. After nine years of physical and emotional abuse, she leaves him. Obsessed with revenge, Eric kidnaps their five-year-old daughter and hides her in Lima, Peru. For seven years, Marsha spends many thousands of dollars challenging the law enforcement and legal systems of two countries, becomes addicted to prescription drugs and suffers a nervous breakdown. During this time, she rekindles a relationship with her handsome first husband. Even though her heart has been ripped apart, Tyler, by means of his irresistible charm and entertaining personality, helps her endure the torment of being separated from her child. Tyler’s untimely death adds to Marsha’s feelings of desperation and aloneness. Ashamed of the means she almost uses to get her daughter out of Peru, Marsha nevertheless overcomes almost impossible odds. Note: Even though thousands of children are "stolen" from their custodial parent each year, the laws are as lax today as they were in 1973 regarding a parent removing a child from the United States.