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MONTPELIER, VT, June 27, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Lisa Miller, a Christian and an ex-lesbian who fled the United States with her daughter in 2009 before a court could transfer custody to her former lesbian partner, is being hotly pursued by American and foreign police services, as well as the Associated Press.

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Miller is believed to have flown to Nicaragua in late 2009 with the help of Mennonite pastor Timothy Miller (no relation).  Nicaraguan Mennonites have told the AP that they received Miller into their home on at least one occasion, but have declined to give details.

Although her whereabouts are unknown, Nicaraguan police say that “We have clues, but we do not want to reveal them so as not to hinder our investigation,” and added that they can’t say “whether she is or is not in the country,” according to the AP

As LifeSiteNews has reported previously, Miller gave birth to her daughter Isabella, now eight years old, while living in a Vermont civil union with sex partner Janet Jenkins. Isabella was conceived through artificial insemination, and Jenkins never adopted the child.

Miller told LifeSiteNews previously that she left Jenkins after years of abuse in 2003, and took her child with her to Virginia, where she returned to the Christian faith of her childhood, and joined the Baptist church. She repudiated the lesbian lifestyle, and raised Isabella as a Christian.  In order to protect her from the influences of Jenkins, Miller refused to allow contact.

After filing a lawsuit in a Vermont court, Jenkins received parental rights from Judge Richard Cohen, despite the fact that the law of Vermont does not grant parenthood rights to spouses or civil union partners automatically. Cohen ordered frequent, unsupervised visitations with Jenkins.

After her child showed signs of trauma, Miller refused further visits, angering the court. In late 2009, Cohen ordered that custody of Isabella be turned over to Jenkins, while her natural mother would only be allowed visitation.  However, Miller had by that time disappeared with her child.

A Nicaraguan Mennonite who said he had seen Miller and her daughter on one occasion, told the AP that Mennonites and Quakers were helping Miller for the same reason they had helped runaway slaves escape to Canada during the years preceding the American Civil War.

Meanwhile, Mennonite pastor Timothy Miller awaits trial while he is out of jail on a $25,000 bond.  He is accused by the FBI of abetting a “kidnapping,” although at the time Lisa Miller allegedly left the United States, custody had not been transferred.

“To those of us who are observing the situation, the accusation begs a question,” wrote the organizers a group supporting Pastor Miller on their website, TimoMiller.org. “How can a biologically unrelated individual who has not gone through the adoption process even have ‘parental’ rights in the first place? Homosexual marriages are not recognized federally, nor are they recognized by most states. In fact, most states have specific prohibitions banning homosexual marriage, helping to prevent a situation like this from occurring.”