A mother finds safety in exile

1974-1994

For years, a happy ending to her ordeal seemed beyond imagining. In a 1987 legal battle that made headlines around the world, Washington plastic surgeon Elizabeth Morgan was sent to prison after refusing to allow unsupervised visits between her ex-husband, oral surgeon Eric Foretich, and their daughter Hilary, 5, whom Morgan alleged Foretich had sexually abused. Morgan went free after 25 months, but Hilary remained in hiding with Morgan's parents in New Zealand, and in 1990 Foretich, who has always sworn his innocence, tracked down his daughter and filed for custody.

Today, for Morgan and for 11-year-old Hilary, now called Ellen, those nightmare days are a fading memory. "Ellen is fine--that's the beautiful part," says Morgan, 46, who won sole custody in a New Zealand court. Returning to the U.S. would still mean enforced visits with Foretich, so mother and daughter now share a small house in Christchurch with Morgan's mother, Antonia (who is separated from Elizabeth's father, William). Morgan, who does not allow Ellen to be interviewed, says their new life hasn't always been easy. "Ellen was scared of being angry at me when you lose something, you don't want to lose it again," she says. "The day she got angry, I knew she was feeling normal."

A sixth grader who's "not a tomboy, but not what she calls a Miss Priss either," says Morgan, Ellen enjoys gymnastics and ice skating with her mom, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in trauma psychology. Morgan's husband of four years, Washington judge Paul Michel, can't move to Christchurch but visits twice a year. "It's tough," says Morgan. But she'll take it. "Being back together with Ellen," she says, "is the most wonderful thing in the world."

PHOTOS (BLACK & WHITE): 1988: "I guess I thought a child gets abused and it destroys her life, she's a scarred forever--but it doesn't have to be," says Elizabeth Morgan (in prison, above, and running free near her Christchurch, N.Z., home today).