John D. Moro says fear for his daughter’s safety and a break-down of legal means to protect her are what drove him to abduct her, attempting to save her from an abusive situation.

Moro, from Centrailia, abducted his daughter Demetria at gun point from Giant City School and led authorities on a nation-wide manhunt for two weeks. Moro was arrested by FBI agents in Washington and was returned to Jackson County where he awaits trial. Moro is charged with the aggravated kidnapping of Demetria.

Moro, who spoke to the Daily Egyptian in an interview Monday, said he lost custody of his daughter Demetria after being her primary caretaker for five years. He said his former wife, Kelly E. Kurtz, of Carbondale, was given custody of the child despite evidence he provided against Kurtz’s ability to be a fit mother.

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Moro said during his three years of divorce proceedings, Demetria would come home from visiting Kurtz burned and bruised. He said he took photos of Demetria after her visits and entered them as evidence to the court.

When the legal means broke down, I went crazy, Moro said. Just signing a paper doesn’t make someone a mother.

Kurtz’s divorce attorney, Layman Summers, of Carbondale, said Moro tried to get a number of things put into evidence that never officially got in. He said Moro still refers to these items as evidence even though they were not admitted by the court.

Kurtz said she denies all allegations and accusations Moro has made regarding her abuse of Demetria.

Moro said he appealed the judge’s order to grant custody to Kurtz which only gave Moro supervised visitation. He said his appeal was denied, so he appealed the case again to the Illinois State Supreme Court.

Kurtz said Moro’s visits to Demetria were ordered to be supervised because he was found to be a mental, moral, physical and emotional endangerment to the girl.

Kurtz said the case is still at the Illinois Supreme Court, and she said she does not know yet if the court will hear the case.

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Moro said that he fears for Demetria’s safety. He said all he could think of while waiting for the appeals to go through was how to get Demetria out of an abusive situation.

I feel she is in danger, and it’s a terrible feeling, Moro said. I was desperate.

Moro said he is almost sure he is going to spend some time in jail.

If I had to, I’d spend my whole life in jail to protect her, he said.

Tyann Thacker, a 12-year friend of Moro from Sesser, said she too thinks Kurtz has been abusive to Demetria. Thacker said she also feels that Demetria is in a bad situation with Kurtz and blames the judicial system.

There is no reason they should have taken that child away from John, Thacker said. She is an unfit mother and has no business with that child.

Summers said Moro never made any allegations in court that Kurtz abused Demetria.

The most Moro said in court was that she was negligent, Summers said.

Moro said that when the divorce was first filed, Kurtz said she would give up custody of Demetria if she did not have to pay child support. He said Kurtz signed an agreement stating this.

Kurtz denied signing the agreement and said she had always wanted custody of Demetria. She said custody was all she wanted from the divorce.

Moro said Kurtz only wanted custody of Demetria to get out of paying child support. He said he could not believe he lost custody of Demetria to Kurtz because she never acted like a mother to the child. He said Kurtz moved out of the house when Demetria was about seven weeks old and did not nurture the child. Moro said Kurtz is only a mother by legal standards.

Summers said the judge did not give a specific finding in court as to why Moro was found to be an endangerment to Demetria, but the transcripts from the hearings make it apparent.

The evidence itself speaks, Summers said.

Moro said he has a gut feeling that his experience this time around in the judicial system is not going to be any different than his past experiences, but he said he has never dealt with the Jackson County system.

I’m praying it will be different, Moro said.