Bellingham woman sentenced for kidnapping son, fleeing to Panama with false passport
Sep 1, 2026, 9:48 AM | Updated: 10:02 am
The U.S. Department of Justice Building. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images)
(Photo: Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images)
A 32-year-old Bellingham woman was sentenced to 10 months in prison Monday for a scheme to kidnap her 4-year-old son and travel to Panama.
Talisa Manuella Munoz made a false statement on a passport application as part of the scheme and failed to return the boy to his father as required by the final parenting plan, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
Munoz secretly flew to Panama after using the false document to get the child a passport. She was ultimately arrested in Panama and extradited to the U.S.
“This is something you just can’t do. You can’t take the law into your own hands,” said U.S. District Judge John H. Chun at the sentencing hearing.
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FBI traced Bellingham woman’s scheme back months before she left the country
Munoz was supposed to return the child to the father on September 8, 2025, after a weekend visitation. After the child was not returned, the father reported it to law enforcement, and the FBI began an investigation, according to records filed in the case.
Law enforcement determined that months before Munoz left, she falsely claimed on her son’s passport application that she had no way to find or know the father. She submitted a birth certificate that said “none named” where the father’s name should have been.
The FBI investigation revealed that Munoz schemed with her family for months to take the child to Panama and flew out of Seattle on or about September 7, 2025.
The DOJ’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Embassy in Panama City worked alongside law enforcement in Panama to arrest and secure the extradition of Munoz. She was returned to Washington on Jan. 8, and the son was reunited with his father.
The boy’s father told the probation office that enduring the kidnapping of his son “was the worst thing of [his] entire life,” ahead of Munoz’ sentencing.
Judge Chun also set a restitution hearing in November to determine the amount of restitution Munoz owes to the child’s father.
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