SAN ANTONIO – A Georgia man who brought his nine-year-old daughter to San Antonio over Thanksgiving to visit her mother has not seen his child for months after his ex-wife declined to return her to a child exchange location, San Antonio police and court records show.
Axel Nieves, who previously relocated to Georgia for work, brought his daughter to San Antonio in November and handed her off to his ex at an SAPD substation, an incident report shows.
But days later, on Nov. 25, Nieves’ ex did not return the child to Guardian House, a neutral exchange location on San Pedro Ave., the report shows.
When Guardian House officials called the ex-wife “to verify the exchange, she told them she would not be there,” the report states.
Officials with Guardian House did not respond to requests for comment from KSAT about the incident.
Nieves told KSAT he notified SAPD and attempted to retrieve his daughter from his ex-wife’s home himself.
“We were unsuccessful getting her back over the weekend,” Nieves said during a virtual interview with KSAT.
Nieves was eventually able to get the police department to take a report for felony interference with child custody.
Instead of arresting the ex-wife, however, SAPD turned over the report to the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.
Asked by KSAT if SAPD had delayed reunifying the girl with her father, spokesman Sgt. Washington Moscoso said via email, “We evaluate every case on their own set of facts/circumstances. Ultimately, in this case, the child is with her biological mother, and we don’t feel that the child is in any danger. Our detectives did feel there was enough in this case that a crime was committed. The case was filed with the DA’s office for their review and possible prosecution.”
Nieves told KSAT the case was turned over to the DA in late December.
DA spokeswoman Yudiann Guillen told KSAT via email this month that the office could not provide any information about the case “at this time.”
KSAT is not naming Nieves’ ex-wife because she has not been criminally charged.
“It is really tough,” Nieves said. “Driving home our entire family was in disbelief about the situation. We couldn’t believe we were coming home without her.”
Judge issues writ of attachment for the girl
Nieves pointed out that the incident does not rise to the level of a kidnapping case because his ex has court-granted conservator rights.
Nieves, who said he was married to the woman from 2014 to 2016, was temporarily granted the right to designate his daughter’s primary residence in 2020.
The order became permanent in 2021, Bexar County court records show.
Last year, after Nieves moved to Georgia, he was ordered by a judge to bring his daughter to San Antonio to visit her mother once a month.
In early December, days after the custody incident was reported to police, a judge issued a writ of attachment, commanding all sheriffs’ and constables’ offices in Texas to retrieve the child and return her to Nieves’ mother in San Antonio.
“A deputy went out there multiple times. Not only to her address, but a friend’s address, to her ex-boyfriend’s address and also to a school where my daughter’s sister attends, all to no avail,” said Nieves.
He added that a deputy made contact with his ex via telephone and arranged to meet her, but that his ex then did not show up.
No one answered the door when KSAT stopped by the ex’s last known address earlier this month.
She later texted investigative reporter, Dillon Collier, asking why KSAT was pursuing the story.
She did not respond to questions from Collier about her decision not to return her daughter to her ex-husband in November.
After KSAT contacted an attorney who formerly represented the ex-wife in the custody case, the ex-wife emailed Collier repeatedly, asking why KSAT was pursuing the story and asking Collier to send her court records from the case.
A judge on Jan. 12 temporarily amended the custody ruling to supervised visitation only for the Nieves’ ex, beginning this spring, and ordered her to surrender her child to Nieves’ parents in San Antonio, court records show.
The mother, according to the same records, did not show up for the hearing.
“The process is painstakingly difficult to navigate, and just, the waiting is unbearable,” Nieves said, who added that his daughter has since been withdrawn by her school in Georgia because of too many absences.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.