ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 21, 1997 TAG: 9701210116
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
`Baby Richard' dad leaves son he fought for
CHICAGO - A man who battled fiercely for more than three years to win back his son from another couple has moved out on his wife and left behind the boy once known as Baby Richard.
Otakar Kirchner moved out several months ago, and the 5-year-old boy, now known as Danny Kirchner, is staying with his biological mother, Kirchner's former lawyer, Loren Heinemann, said Monday.
Danny was adopted by Kimberly and Jay Warburton when he was 4 days old, before his biological parents had married. The boy's biological mother, Daniela Kirchner, said she believed at the time that Kirchner had abandoned her. At first, Kirchner was led to believe the boy had died.
Two months after the child's birth, Kirchner began fighting for custody. Following a fierce court battle, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Kirchner's parental rights had been denied and invalidated the adoption.
Danny was taken sobbing from the Warburtons in April 1995 as supporters of the adoptive parents taunted Kirchner with cries of ``Monster!''
Despite his father's absence, the boy is ``a happy, healthy kid,'' Heinemann said.
Kirchner said in a statement that ``I love my children very much. Although it is painful for me not to be with them at all times, I believe that this arrangement is the best we can do for them at this time.''
- Associated Press
Briefly
* Two college freshmen charged with killing a newborn boy in a Newark, Del., hotel room could be free on bail after a hearing today. High school sweethearts Brian C. Peterson Jr. and Amy Grossberg, both 18, have been imprisoned since November, when they were charged with first-degree murder in the baby's death.
* John E. du Pont, 58, one of the richest murder defendants in U.S. history, goes on trial today in Pennsylvania in a case that will determine not whether he shot wrestler David Schultz, 36, but whether he was sane when he did it. Schultz was shot to death Jan. 26, 1996.
* The Rev. Al Sharpton said Monday that he will formally announce his candidacy for New York City mayor April 4, the date Martin Luther King was assassinated 29 years ago.
* Arson was suspected in a fire that damaged Antioch Baptist Church, a predominantly black church in Tahlequah, Okla., on the eve of the Martin Luther King holiday. Witnesses reported seeing two white men driving away from the church late Sunday, investigators said.
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