Rebecca May Savoie was 6 years old when she was last seen on August 11, 2009, in Franklin, Tennessee, in a case classified publicly as a family abduction. She was described in missing-person listings as a young girl of Asian and White heritage with black hair and brown eyes, about 3 feet 11 inches tall and weighing approximately 60 pounds at the time she disappeared.
Rebecca was reported missing along with her older brother, Isaac John Savoie, after authorities said they were taken by their non-custodial mother, Noriko Esaki Savoie. The Charley Project reported that a felony warrant for parental kidnapping was issued for Noriko on August 17, 2009, and NamUs listed Rebecca under missing person case MP21671 with the same last-contact date and Franklin, Tennessee, location.
The circumstances surrounding Rebecca’s disappearance were tied to a difficult international custody dispute between her parents, Christopher J. Savoie and Noriko Esaki Savoie. Public case summaries state that Christopher was an American citizen, that the family had lived in Japan before the parents separated, and that Noriko later followed Christopher to Tennessee with the children. According to The Charley Project’s account, the parents divorced in the United States, though they remained legally married under Japanese law, and their custody arrangement called for both parents to remain in Tennessee while sharing time with Isaac and Rebecca. The same public summary states that Noriko was allowed to take the children to Japan for a six-week summer visit, but that after returning to Tennessee she made plans to relocate permanently to Japan with the children.
Rebecca’s case drew attention because it involved not only a missing child report in Tennessee, but also the legal and emotional complexity of a child-custody dispute crossing national borders. Advocacy and child-abduction resources described Rebecca as a bright, social child who enjoyed swimming, softball, singing, and spending time with family, while also alleging that she and Isaac were taken to Japan in violation of a court-ordered custody agreement. Public reporting and case summaries indicated that the children’s passports had been a point of concern because of fears they might be removed from the United States, and that their disappearance occurred shortly before the start of the school year, leaving behind their ordinary childhood routines in Tennessee.
The investigating agency has reported that Rebecca has been found alive, and the case is no longer an active missing-person case. The exact date and detailed circumstances of her recovery are not clearly available in the online public sources reviewed, so no specific recovery date can be responsibly stated. What remains publicly documented is that Rebecca Savoie was a 6-year-old girl last seen in Franklin, Tennessee, on August 11, 2009, that authorities treated her disappearance as a family abduction involving her non-custodial mother, and that her case became part of a larger international custody conflict involving the United States and Japan. In overview, Rebecca’s case began as the disappearance of a young child from Tennessee alongside her brother, developed into a widely noted parental-abduction and custody matter, and was ultimately resolved with official reporting that she was found alive.Last Seen: Aug 11, 2009
