The biological mom of suspected Florida State University shooter Phoenix Ikner claimed she has not seen her estranged son in several years after she abducted him to Europe a decade ago — but had concerns over his well-being.
Anne-Mari Eriksen said she had concerns for her 20-year-old son before he was accused of killing Aramark employees Tiru Chabba, 45, and Robert Morales, and injuring six others on the campus located in Tallahassee.
“I have been concerned for him in the past, but I would never have thought that,” Anne-Mari Eriksen told WPLG on Friday.
Eriksen, lives in Tallahassee and is a Norwegian-American dual citizen, revealed she lost contact with Ikner following the bitter custody battle she had with her son’s father, Christopher Ikner.
“I was alienated from him,” Eriksen told the outlet.
The messy legal struggle culminated when Eriksen kidnapped Phoenix Ikner, who was born Christian Gunnar Eriksen, and flew him to Europe in March 2015.
Eriksen claimed she was taking her son to South Florida for spring break, but instead, the mother-son duo travelled to Norway
Eriksen, who had custody of the boy, violated the agreement she had in place with the older Ikner by not getting consent for the overseas trip.
Christopher Ikner was not clued in on the Scandinavian excursion until his son accidentally spilled the beans during a phone call.
The older Ikner filed an emergency motion for custody, fearing his son, who he said had developmental delays and special needs, was not meeting the medication protocols needed.
Eriksen returned to Florida in July 2015 and was arrested at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport on July 27, 2015.
She pleaded no contest to illegally removing a child from Florida and was sentenced to 200 days in jail.
Her son had since lived with his father Christopher Ikner and his wife, Jessica Ikner, a Leon County Sheriff’s deputy.
Phoenix Ikner is accused of using a handgun that belonged to his stepmother during the shooting.
Hours after the shooting, before Ikner was identified as the suspect, Eriksen took to Facebook to rail against her son’s father and stepmother for failing to communicate on her son’s condition.
“Horrible when your alienating son’s dad is as mentally unstable as he is, along with his LCSO cop wife, that they can’t respond when you write to ask if everything is alright with my son, who studies at FSU,” Eriksen wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post viewed by the Daily Mail.
“That whole familly [sic] is nuts. He should write a book on how to parent badly, but he can’t communicate,” Eriksen added.
“Feel sorry for everyone at FSU and their kids.”
Officials have not revealed a motive in the deadly rampage.
Ikner was a student at FSU, having enrolled in the classes at the school after transferring from Tallahassee State College, where he earned an associate’s degree last fall.
He was a junior studying political science, FSU spokeswoman Amy Farnum-Patronis told the AP.
Ikner was shot by police after initially not complying with orders and was subsequently arrested.
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