Jad Abumrad (host) / main Radiolab host voice

So that makes his daughter, Veronica, eligible to be Cherokee.

And the law is designed...

to keep Indian families together.

It gives preference to Indian kids staying with Indian parents.

So even though he'd actually signed papers agreeing to the adoption, he was able to invoke this law and get custody of Veronica.

He signed his custody away and he was able to then use his Cherokee-ness to reverse the rights he signed away?

Just hang on.

All right.

This is all going to make sense.

Okay.

But he takes the kid is what you're saying?

Yeah.

New Year's Eve 2011.

With cameras rolling, Dustin Brown drives his pickup truck into Charleston.

And that evening, Veronica is transferred to Dustin.

And as Dustin gets into the truck, holding his two-year-old daughter for the first time, a reporter asks him... Do you think this is in her best interest?

And this is all you hear from him.

He gets into the truck with Veronica, and they drive away, back to Oklahoma.

Can I ask you, when was the last time that you spoke with Veronica?

The day after.