With Child Safe, Custody Battle Begins Anew

Jan. 18, 2008 — -- The daughter of an acclaimed electronic music producer is safe, and her mother remains jailed after authorities in California arrested the woman earlier this week on a child abduction warrant obtained in Maryland, even though the charges have been dismissed.

Ashley Duffy is no longer wanted by police, but her arrest Tuesday and subsequent jailing, police and prosecutors in Montgomery County, Md., confirmed to ABC News, was made based on a felony warrant that officials now say should never have been issued.

The 3-year-old girl, Kaia, may be safe, but a California court will have to resolve the ongoing custody dispute between her mother and acclaimed musician father Brian Transeau that led to Duffy's arrest.

"The charges have been dropped, the warrant has been squashed," Montgomery County State Attorney's Office spokesman Seth Zucker confirmed to ABC News. "It's a family law issue now for California."

Judges in Montgomery County and Los Angeles County held a joint hearing earlier this week to discuss the validity of the original order granted in a Maryland family court that gave Transeau custody of Kaia.

That order was needed for the criminal court to issue an arrest warrant for Duffy. In the joint hearing, however, the judges ruled that the custody battle should play out in California, where a previous shared arrangement had existed.

"When the [Maryland] custody order was dismissed, it eliminated the state's ability to move forward on a criminal basis," Zucker said.

Karen Durrett, Ashley Duffy's mother, told ABC News that Transeau had not been living in Maryland long enough to establish the residency status required to gain legal custody.

Duffy remained jailed at the Century Regional Detention Center in Lynwood, Calif., Friday morning, according to inmate information posted on the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Web site.

Durrett said that the judge's order in Maryland to dismiss the charges against her daughter had not yet been communicated to the California authorities holding her. Durrett said Transeau currently has the little girl and that he and Duffy will alternate 48-hour visits with her until a California family court hearing next week.

Anja Reinke, Duffy's attorney in California, told ABC News that she would not comment on the case until Duffy was released.

Transeau, whose movie scores include "Monster" and who has collaborated with artists ranging from Britney Spears to David Bowie, declined to comment on this week's developments.