C.O. couple detained in Malaysia on way home

Samantha Henry of Redmond and Will Lucas of Bend have been detained in Malaysia for the past eight days. As Samantha’s very relieved father, Aaron, told NewsChannel 21 on Tuesday, the couple is on its way home.

Aaron Henry said his 18-year-old daughter, Samantha Henry, and Lucas were wrapping up a humanitarian trip to Thailand when things went awry, apparently due to a lack of a passport stamp on their arrival in Malaysia.

They were there for a month and a half, and were supposed to fly back out of Kuala Lumpur on July 29. However, Aaron and his wife received word Samantha and Lucas never boarded their flight.

Since then, Aaron Henry said Samantha has been living in a 4-by-6 cell with no cot at a Malaysian detention center, while Lucas has been in a cell with nine other men who did not speak any English.

Aaron Henry said he only spoke to his daughter twice in the last week. The first time, he said, she was crying, scared and confused about why she was being detained. The second time was late Monday night, after learning she’s coming home.

” We’ve been on this roller coaster, with ups and downs, and corkscrews, and highs and lows, and you get to this point where you’re almost afraid to celebrate, you’re afraid to feel happy because you just don’t know, ” Aaron Henry said.

” Something else could happen. Well, maybe she gets detained again. We don’t know. As a parent, we went through so many emotions. My wife and I were just zombies. How can I enjoy a meal? How can I enjoy sitting down when she can’t? I felt guilty. It’s tough. ”

Aaron Henry was emotional on Tuesday, but called it the “best day ever,” knowing his daughter and her boyfriend were finally allowed to leave Malaysia and return to Central Oregon.

Aaron Henry said his daughter and her boyfriend would not have left Malaysia if U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., had not stepped in.

Merkley said he first heard about the situation on Friday. The first thing he did was contact the U.S. ambassador to Malaysia, Kamala Lakhdhir . He said he also got in touch with Deputy Chief of Mission Dean Thompson to explain the situation.

” Sometimes, countries are very, very obsessed with following their exact rules, ” Merkley said Tuesdsay . ” They want to make sure their government doesn’t look like it’s being influenced inappropriately by a foreign nation. Both ( Lakhdir ) and (Thompson) were committed to doing everything they could. ”

Merkley said he’s not sure what formal or informal steps Lakhdhir and Thompson took. He said he also wrote a detailed letter to the Malaysian ambassador to the U.S., Dato’ Azmil bin Mohd Zabidi , to expedite the process and communicate the sense of urgency.

Aaron Henry said he and his wife barely slept or ate until they knew their daughter was coming home. F inally, Monday night, they got the good news.

NewsChannel 21, which first spoke with the worried parents late last week, asked Aaron Henry if this very difficult week would change anything moving forward.

” I’m not going to limit my daughter, with the joy she got from traveling, ” he said. ” I don’t regret that at all. This was a really, really bad accident. I think they learn from it. ”

” I did tell my other two kids, ‘You’re never leaving the house, let alone the United States.’ We’ll see. I can’t wait to see if her adventurous spirit has been extinguished, if that flame has been put out. ”

Aaron Henry said his daughter sounded positive on the phone when they spoke Monday night.

Samantha and Will left Malaysia at 1 a.m. Pacific Time Tuesday morning. Aaron Henry said they have one stop in Manila, Philippines, before landing at LAX at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night. They’ll reunite for the first time in Redmond on Wednesday.