Brooklyn Freeman was just four years old when her mother, then 34-year-old Erin Gerlach, took her and left the state of Arizona, leading investigators from law enforcement agencies across the United States on a two-and-a-half-year mission to find her. The day after her seventh birthday, Brooklyn was reunited with her father, Mesa Police Officer Shawn Freeman.
It was the
beginning of August 2022, when Shawn last saw his daughter, a cheerful and
healthy four-year-old girl who loved Barbie and Nerf gun wars. Her mother, Erin
Gerlach, was taking her to California to “figure some stuff out” as she and
Shawn had just ended a five-and-a-half-year relationship. “We were going back
and forth, and things were cordial.” Shawn stated, “I told Erin that I wanted
to come out there and see Brooklyn and she told me that if I came out there,
she would get a restraining order on me. It was so random because there was no
fight or argument or anything like that.” This was the end of August 2022 and
the start of what Shawn describes as “an emotional rollercoaster.”
From there, Shawn noticed new social media accounts being opened tied to his name and likeness. The Mesa
Police Department Chief of Police and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office received emails alleging acts of domestic violence from Shawn toward Gerlach and videos were posted to
social media pages depicting Shawn as a domestic abuser. Gerlach proceeded to
file police reports with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, Pinal County
Sheriff’s Office, and the Mesa Police Department describing herself as a
domestic violence victim. Mesa PD’s Internal Affairs unit began investigating
the allegations against Shawn in September 2022, finding that he handled
himself appropriately while interacting with Gerlach and exonerated the claims.
Shawn
obtained an order of protection against Gerlach in January 2023 and in February
he was awarded temporary sole custody of Brooklyn and sole legal
decision-making. And while this was a big step in the right direction, it was a
small feat for a father who had no idea where his child was or when he would
ever see her again.
Shawn had
mixed feelings, “I know it’s rare for a father to get sole custody versus a
mom, especially when they were never married, like, that’s a rarity, but then I
couldn’t get anybody to do anything, and I knew what was right.” Four times,
Gerlach obtained an order of protection against Shawn in two different counties
in California, forcing him to take time off work, travel, and defend himself in
court; all while Gerlach never showed up. All four protection orders were
dismissed.
Shawn
continued to advocate for himself and report new information. He found that
Gerlach had served prison time under a different name in 2008 and alleged that she had
a history of harassing people online. And while Shawn gathered evidence showing a pattern of
behavior demonstrating who Gerlach was, finding probable cause to file charges against her was challenging.
Finally, in
April 2023 the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Child Abduction Unit entered
Brooklyn into the National Crime Information Center as an abducted child.
“I would get
my hopes up because some new intel would come in and later found out that it
was not true. Erin would make it look like she was somewhere else where she
wasn’t.” Shawn continued to follow leads over the next two years describing a
time he thought Gerlach was taking Brooklyn to Disneyland for the weekend. “I
would jump on with Disneyland security and the Los Angeles Child Abduction Unit
and give the investigator a heads up.” But Gerlach and Brooklyn were never
found.
From May 2023 - August 2023 Gerlach hurled false accusations to the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board alleging that Shawn committed acts of domestic violence and witness tampering. She also threatened to use the media to obtain records from the Mesa Police Department on her behalf. Gerlach reported the alleged abuse to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, the Department of Public Safety, and the Phoenix Police Department.
Continuing to cause Shawn emotional distress, Gerlach allegedly created different email addresses and sent emails to local news sources, pretending to be Shawn. Shawn had recently been involved in an on-duty shooting and Gerlach acted as him, threatening reporters that if they did not remove his name from their stories, they would meet the same fate as the suspect involved in the shooting. Local news stations reached out to the Mesa Police Department reporting the emails. An investigation revealed that none of the emails were sent by Shawn.
In September 2023, Shawn filed a harassment report against Gerlach through the Gilbert Police Department. Gerlach responded by contacting various prosecuting agencies throughout the valley claiming that Shawn had been engaging in illegal and unethical behavior for years. She sent emails to Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, Gilbert Police Chief Michael Soelberg, a former Maricopa County Sheriff, and Mesa Police Chief Ken Cost, amongst others, with allegations that Shawn committed perjury in family court.
In January
2024, Mesa Police Department Detective Travis Staab reopened a prior unfounded
threats case that Gerlach filed with Mesa PD Internal Affairs in March 2023.
Gerlach claimed that Shawn sent her threatening text messages ahead of a family
court hearing. Detective Staab’s investigation revealed that Gerlach had
created and sent herself the threatening text messages likely attempting to frame
Shawn for doing so.
A month later, in February 2024, Brooklyn turned six and Shawn was granted sole custody of her. “Going to other friends and family members that had their kid’s birthdays, I was jealous. I was jealous that they were getting to spend time with their kid and no one would help me find mine. It was a lot.”
In May 2024, Detective
Staab obtained an arrest warrant for Gerlach for Identity Theft and Custodial
Interference. The warrant was extraditable nationwide and would prove to be a huge
break for Shawn.
The next nine
months were spent serving search warrants, working with federal agencies,
and trying to find Brooklyn. Detective Staab was able to gather enough material
to show that Gerlach was hiding in a home in Murrieta, California. Mesa police
officers and officers from the Murrieta Police Department joined forces and just
one day after Brooklyn’s seventh birthday, the Murrieta Police Department
served a search warrant, taking Gerlach into custody and reuniting Brooklyn
with Shawn.
“It took her
a second to recognize me and then she did, and let me hug her, and yeah, it was
good.” Shawn said tearfully. “She (Brooklyn) wasn’t allowed out of the house
for over two years, except on Halloween because they could dress her up. She
was neglected proper dental and medical care, she went without direct sunlight,
and was only allowed in the pool at night because people couldn’t see into the
backyard.”
Shawn
proceeded through a cracked voice, that Brooklyn didn’t even play with other
children. She told him the other day, while playing at a local playground, that
she was so happy she made four friends.
Brooklyn is
now recovering with a therapist and proper medical team, she is thriving in her
new home with her father, his fiancée, and her soon-to-be stepbrother.
 |
| The weekend after Brooklyn's return. Celebrating her 7th birthday. |
Erin Gerlach
was booked into jail in Riverside County, California on February 13, 2025; she
bonded out and was released from custody on March 3, 2025.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Domestic
Abuse comes in many forms, not just physical. 1 in 4 women and 1 in
10 men experience abuse from an intimate partner.
For
information about domestic abuse, please visit https://acesdv.org/
For more domestic violence statistics please visit https://www.thehotline.org/stakeholders/domestic-violence-statistics/
To reach the
domestic violence hotline, please visit https://www.thehotline.org/
You can also
call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or Text “START” to 88788 to live chat.
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