Wife of Pa. man who fled to Mexico with teen files for divorce

ALLENTOWN - Citing adultery and an "irretrievable breakdown" of their marriage, the wife of Kevin Esterly filed for divorce Monday, just days after her 45-year-old estranged husband was brought back to Lehigh County from Mexico, where he had gone with a 16-year-old girl.

The divorce filing was expected since Allentown police announced they believed the married father of four had flown fled to Cancun on March 5 with Amy Yu, an Allentown teenager who once was his oldest daughter's best friend.

While the divorce filing lists adultery as one of the reasons for the divorce, authorities have only described Esterly's relationship with Yu as "secretive."

Yu's mother, Miu Luu, is also pursuing legal action against Esterly and anyone else who may have played a role in his relationship with her daughter, said Everett Cook, Luu's lawyer.

"First we must condemn the predatory actions of Kevin Esterly," he said in a statement. "Ms. Luu is concerned for the health and safety of her daughter and is shocked and appalled by the length and depth of the depravity of this man."

Stacey Esterly, Kevin Esterly's wife of more than 12 years, contends that she's the victim of indignities by her husband, and that their marriage is irretrievably broken. She is requesting spousal support and alimony. The divorce filing states that she is unable to "sustain herself during the course of the litigation."

Esterly and the teen were picked up March 17 after federal authorities received a tip they were staying in an apartment in a resort town near Cancun. While in custody in Miami, Esterly made several attempts to phone his wife, but she refused to accept his calls, said her lawyer, John Waldron.

Esterly has been charged with interfering with the custody of a child, a felony that would require him to register as a sex offender. He was returned to Lehigh County on Saturday and sent to county jail on $500,000 bail. He has his first court hearing scheduled for Monday and has been assigned a public defender.

Police allege Esterly took Yu to Mexico less than a month after authorities said they discovered he repeatedly signed the teen out of her Northampton County charter school by posing as her stepfather.

Yu was a sophomore at Lehigh Valley Academy Charter School in Hanover Township, Northampton County, and court records state that between November and February, Esterly had signed her out of school several times without her mother's permission.

School officials have not said what its policy is on who can sign students out, but a police investigation revealed Yu had listed Esterly as her stepfather on school records.