Liberty Counsel Denies Ties with Missing Mom

Officials Liberty Counsel, an antigay legal advocacy organization whose lawyers represented fugitive Lisa Miller in a custody battle with her ex-partner Janet Jenkins, said the organization severed ties with Miller after she fled the country with her daughter.

Jenkins was granted primary custody of her daughter with Miller by the Vermont supreme court, but Miller and their daughter, Isabella, went missing shortly after the ruling and are possibly in Central America. A pastor with connections to Liberty Counsel was arrested last week for his alleged involvement in helping Miller and Isabella get to El Salvador and then Nicaragua.

The organization denied the allegations, according to WDBJ News in Virginia, where Miller lived and the organization is based.

Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University's School of Law and chairman of Liberty Counsel, called the accusations "absurd." He said the organization's relationship with Miller ended when she stopped communicating with it via e-mail and phone.

He added, "None of us would be stupid enough to place our careers and our futures and our law licenses on the table to try to help someone violate the law."

An FBI investigation, however, indicates that Miller was staying in a Nicaragua vacation home belonging to the father of a Liberty University law school employee. Philip Zodhiates, the father of administrative assistant Victoria Hyden, denied that charge when questioned by The Advocate Friday.