Fatal Bear Attack Sets Off Bizarre Custody Fight

VANCOUVER, B.C. - A bear attack that left two people dead has produced a wrenching epilogue - a complex custody fight over one victim's surviving children.

Patti McConnell was on her way from Paris, Texas, with her son and daughter to start a new life in Alaska when she was killed Aug. 14 by a black bear during a stay at Liard Hot Springs, in northern British Columbia near the Yukon border.

Ray Kitchen, a Canadian, was also killed after tackling the bear as it mauled McConnell, who was shielding her son, Kelly. The boy remains hospitalized, recovering from his injuries.

Kelly, 13, and his half-sister, Kristin, 7, are temporary wards of the British Columbia government while their relatives go to family court over custody.

Kelly appears to be the subject of a triangular tug-of-love among two sets of grandparents and a couple who befriended him.

"This is not the time nor the place to fight for custody," said a tearful Lisa Ramirez, one of McConnell's sisters, who flew here from Texas with their mother, Jan Reed, the day after the attack.

"It's a travesty. It's cruel. We want to go home and grieve and bury our sister."

Kelly, who lost his father to leukemia when he was 6, was taken into temporary custody along with Kristin by the Ministry of Children and Families.

Kristin has been allowed to remain with Reed and her aunts. But the children cannot return home to the United States until after a custody hearing.

The ministry, which has conducted interviews and background checks, is expected to back off from any custody issue involving Kristin. But Kelly's future is more complicated.

Representatives from as many as four parties are expected at the court hearing: the ministry; Reed, who has filed for permanent custody in British Columbia and Texas courts; Kelly's paternal grandparents from Wisconsin who've hired a Vancouver lawyer; and a Texas couple who've acted as "mentors" to Kelly for three years.