Lakeville boy wakes to find dad's gone and he's on his own

When 11-year-old Sebastian Cross awoke July 18, he discovered that he was alone, except for the letters. His father, Steven Cross of Lakeville, who raised Sebastian by himself since the boy was 1, was gone. He wouldn't be coming back.

Sebastian rode his bicycle three blocks to the home of his good friend, Charlie Pahl. Crying, the boy handed two letters to Charlie's mother, Joanne. One of the letters was open, the other still sealed.

"If this paper is wet it's because I am crying so bad," began the open letter, addressed to Sebastian. "You know your dad loves you more than anything. This economy got [illegible] there are no jobs for architects so I have to go because the sherriff [sic] will take the house July 27th. There will be no more me. ... Some good news is your mother is still alive. Though I do not think it is for the best. Give these letters to [the neighbor]. Do not open them. I hope they get to give you a chance. There are many great years ahead for you. No so for me."

Other letters that Cross left asked Joanne and John Pahl to take care of Sebastian.

Now Sebastian is staying with an aunt, after spending several weeks with the Pahls while Dakota County child protection workers sought a place for him.

His 60-year-old father, last known to have been in California, is wanted on a warrant for gross-misdemeanor child neglect. The account of his alleged abandonment of his son is contained in the criminal complaint against him.

Friends, neighbors surprised

Just days before the Cross family home was to be foreclosed upon, about 15 neighbors got a couple of trucks and a trailer and moved valuables out of the house into storage, said Max Peterson, 15, a friend of Sebastian's who was on that crew.

While the possessions were being moved, one of the neighbors took Sebastian to the Mall of America, Peterson said.

Steven Cross had written that he wanted to sell everything he owned to the Pahls for a dollar, with the idea that they could sell some of the possessions in turn and establish a fund for Sebastian, Peterson said. One thing left in the house was Sebastian's PlayStation; Steven Cross told the boy in one of the letters he left to take it to the Pahl home.

"He must have just snapped. This was the last thing I saw coming from Steve," Peterson said. "He'd been fine. It's so surprising to everyone."

Peterson said he took Sebastian to a movie a couple of days after his father left, and even though Sebastian had fun, he seemed to be in shock.

The flat-topped roof "leaked constantly, and there's mold everywhere," Peterson said. "It's not a good living environment."

However, Sebastian had a finished bedroom, his friends said.

'He really loved Sebastian'

For years, Steven Cross had told Sebastian that his mother was dead, Peterson said, because the father though she was a poor role model. Authorities don't know the mother's whereabouts. She hadn't exercised her visiting privileges when a court suspended them in 2002.

Peterson said Cross tried to be a good father and spent time playing catch with his son.

Bank of America now owns the Cross home in the 19000 block of Jasmine Avenue, said Michael Olsen, a Woodbury-based real estate agent. Olsen put notices on the home's door warning away trespassers. Neighbors put a sign up notifying Steve Cross that his possessions were in storage.

Cross' financial troubles include five civil judgments against him since 2007 totaling nearly $35,000 owed to various financial institutions, according to court records.

Sebastian said that he last saw his father the night before he vanished and that there was no sign of what was to come.

A search of a computer in the home revealed a lodging reservation for three nights in early August in Morro Bay, Calif., according to investigators.

Joanne Pahl said an ex-girlfriend of Cross' called her a week after he disappeared and said that she had received an e-mail from him sent from a library in Carmel, Cal.

He wrote of his love for Sebastian, that nobody would help and suggested that he had only a couple of days to live.

"I didn't know what to do," the e-mail said. "I am scared and hopelessly depressed."