RALEIGH - Attorneys for kidnapping suspect Allison Quets assailed prosecutors' depiction of her as a woman who plotted for months before fleeing with the twins she had given up for adoption.

Regardless, U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan ruled Thursday that Quets should not be released from jail pending trial on an international parental kidnapping charge.

Quets, 49, of Orlando, Fla., was arrested seven days after fleeing with the twins, Holly and Tyler, in December to Ontario, Canada. The twins, whom Quets had through in-vitro fertilization, were reunited with their adoptive parents, Kevin and Denise Needham of Apex.

Last month, a federal magistrate ordered that Quets be detained. Flanagan denied her appeal of that order.

In court Thursday, Wilmington lawyer Dennis Sullivan played a 911 call that Quets made after negotiating an open adoption agreement with the Needhams at their attorney's office in August 2005. A frantic Quets tells police dispatchers that the Needhams' attorney will not return a document to her. When asked what kind of document, she responds, "It's an adoption document. He's going to take my babies." Quets' voice becomes shrill as she repeats over and over that the lawyer will not return the signed adoption agreement.

Three days later, Quets signed the document again and handed over the twins. Within hours, she changed her mind and filed a lawsuit to regain custody. A Florida judge ruled against her, and she was given the right to be with the twins, now 19 months old, on weekends while the case was being appealed.

After Quets took the twins to Canada, the judge revoked her visitation.

Sullivan disputed many contentions made by prosecutors at the last court hearing -- that she stalked the Needhams, posed as the sole custodian to obtain the twins' medical records, had taken the girl to Canada previously, and had a lot of money.

"The government has made all these allegations and hasn't done any investigation," he said.

Sullivan said travel records show Quets wasn't in town when she supposedly was driving around the Needhams' neighborhood.

He said Quets had to take the children to a doctor one weekend because they were sick, and that was when the doctor tried to get copies of their medical records from their regular doctor.

Sullivan also had receipts for purchases at Durham stores on the same weekend that prosecutors say Quets took Holly to Canada. He also had a document showing she canceled flights to New York and train tickets to Canada for her and the twins.

He gave the judge a copy of bank records that he said showed she did not have the $150,000 that prosecutors claimed.

Prosecutors countered much of Sullivan's evidence.

FBI Agent Michael Sutton testified that Quets' sister bought tickets for Quets and the twins to go to New York and then take a train to Canada in November and then December -- showing that she had planned the trips.

Sutton testified that Quets tried to get the twins' medical records twice, once by pretending to be Denise Needham. Sutton said Quets told bank officials she had $300,000 in stock options that she wanted to liquidate.

Then Sutton read a transcript of a voice-mail message that Quets left for Denise Needham when she finally agreed to sign the adoption agreement. Quets profusely apologized for the last meeting when she called 911 and said she was ready to sign the adoption agreement, Sutton said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Bowler said that Quets had reported the Needhams for neglecting the twins to Durham social services, which investigated and cleared the Apex couple.

Also, The News & Observer has appealed a Florida judge's ruling sealing court records related to Quets' lawsuit against the Needhams and their attorney.

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