A woman who has been charged with kidnapping her own child 18 years ago was remanded into custody on Tuesday after a brief Toronto court appearance.

Patricia O'Byrne, 54, was in court after being arrested in Victoria, B.C. last week on charges of parental abduction.

Detectives say they are now expanding their investigation to friends and family members who may have helped her.

"We are also following up on investigative leads that have been accumulating for the last 18 years that lead us to believe she may have received some assistance from friends and family members," Det. Sgt. Dean Burks told CTV Toronto.

"Well when you are aiding and abetting someone who is wanted on an abduction warrant that is Canada-wide, they are very serious charges."

O'Byrne is accused of abducting her then-infant daughter in May 1993 while in the midst of a custody dispute with the girl's father. She has hired high-profile lawyer Ed Greenspan as one of her legal representatives.

Todd White. O'Byrne's other lawyer, told reporters outside of the courtroom on Monday that the woman should not be kept in custody.

He said that people should hear the whole story before condemning O'Byrne. He also insisted that she is not a flight risk.

Joe Chisholm of Toronto has been searching for his daughter for years -- following leads across Canada and Europe -- and says he's thrilled that he might finally have a chance to connect with his daughter, who is now 20.

In YouTube videos he posted over the years, Chisholm recounted childhood memories and shared baby photos with the hope he would make contact.

"If you find me before I find you, which is fine by me, you'll have a lot of questions -- where you came from, who the rest of your family is, so on and so forth," he says in one video dated August 2008.

Police say her mother was arrested following a tip to the Missing Children Society of Canada that she might be living on Vancouver Island. O'Byrne, at times, was also thought to be in the U.K. or Spain.

In fact, she was living in B.C. under an alias and working as a government communications rep. She was also on the parental committee of her daughter's school.

Burks said that the information that the girl had been abducted as a child didn't come as a shock to her.

"Sometime in the not too distant past, she had become aware that she had been abducted," he said.

O'Byrne's bail hearing will be held on Wednesday.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney