CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. -- A South Florida mother who lost custody of her son is headed to Panama to retrieve the body of her toddler.

For weeks, Joanna English has been asking how her son, Brad, died days before his second birthday.

"I don't know what's going on," English said. "No one wants to tell me the truth."

A Panamanian death certificate said pneumonia killed Brad, but English said she is not persuaded and suspicious of her ex-husband's possible role in her child's death.

Joanna English married Patrick English in 2004.

"He was one of my clients for the escort agency," Joanna English said.

Joanna English claimed she told her future husband other details of her past before their wedding, including how she had appeared in pornographic movies using a screen name, Arianna.

"That I was illegal, didn't have my papers. I told him," she said. "He was like, 'Don't worry. We're going to get married. I'll help you with everything."

After they settled into his Coral Springs home, Patrick English did help Joanna, who is Peruvian, apply for a green card. But the marriage soon went south.

Patrick English insisted that his wife sign a post-nuptial agreement.

"We started fighting. Everything was about his money," Joanna English said. "He kept throwing me out of the house."

But Joanna English said she kept going back. She said she wouldn't sign the post-nuptial agreement because it required her to give up custody of any child they might have, although it was not explicitly mentioned in the document.

Brad was born in June 2006. Patrick English initially denied being the father but then took his wife and the baby back into his home, even as he was divorcing Joanna.

Joanna English had primary legal custody of Brad until fall 2007, when a Homeland Security agent intercepted her in the parking lot of her workplace. She said the agent asked her about her son.

"They tell me I have to give the baby to his father. They mentioned that right away," she said.

Joanna English ended up in immigration detention in Pompano Beach. The Homeland Security agent's report made it clear that her ex-husband was the source of much of the information about her being in the U.S. illegally and that he claimed he only learned of her status after the marriage.

Joanna English said she begged Patrick to bring Brad to the lockup.

"(He said,) 'You're going to be deported. You're going to go back to Peru. Call me when you get there. Maybe we can make some kind of arrangements so you can see your son,'" Joanna English said.

Joanna English's lawyers won her release in January.

A domestic violence stay-away order Joanna English had obtained while married helped her release. But when she returned to her Coral Springs home, Joanna English said she found no sign of her husband or son.

When her lawyers called Patrick English, Joanna said he responded, "He doesn't want to talk to illegals."

Patrick English ignored court orders to return his son, eventually sending Joanna an e-mail claiming he was living in Panama and taunting that she would not get custody back because he had rights under Panamanian law, NBC6's Nick Bogert reported. Although Patrick English had done business in Panama, Joanna English thought it was a lie until his lawyer called.

"He said the baby was dead," she said. "I can't believe it. He's lying. He's lying."

Patrick English had taken his son's lifeless body to Punta Pacifica Hospital in Panama. Dr. Armando Rios cited pneumonia as Brad's cause of death.

Patrick English told his lawyer that the child had been happy and active just the day before.

However, Joanna English's lawyer noted, "That contradicted what Dr. Rios had said, that the child had been sick for four to five days."

Joanna English, unable to travel due to her uncertain immigration status, spent agonizing days on the phone to Panama. Eventually her lawyer flew there, taking photos to identify the child at the morgue.

"He had the same blue eyes, same teeth," Joanna’s lawyer said. "I spent a lot of time comparing them."

That convinced Joanna English that it was no hoax.

"I haven't seen my son in nine months," she said.

Rushing between Panamanian and American officials, Joanna English was finally cleared to travel.

"I just want to get there as soon as possible," she said.

Joanna English's lawyer now believes she will be allowed to bring Brad's body back.

"We now have documents ready to show my client has custody of the child," said Joanna’s lawyer.

Mayra Joli hopes her client's ex-husband will face charges of parental kidnapping and passport fraud.

Joanna English denies signing her son's passport application and said she was locked up at the immigration detention center at the time. She intends to sue her ex-husband for the death of the baby.

"That he was negligent in the care of the child," she said.

NBC6's e-mailed questions to Patrick English were unanswered. His U.S. lawyer said he might retire in Panama and said his client did not bring the child back, fearing his ex-wife was an unfit mother.

The lawyer, when asked if Patrick English might have let his son die, said, "Trust me, he really, really loved that child,'" Bogert reported.