The Tinton Falls man embroiled in the middle of an international custody battle may be heading home from Brazil alone and broken hearted.

Brazil's supreme court agreed Tuesday night to hear a challenge to the custody case of 9-year-old Sean Goldman. A Brazilian federal court agreed earlier this week to give David Goldman back custody of the boy, who was taken from him in 2004.

Sean was taken to Brazil at the age of four by his mother on a vacation. The boy's mother divorced Goldman after leaving the U.S. and never returned. She remarried and died during child birth last year. Sean has been in the custody of his stepfather since the death of his mother.

Goldman had flown to Brazil in the hopes of bringing the boy back to New Jersey with him prior to the decision being suspended. The latest review of the custody battle could take anywhere from days to months.

Meanwhile stateside, those who remember Sean from his days in the Garden State say their hearts go out to the Goldmans.

"It's insane," says Meredith Kasun, whose son was Sean's friend and classmate. "It's unacceptable. We're all outraged about it."