Three Missouri children missing since 2017 found alive in Texas after being abducted by their mother
Three children from Missouri, who had been missing since 2017, have reportedly been found in Texas with their mother, nearly two years after they were allegedly abducted. The mother, identified as 41-year-old Shawn Rodriguez, was located by US Marshals on Thursday at a home in Arlington, along with her three children Daniel, David and Ariana Olivera.
The discovery of the children's location concluded a lengthy investigation into their disappearance.
All of the children were under the age of 8 when they and Rodriguez left Saline County, Mo., in August 2017 and disappeared, according to KCTV News. Reports state that Rodriquez was believed to be headed to California at the time, however, she had been on the run ever since she and the children were deemed missing.
The children are now aged nine, six and three.
The children's father was reportedly granted complete custody of all the three children, and local authorities said that they were officially listed as missing in July. Authorities subsequently issued a warrant in August for Rodriguez's arrest for parental kidnapping in Saline County.
The local authorities, in the same month, launched an investigation into establishing the children's location along with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the United States Marshals Service in the Western District of Missouri.
According to investigators, they were able to narrow down their search for the missing siblings by October, and concluded that Rodriguez was hiding out in the Dallas-Fort Worth region on Texas.
The Northern District of Texas' US Marshals and local authorities found Rodriguez and the three children in a house in the same area and took the mother into custody on the arrest warrant on Thursday.
She was waiting extradition to Missouri last week. The details of how the authorities managed to zero down on Rodriguez's location have not yet been released. The three children were taken from her and placed under the care of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
They will soon be reunited with their father.