Fugitive parents of girl, 10, killed in house fire set by son, 15, nabbed and charged with cruelty
A Georgia couple has been detained by Gwinnett County Sheriff's Fugitive Unit and charged with 1st and 2nd-degree cruelty to their children along with false imprisonment. William Linn McCue, 47, and Carina Wisniewski McCue, 38, were on the run for about three months before they were arrested on Wednesday, June 29, after a week-long investigation.
The news comes after a barbaric act of arson killed their 10-year-old daughter and destroyed their Loganville house in April. Their son, 15, was arrested soon after the incident and charged with malice and felony murder. He had confessed to having set the house ablaze intentionally. Firefighters found the girl's ashes in a window-less room with a makeshift bed set in a bathtub that was presumed to be the victim's room.
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During the time of the fire, William was in office, and an extensive search was conducted to find the 10 and 15-year-olds. The front half and the attic sustained considerable fire, which took hours to extinguish before the children could be found.
Arson and the Special Victim Unit (SVU) experts were brought in after investigators suspected the house fire was intentional. Upon further examination of the crime scene, they deduced the house was ill-maintained, and there was a possibility of cruelty towards their five children.
The house was found to be unhabitable, with plumbing issues in the washrooms and dysfunctional septic tanks. As the crime scene unfolded, a separate investigation was set up against the parents, which confirmed 1st and 2nd-degree cruelty. Soon after, the Gwinnett County Police department started looking for the McCue couple and even issued a public announcement, calling for help from locals after their last location was traced to Norcross.
Their other three children are now being taken care of by state foster cares. It was observed that the children did not know how to use toilet paper and had not been to a school in years. A social worker, in their testimony, also mentioned that there was evidence that they would have been kept inside for many years and "were not given adequate food."
With the couple now arrested, it is uncertain whether their son will still be liable to serve suitable punishment for the charges against him.
In a conversation with The Daily Beast, Carina's father, Timothy Wisniewski, had described the couple as "reclusive" and mentioned how he was "never invited into their house". He also found the children to be neatly dressed and affable every time they would go out with him and could hardly ever make out they were living in the conditions described above. He said it "baffled the hell out of him" upon getting to know about plumbing issues at their place since he always thought Carina would ask him for any help required.