Couple wanted in kidnapping of slain woman’s 3 children are caught in Colorado
A man and a woman wanted for questioning in the slaying of the woman’s sister and the kidnapping of her three children were arrested Thursday in Colorado, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said.
The children were allegedly kidnapped by the dead woman’s sister, Brittany Humphrey, 22, and Humphrey’s boyfriend, Joshua Robertson, 27, who are considered “persons of interest” in the killing of Kimberly Harvill, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Robertson and Humphrey were found in Pueblo, Colo., about 100 miles south of Denver.
Officers from the Pueblo Police Department were conducting an unrelated investigation at a motel about noon when they found Humphrey and a 1½-year-old girl, the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement Thursday evening.
Robertson was located about two blocks from the motel, the statement said.
Both suspects were taken into custody without incident.
The girl, identified as Madisyn Harper, was unharmed and is in the custody of authorities in Pueblo. L.A. County Sheriff’s Homicide Lt. Joe Mendoza said the investigation determined she is the daughter of a woman who is incarcerated in Madera County.
The woman told authorities she gave Robertson permission to care for the child. She later filed a report of a missing person at risk, Mendoza said.
Harvill’s three missing children were safely located Wednesday by authorities at a motel in New Mexico. Their mother was found dead along a road in rural Los Angeles County earlier this month.
Authorities believe that Humphrey and Robertson took the children sometime either before or after Harvill was killed.
“Immediately after the murder or sometime shortly after, it is suspicious that they did not come forward to law enforcement and instead fled,” Mendoza said.
The children were left “in the care of a Good Samaritan” at a hotel on the outskirts of Albuquerque, sheriff’s officials said in a statement.
The children are Joslynn Watkins, 2; Brayden Watkins, 3; and Rylee Watkins, 5. Their father is believed to be deceased, and the children will be placed in the care of the Department of Children and Family Services. Authorities were arranging their return to California, sheriff’s officials said.
Harvill was found dead Aug. 14 along Gorman Post Road in Lebec, close to Los Angeles County’s border with Kern County.
A motorist who was taking a rest during a long drive spotted the slain woman lying in roadside brush. She had multiple upper-body gunshot wounds and head trauma, which led authorities to conclude she had been killed.
Detectives determined that Harvill and the kidnapping suspects formerly lived in Fresno but were staying in Lebec in the days before the slaying.
“They were known to go from motel to motel,” Mendoza said.
Times staff writers Erica Evans and Doug Smith contributed to this report.
matt.hamilton@latimes.com
For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.
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UPDATES:
6:25 p.m.: This post was updated with additional details about the couple’s arrest and the child found with them.
This article was originally published at 4:35 p.m.
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