KINGS COUNTY, Calif. (KMJ/KFSN) – Two children who were taken from their home in Kings County have been found safe after their mother was killed earlier this week.
The Kings County Sheriff’s Office says a two-year-old girl and a three-year-old girl were taken from the home by their father, 23-year-old Jonathan Alexis Maldonado-Cruz.
Maldonado-Cruz is suspected of shooting and killing the girls’ mother, 22-year-old Madeline Rose Cuevas, in the home near Fourth Place and Orchard Drive.
Detectives believe the shooting happened sometime late Monday night or early Tuesday morning, giving Maldonado-Cruz about a 15-hour head start on authorities.
The FBI began tracking Maldonado-Cruz’s cellphone, finding that he had already crossed the border into Mexico.
The sheriff’s office worked with authorities in Mexico and Maldonado-Cruz’s mother to negotiate with him about returning the girls.
On Thursday, Maldonado-Cruz handed the girls over to law enforcement at the border crossing in San Ysidro, just south of San Diego.
Maldonado-Cruz was taken into custody and the girls will be reunited with family.
Listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern.
