Police: Mom Who Took Daughters Not Arrested, Girls OK
Two girls from Rexburg are safe after their mother — who has no custodial rights to her kids — checked them out of school on Wednesday.
Many are asking how that was ever allowed to happen.
Kennedy Elementary School Principal Lyle Jeppesen said the girls, 6-year-old Kiera and 9-year-old Dezirae John, did nothing to suggest anything was wrong.
Even though they had not seen their mother, Heather Fisher, in two years, they recognized her and left willingly.
The girls called their stepmother around 2 p.m. on Wednesday and said they were going somewhere with “mommy.”
There was documentation on file explaining the parents’ custody rights, but administrators were not aware of it, Jeppesen said. He added there needs to be a policy change.
“We should ask the parents rather than wait for the parents to tell us,” Jeppesen said.
Authorities were able to locate the girls by tracing Fisher’s cell phone through the combined efforts of the FBI, Provo Police Department, police in Arkansas, the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and subpoenas for two cell phone companies.
Police had suspected she was taking the girls to Las Vegas.
They had traced Fisher’s cell phone to Utah and spoke to her on Wednesday night. During the conversation, police gave Fisher an 8 a.m. Thursday deadline to return them. When she didn?t, they tracked her GPS, which led them to a Provo Denny?s restaurant.
The two girls are with relatives.
According to police, Fisher surrendered the children peacefully. Rexburg Police said she was not taken into police custody. Fisher does have an outstanding felony warrant on a methamphetamine charge in Crawford County, Arkansas. Arkansas officials did not want to pay for her extradition.
Police also said no charges have yet been filed in Madison County either. Detective David Stubbs said prosecutors were trying to determine what sort of charges to bring.
“We want to make sure we’re doing the right thing as far as charges being filed,” said Stubbs.
Stubbs added that kidnapping or custodial interference are both possible charges, though a decision has not been made.
Meanwhile, Fisher is free.
