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Missing Fitchburg family found in Texas, parents facing five counts of custodial kidnapping
Their mother Ruth Encarnacion and her boyfriend, who is the father of the four youngest children, will be transferred back to Massachusetts.
Five children from Fitchburg who were reported missing March 5 have been found safe in Texas with their mother and her boyfriend, both arrested on kidnapping charges.
The children, who range in age from 9 months to 10 years, were in the custody of Texas Child Protective Services, according to officials.
The Worcester County District Attorney’s Office and the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families are working with authorities in Texas to bring them back to Massachusetts.
Their mother, Ruth Encarnacion, 30, and her boyfriend, Isael Rivera, 31, who is the father of the four youngest children, are facing five counts of custodial kidnapping of a minor by a relative, Fitchburg police said.
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Officials say Encarnacion was initially reported missing on March 3, and DCF reported the five children missing on March 5.
The family, who were said to be travelling in a 2018 Infiniti QX60, was found in Hill County, Texas, three days later.
Encarnacion and Rivera, who both waived extradition, were taken into custody at the Hill County Jail in Hillsboro after their arrest last Saturday in Whitney, Texas, according to The Boston Globe.
By waving extradition, they agreed to be transferred without a formal extradition hearing.
Officials told the Globe that Massachusetts authorities have 10 days from March 7 to make arrangements for transporting Encarnacion and Rivera back to Massachusetts.
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State investigators started looking into the family Feb. 6 after a pediatrician reported Rivera for alleged “medical neglect” of the 9-month-old, the Globe reported.
Fitchburg police and a DCF worker went to the family’s home on Feb. 27 to serve them with a court summons over custody of the children, but no one answered the door, according to officials.
Encarnacion and Rivera failed to show up for their court hearing on March 4, prompting DCF to report the children missing the next day, according to the Globe.
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