Minnesota authorities say they have located two teen sisters from Lakeville who have been missing for more than two years.
Two sisters, 17-year-old Samantha Rucki and 16-year-old Gianna Rucki were found during an afternoon search by the U.S. Marshals Service, the Grant County sheriff’s office and Lakeville police at the White Horse Ranch, according to TwinCities. Both were found “seemingly in good health at the residence where the Search Warrant was executed.”
The girls' mother, Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, was arrested last month in Florida but wouldn't provide information on their whereabouts to investigators.
“The Deprivation of Parental Rights charges against the girls’ mother, Sandra Grazzini Rucki, are part of an ongoing investigation,” the Lakeville PD statement said.
“Charges may be forthcoming against additional persons involved in the girls’ disappearance. Both the Dakota County Attorney’s Office and the Lakeville Police Department ask for respect and privacy of the Rucki family during the reunification period,” it finished.
The girls had reportedly accused their father of abusing them. David Rucki, the girls' father, has denied abusing the girls, reports the Star Tribune, and a Dakota County judge in November 2013 granted him full custody, finding no evidence of abuse.
Police believe the pair have received help from an “underground network” since they ran away from home in April 2013 in the midst of a bitter custody dispute between their parents, Star Tribune notes.
Officials were reportedly led to the ranch by evidence found at the home of a St. Cloud woman who is a supporter of the "Protective Parent" movement, critics of the family court system who argue abusive parents are frequently awarded custody.
The ranch, about 160 miles west of the Twin Cities, describes itself as a nonprofit where abused children can heal by working with horses.
Grazzini-Rucki's lawyer Michelle MacDonald told the StarTribune the woman wasn't involved with her daughters' disappearance.
"I am in disbelief," MacDonald told the paper. "I hope [the girls] are reunited with their mother and brothers and sister, and even their father."
