Police are searching for two toddler girls a state trooper says were unlawfully removed from an Elizabethtown home.According to Kentucky State Police Post 4 spokesman Steve Pavey, the mother, two adult accomplices and a juvenile collaborated in distracting the father's fiancé, who was watching the children Thursday while the father was away from the home.
With the fiancé distracted by conversation with an accomplice, Pavey said the mother removed the 2- and 3-year-old girls from the father’s
Meadowview Drive home.
The woman accused of distracting the fiancé during the kidnapping, 38-year-old Elizabethtown resident Laura E. Heathcock, was arrested Thursday on a kidnapping charge.
Pavey said the investigating trooper is seeking an arrest warrant for 19-year-old John Varble, who is believed to be a second adult accomplice.
Unlike the felony kidnapping charge facing accomplices, Pavey said the mother, 21-year-old Brittany Muss, likely will avoid felony prosecution.
”She’ll probably only be charged with custodial interference,” Pavey said.
Pavey was unsure if the father had full or joint custody of the children, but said the little girls “live with the father.”
Custodial interference is a misdemeanor, punishable by no more than 12 months jail time.
Felony kidnapping — a Class B felony — carries a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment.
Kidnapping can be a Class A felony if the victim is not returned alive.
Police say the children are likely with Muss who may be driving a silver 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier bearing the Kentucky license plate 749HRW. Pavey said investigators have no reason to believe the children are in danger. No Amber Alerts have been issued.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Kentucky State Police at (270) 766-5078 or (800) 222-5555.
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