The parents of a 10-year-old girl who had allegedly evaded warrants for two months since she died in a house fire were found on the Appalachian Trail.
Carina and William McCue were arrested Thursday by members of the Gwinnett Sheriff’s Office’s fugitive unit in northern Georgia, senior deputy Ashley Castiblanco said.
The couple are facing charges in connection with a fire on April 17 that killed their daughter, Zoe McCue. Zoe’s remains were discovered in a bathroom without windows, along with a temporary bed in the bath, police said.
All the couple’s children lived in ‘unhygienic and dangerous conditions’, authorities said.
Hours after the fire on Easter Sunday, authorities found Zoe’s 15-year-old brother at a church in Rockdale County. The boy confessed to deliberately setting the house on fire and was arrested on murder and other charges, according to The Atlanta Constitution-Journal.
Zoe’s parents have been missing since early May when arrest warrants were issued for them. They apparently fled after losing custody of their four other children.
The McCues were last seen at a motel in Lawrenceville. Refugee investigators tracked down the couple in Cleveland, Georgia, and caught them on the hiking trail near Helen, according to Castiblanco.
The three other McCue children are under state protective supervision.
Records show that the McCue family was subjected to investigations twice before the house fire, but no charges were filed against the parents.
A neighbor, Mike Kilgore, said in May he was concerned about the McCues’ behavior.
“It was kind of a kind of cult,” he told 11Alive. ‘I’m not at all surprised that they’re on the run. I hope the children get the education they need, and I hope their mum and dad get what they deserve. ‘
The parents are being held in jail without bail.
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