Faith Etapa & Grace Etapa [FOUND SAFE/MOTHER ARRESTED] TOWNSEND, MT

[Faith]

AMBER ALERT: Townsend woman suspected of abducting daughters
By Independent Record - 04/11/08
An Amber Alert has been issued for a Townsend woman, Leslee R. Hebein-Etapa, 49, and her two children, Faith Etapa, 8, and Grace Etapa, 7.

Hebein-Etapa is 5 feet, 7 inches tall, 140 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. Authorities believe she may harm her daughters.
Faith Etapa is 4 feet tall and 45 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair. Grace Etapa is also 4 feet tall and 45 pounds with blue eyes and blonde hair.
They are traveling in a brown 2002 Jeep Liberty with a push bumper on the front of the vehicle and a luggage rack on the roof. According to the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department in Wasau, Wis., Hebein-Etapa may be headed north on Interstate 15 toward Canada.

Alert the authorities if Hebein-Etapa or her children are spotted.

http://http://www.helenair.com (http://http://www.helenair.com/articles/2008/04/11/top/top/45lo_080411_amberalert.txt)

[Faith]

Contact: MT Control Terminal - Justice Help Desk 715-551-4218
ABDUCTION INFORMATION

Case Number:
Date Last Seen: Wednesday, Apr 9th, 2008
Time Last Seen: 12:00am
Location Last Seen: TOWNSEND, MT

INCIDENT INFORMATION

WARRANT HAS BEEN ISSUED ON SUSPECT FOR OBSTRUCTING COURT ORDER. ABDUCTED CHILDREN MAY BE IN EXTREME DANGER



Name: GRACE ETAPA
DOB: 2000-12-14
Age: 7
Race: WHITE
Gender/Sex: F
Hair Color: BLONDE
Eye Color: BLUE
Height: 4' 0"
Weight: 45
Clothing:
Other:

http://www.montanaamberalert.com/images/amber_alerts/F951C132C7BCEAF1226B6570CD9C9FA6.V0.jpg

Name: FAITH ETAPA
DOB: 1999-10-16
Age: 8
Race: WHITE
Gender/Sex: F
Hair Color: BROWN
Eye Color: BLUE
Height: 4' 0"
Weight: 50
Clothing:
Other:

http://www.montanaamberalert.com/images/amber_alerts/F951C132C7BCEAF1226B6570CD9C9FA6.V1.jpg

SUSPECT
Name: LESLEE HEBEIN-ETAPA
DOB: 0000-00-00
Age: 49
Race:
Gender/Sex: F
Hair Color: BROWN
Eye Color: BROWN
Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 140
Clothing:
Other:
http://www.montanaamberalert.com/images/amber_alerts/F951C132C7BCEAF1226B6570CD9C9FA6.S0.jpg

VEHICLE
Type:2002 JEEP LIBERTY
License: MONTANA 43-6519
Description: BROWN

No Pic




http://www.montanaamberalert.com/

[Faith]

Date Last Seen: Wednesday, Apr 9th, 2008

Can someone change my original date to the 9th, please?

[Faith]

This makes me believe the mother has visitation rights and if so, why would they be in danger?

Date Last Seen: Wednesday, Apr 9th, 2008
Time Last Seen: 12:00am
Location Last Seen: TOWNSEND, MT

[Faith]

Amber alert issued for Townsend woman and two daughters...

same news we already have.

http://www.kxmc.com/News/227839.asp

[Faith]

The AMBER Alert issued in Montana for Faith Etapa and Grace Etapa is canceled. The girls have been located and are safe.


http://www.wunderground.com/blog/AmberAlerts/show.html

[Faith]

Amber Alert: Sisters found; mother arrested

By ALANA LISTOE - Independent Record - 04/14/08
The Amber Alert for two sisters was canceled late Saturday night.

Faith Etapa, 8, and Grace Etapa, 7, were located unharmed, and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office canceled the Amber Alert at 11:34 p.m. Saturday night.

The girls’ mother, Leslee R. Hebein-Etapa, was apprehended about 6 p.m. CST Saturday night near Waupaca, Wis., according to Detective Bill Millhausen of the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department.

Millhausen said Hebein-Etapa was located at a friend’s house after she took the Amtrak Train from Shelby to Waupaca, located about a half-hour from Madison, Wis. She was arrested on a warrant for allegedly violating a court order, Millhausen said.

Millhausen said he began working the case a few months ago when Hebein-Etapa and the girls didn’t return after a summer vacation to Wisconsin. where they live with their father.

“I went at it from the angle of attempting to get arrest warrants for (violations of court orders),” he said. “I know now she hid the children.”

He believes Hebein-Etapa was tipped off about the warrant.

“She took off with the children and that’s when we became fearful for their safety,” Millhausen said.

The children and the mom had been involved with the criminal justice system in the past, he said, and based upon information from individuals involved, authorities feared for “great bodily harm or death if the dad was to get custody of the girls.”

Millhausen said Hebein-Etapa was not cooperative in providing authorities with her daughters’ whereabouts.

Marathon County officials believe the girls were housed in the Jefferson County home of a friend who attends the same church as Hebein-Etapa.

No one from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office was available for comment Sunday.

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2008/04/14/top/65lo_080414_alert.txt

[Roamer]

I wonder if these claims about the dad were investigated before he got custody of them? Or was it just the mother making them?

Anyway, I'm so glad they're both safe!

[Faith]

Charges over Amber Alert still up in air
By MARGA LINCOLN - Independent Record - 04/15/08
Jefferson County officials were still determining Monday whether they will file any charges against a local family that was housing two sisters who were the focus of an Amber Alert.

“I haven’t had a chance to see anything, or any reports,” said Jefferson County Attorney Mathew Johnson on Monday morning. “At this point, there’s not enough information for me to know one way or another.”

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department first received information Friday that the two sisters, Faith and Grace Etapa, could be staying with a Jefferson County family north of Montana City, said Sheriff Craig Doolittle.

When a deputy spoke to the family Friday night, he was told the two young girls weren’t there.

“We believed the girls were there,” said Doolittle.

On Saturday evening, the family’s attorney called the sheriff’s department, and the children were turned over to Child Protective Services, said Doolittle. The Amber Alert was cancelled at 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

Doolittle said Monday that he could not release the name of the family at this time.

The Amber Alert was issued at 5 p.m. Friday by the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department in Wisconsin.

According to an earlier Independent Record story, Wisconsin officials had been searching for the Etapa sisters, Grace, 7, and Faith, 8, and their mother, Leslee R. Hebein-Etapa, 49, since last summer, when the girls were not returned to their father’s custody in Wisconsin.

The mother and children moved to Townsend last summer, according to Broadwater County Sheriff Brenda Ludwig.

On April 7 a nationwide warrant was issued for the arrest of Hebein-Etapa, according to a news report from Wausau, Wis.

The Broadwater County Sheriff’s Department began searching for the mother and daughters on Wednesday, according to an earlier interview with Ludwig.

Marathon County detectives arrested Hebein-Etapa in Wisconsin Saturday evening on a warrant for violating a court order.

Reporter Marga Lincoln: 447-4074 or marga.lincoln@helenair.com.
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2008/04/15/top/70lo_080415_alert.txt