A Georgia couple who had allegedly been on the run evading arrest warrants since early May were arrested on the Appalachian Trail on Thursday.
Carina and William McCue were taken into custody by members of the fugitive unit of the Gwinnett sheriff’s office in northern Georgia. They are facing charges stemming from an April 17 house fire that resulted in the death of their 10-year-old daughter Zoe McCue.
One of the McCues’ other children, a 15-year-old boy, was found hours after the fire at a nearby church in Rockdale County and allegedly confessed to intentionally setting it. He was arrested and has been charged with murder.
But the investigation into the fire didn’t stop there. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a further investigation found that children in the home had been living in “unsanitary and dangerous” conditions, using makeshift toilets and bathing facilities because the residential toilets, showers, and bathtubs did not work. According to 11Alive, warrants also allege that the children were mainly forbade from leaving the house and prevented from recieving a traditional education.
The state opted to charge both of the McCue parents with charges of cruelty to children in the first and second degree and false imprisonment and take away custody of their other three children.
But after police issued warrants for their arrests, the McCues allegedly fled — traveling at one point to Cleveland, Georgia and a motel in Lawrenceville, Georgia before they were tracked down and arrested on the famed Appalachian Trail outside of Helen, Georgia.
Per reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the McCues had been investigated by state authorities twice before the fire but were never charged with any crimes. A longtime neighbor, Mike Kilgore, told 11Alive in May that he had been alarmed by the McCues’ behavior.
“It was kind of like some kind of cult,” he said. “I’m not surprised at all they’re on the run. I hope the kids get the teaching they need, and I hope their mommy and daddy get what they deserve.”
The McCues are now being held without bail.
