St. Louis police and the U.S. Marshals Service have found and taken into custody two people wanted on child abuse and other charges after authorities in Oklahoma last month found one of their children dead and three others in critical condition.
Police announced in a tweet that Hakim Mustafa Moore, 27, and Robin Alexander, 29, were located Friday. The two were booked on Oklahoma charges into the St. Louis jail, Officer Michelle Woodling said.
The couple’s last known address was in Altus, Oklahoma, about 640 miles (1,030 kilometers) from St. Louis.
St. Louis police said the three children found alive in Oklahoma are in the custody of the state, but authorities haven’t released information about when they were discovered or the circumstances of their discovery. Nor have they released details of the fourth child’s death and the ailments of the other three. Altus Police Chief Tim Murphy did not immediately return a message seeking comment Friday.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the Marshals Service said the couple had with them their fifth child, an infant that police say was born in a hotel room. The child was found safe and was placed in the custody of the St. Louis police department’s juvenile division.
Moore was wanted for failing to appear in court to answer charges of child abuse, child neglect and enabling child neglect, according to St. Louis police and the sheriff’s office in Jackson County, Oklahoma, where Altus is located. He was also wanted on a separate warrant of failing to appear on a charge of obstructing an officer.
Alexander was wanted for failing to appear on a charge of child abuse and two counts of child neglect.
A judge in Altus issued a bench warrant for their arrest after they failed to appear for a June 10 court appearance. Police in Altus received a tip that Alexander and Moore had fled to St. Louis.
