A mother accused of abducting her son nearly three years ago was captured the day after her case was profiled on HLN’s “The Hunt with John Walsh.”
On Monday, Maria Cabrera-Gutierrez was arrested in Raymond, Washington, said Michael Harpster, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division.
Tips to the show’s hotline helped authorities locate Cabrera after the episode aired Sunday night, according to the FBI.
She admitted her identity after being taken into custody by the Pacific County Sheriff’s Department and the Raymond Police Department, according to Carrie Adamowski, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Philadelphia Division.
Raymond Police found her son, 4-year-old Daniel Markus, at a local school. Daniel will remain in Washington State Child Protective Services until his father can take him home to Pennsylvania, according to an FBI press release.
Cabrera’s arrest ends a years-long search that began in November 2014 when she left Pennsylvania during a custody battle with the child’s father Guy Markus.
She left only a note telling Markus that she was leaving, and taking Daniel with her, recounted Central Berks Regional Police Department Det. Sgt. Deron M. Manndel on HLN’s “PrimeTime Justice” Monday night.
Months earlier, a judge ordered Cabrera to share custody with Markus.
Authorities initially thought Cabrera was headed to Mexico, where she was originally from, Manndel said on “PrimeTime Justice.” She was last seen in Austin, Texas.
“We were a couple days behind her and that’s where we lost her,” he said.
Cabrera will be extradited back to Berks County, Pennsylvania, Manndel said.