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Jon Collins

Minnesota mom charged for hiding daughters in custody fight

West of Alexandria
A police car is driven into a garage near where authorities located two teenage sisters from Lakeville who have been missing for more than two years.
Jerry Holt | Star Tribune via AP

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The Dakota County Attorney's Office has charged an Elko, Minn., woman with hiding her two teenage daughters from their father for more than two years by bringing them to a horse farm in Grant County.

Sandra Sue Grazzini-Rucki was charged Monday with six felony counts of deprivation of custodial rights. Grazzini-Rucki was arrested last month in Florida in connection with the girls' disappearance. She'd previously faced three charges in the case.

The two girls were reported missing by their paternal aunt on April 19, 2013. Gianna and Samantha Rucki, who are now aged 15 and 17 according to the criminal complaint, were under the care of their paternal aunt before their disappearance.

Their aunt believed their mother had picked them up, but Grazzini-Rucki denied knowing where they were throughout the investigation.

The girls' father, David Rucki, was awarded custody of the two girls and their three siblings in November 2013. The judge in that case described Grazzini-Rucki's testimony about her daughters' whereabouts as "uncooperative" and obstructionist.

A witness told investigators in June that he was with Grazzini-Rucki when she picked the girls up near the family home in Lakeville. The witness said the girls ran across a snow-covered field and jumped into the car.

The witness said Grazzini-Rucki was talking on the phone with Michael Rhedin, who she was living with at the time, about where she could take the girls and added she was later "tight-lipped" about where her daughters were.

Law enforcement officers found Gianna and Samantha Rucki at the White Horse Ranch near Herman, Minn., on Nov. 18. Investigators said finding the girls was a result of a series of search warrants that were issued in the case.

The ranch is described on its website as "a non-profit faith-based horse ranch where children and families can experience healing and wholeness through animals and the grace of God's love."