Girls Missing Since 2013 Found on Minn. Farm

Minnesota authorities on Wednesday located two teenage sisters from Lakeville who have been missing for more than two years. The girls were found at a horse farm in western Minnesota after police executed a search warrant, Lakeville police Lt. Jason Polinski told the Star Tribune. Gianna and Samantha Rucki, now 16 and 17, hadn't been seen in public since April 2013 after disappearing in a custody dispute. The girls' mother, Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, was arrested last month in Florida but has declined to provide information on their whereabouts to investigators. "Both Samantha and Gianna were found safe and in seemingly good health," Lakeville police said in statement Wednesday. "The sisters will return to Dakota County where the unification process can begin."

Grazzini-Rucki is in the Dakota County jail after her arrest on charges of felony deprivation of parental rights. In November 2013, a Dakota County judge granted the girls' father, David Rucki, full custody of his children. Police believed an underground network of family court critics was hiding the Rucki sisters. Polinski said evidence obtained from a search of a woman's home in St. Cloud led them to the White Horse Ranch. The woman is a supporter of the "Protective Parent" movement that argues the family courts are broken and frequently award custody to abusive parents. On its website, the White Horse Ranch describes itself as a nonprofit where abused children and horses come together. In an interview in April, Grazzini-Rucki denied having anything to do with her daughters' disappearance. (More missing child stories.)