Amber Alert deactivated: California kids found alive, their father in custody after mother killed

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Friday, January 31, 2025
Kings County kids found safe, father in custody for mother's murder, officials say
Two children who were taken from their home in Kings County have been found safe after their mother was killed earlier this week.

KINGS COUNTY, Calif. -- Two children who were taken from their home in California's Kings County were found safe Thursday after their mother was killed earlier this week.

The Kings County Sheriff's Office says a two-year-old girl and a three-year-old girl were taken from the home by their father, 23-year-old Jonathan Alexis Maldonado-Cruz, prompting an Amber Alert that encompassed a large swath of the state.

Maldonado-Cruz is suspected of shooting and killing the girls' mother, 22-year-old Madeline Rose Cuevas, in a home in Hanford.

Joel Cuevas, Madeline's father, called 911 when he hadn't heard from his daughter, who lives down the street from him. She was found dead in the home.

Detectives believe the shooting happened sometime late Monday night or early Tuesday morning, giving Maldonado-Cruz about a 15-hour head start on authorities.

The FBI began tracking Maldonado-Cruz's cellphone, finding that he had already crossed the border into Mexico.

The sheriff's office worked with authorities in Mexico and Maldonado-Cruz's mother to negotiate with him about returning the girls.

On Thursday, Maldonado-Cruz handed the girls over to law enforcement at the border crossing in San Ysidro, just south of San Diego.

Maldonado-Cruz was taken into custody and the girls will be reunited with family.

Cuevas says that Madeline worked as a supervisor at Costco and the young mother recently bought a home.

She would have turned 23 years old on Valentine's Day.

Cuevas' family has created a GoFundMe to help provide care for her daughters.

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