Couple charged with killing woman and kidnapping her children
A man and woman have been charged with murder and kidnapping after the woman’s stepsister was found dead and the pair whisked her children away, prosecutors said Thursday.
Britney Humphrey, 22, and her boyfriend, Joshua Robertson, 27, were caught about 100 miles south of Denver last month after being named “persons of interest” in the death of Humphrey’s stepsister, Kimberly Harvill, and the disappearance of Harvill’s three children.
The children were found when they were left “in the care of a good Samaritan” at a hotel on the outskirts of Albuquerque on Aug. 24, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said in a statement.
Humphrey and Robertson were captured outside a motel in Pueblo, Colo., a day later.
On Thursday, prosecutors charged Robertson with murder in the fatal shooting of Harvill, being a felon with two prior convictions being in possession of a firearm and kidnapping Harvill’s three children. Humphrey also was charged with murder and kidnapping. They face up to life in prison if convicted on all charges.
Harvill’s body was found along Gorman Post Road in Lebec, in Kern County, on Aug. 14.
A motorist who was taking a rest during a long drive spotted the slain woman’s body lying in roadside brush. She had multiple upper-body gunshot wounds and head trauma.
Detectives determined that Harvill, Humphrey and Robertson had lived together in Fresno but were staying in Lebec in the days before the slaying.
“They were known to go from motel to motel,” sheriff’s homicide Lt. Joe Mendoza said.
For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.
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