By Ole Braatelien January 30, 2025 at 4:55pm
Police have recovered two kidnapped girls whose mother was shot dead at a residence in Hanford, California, on Tuesday.
Earlier that day, the woman’s father — who lived down the street — had called police after he hadn’t heard from her.
Deputies arrived at the home and found 22-year-old Madeline Rose Cuevas dead, and her two daughters absent, according to a Kings County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post.
The girls were just 2 and 3 years old.
Police eventually identified the suspect as Jonathan Alexis Maldonado-Cruz, the toddlers’ father, according to KFSN-TV in Fresno.
KCSO Press Release – Homicide Investigation
** See Photos for Details ** pic.twitter.com/FStCedhJSx
— Kings County Sheriff’s Office (@KingsCoSheriff) January 29, 2025
In an update to its original post, the sheriff’s office said that Maldonado-Cruz was believed to have fled to Mexico with the children.
Police alerted the media that same night, but an Amber Alert was not issued until late the next morning.
Early Wednesday afternoon, however, the Kings County Sheriff’s Office announced that the two girls had been found, and that Maldonado-Cruz had been taken into custody.
UPDATE ON HOMICIDE & KIDNAPPING CASE
The KCSO Detective Unit, with the assistance of our State and Federal law enforcement partners, have located Alana and Arya Maldonado safe and have taken Jonathan Maldonado-Cruz into custody. pic.twitter.com/fxnTD5BnXs
— Kings County Sheriff’s Office (@KingsCoSheriff) January 30, 2025
“UPDATE ON HOMICIDE & KIDNAPPING CASE: The KCSO Detective Unit, with the assistance of our State and Federal law enforcement partners, have located [the children] safe and have taken Jonathan Maldonado-Cruz into custody,” the Kings County Sheriff’s Office announced on social media platform X.
FOUND: The Kings County Sheriff’s Office Detective Unit has found the missing girls after they were allegedly abducted by their father following the discovery of their mother’s body in a Hanford home. The father, Jonathan Maldonado, was taken into custody. https://t.co/mHD2zUuvPR
— BakersfieldNow (@bakersfieldnow) January 30, 2025
KCSO did not provide details as to where they recovered the children and arrested Maldonado-Cruz.
As for the deceased mother, Cuevas, she would have been 23 years old on Valentine’s Day, according to KFSN.
Her father said she was a supervisor at Costco and had recently purchased a home.
Ole Braatelien has written for The Western Journal since 2022. He earned his bachelor’s from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
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