2 Missing Maine Boys Found Safe, Father Arrested: Police

2 Missing Maine Boys Found Safe, Father Arrested: Police
Two missing Maine boys were found safe on April 30, 2019, according to police. (Presque Isle Police Department)
Janita Kan
5/1/2019
Updated:
5/1/2019

Two young brothers from Maine, who were believed to be taken by their father, were found safe on April 30, according to police.

Presque Isle Police Department officers said in a statement that they had located Joel Strother II, 12, and Carter Strother III, 10, in North Carolina. Their father Joel Strother has been taken into custody.

During the investigation, detectives determined the father had possibly taken both children in a 2006 metallic or pewter colored GMC Terrain with temporary paper registration plates to Florida on April 26. In an earlier post, police said the children could have also been taken to North or South Carolina.

A felony-level warrant was issued for the arrest of Strother last week.

Authorities said on April 29 that they were able to contact Strother, who refused to cooperate with law enforcement.

Authorities said information about the children’s whereabouts came from a tip from someone who saw the police Facebook post appealing for information from the public.

“Thank you everyone out there on Face Book! Because of you all sharing this information and getting the word out, we had a very happy outcome,” the statement read.

According to the FBI, there were over 424,000 National Crime Information Center entries of missing children in 2018.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said they have assisted law enforcement in more than 25,000 cases in 2018. Of those, four percent of cases are family abductions, while 92 percent are endangered runaways.