3 children kidnapped in Los Angeles County found safe, suspects on the run

GORMAN — A search continued outside California today for a couple wanted in coection with the shooting death of a Fresno mother as Los Angeles Sheriff’s detectives work to determine the motive for her slaying and the subsequent kidnapping of her children.

The three children of 26-year-old Kimberly Harvill, whose body was found two weeks ago in unincorporated Lebec in Kern County, were found safe Wednesday in a motel outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the care of a good Samaritan who notified local law enforcement, said Deputy Kimberly Alexander of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Information Bureau.

Their alleged kidnappers, Harvill’s 22-year-old sister, Brittany Humphrey, and her friend, 27-year-old Joshua Robertson, are wanted in the kidnapping and for questioning in coection to Harvill’s homicide, authorities said.

Harvill’s body was found Aug. 14 in some brush by a motorist traveling along Gorman Post Road, north of State Route 138. She had been shot in the upper body, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported.

Alexander said the sheriff’s department will be coordinating their efforts with the Department of Children and Family Services to arrange for the safe return of Harvill’s children -- Josly Watkins, 2, Brayden Watkins, 3, and Rylee Watkins, 5 -- to California.

Investigators have learned that Robertson also has in his care a toddler unrelated to the other children, Alexander said. She is Robertson’s 20-month-old daughter and was handed over to him by her mother before she went to jail, according to broadcast reports.

Humphrey and Robertson “are still on the run and believed to be eastbound from Albuquerque toward neighboring states,” she said.

The suspects may have family in Nebraska, and have some ties to Kansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, Mendoza said.

Robertson and Humphrey are believed to be traveling in Harvill’s green 1999 Ford Expedition, which may bear California license plate number 7BEK024, or paper plates.

Robertson has a criminal history, is on post-release community supervision, and has a previous arrest for possession of a firearm, authorities said. He should be considered armed and dangerous and the public is advised to not approach the suspects if they are spotted but to notify law enforcement, according to the sheriff’s department.

Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. To provide information anonymously, call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477) or access the website http://lacrimestoppers.org.

Advertisement