GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (TCD) — A 67-year-old woman was arrested eight months after she allegedly abducted her two young grandchildren, who were considered endangered and missing.
The 9-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl were last seen May 14, 2023, with their grandmother Jacqueline Ballard at a home on Aspen Lane in Hotchkiss. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said Ballard was their “noncustodial family member” and she was believed to be driving a gray Subaru Outback.
On June 1, a U.S. Marshal working for the Colorado Violent Offender Task Force in Grand Junction learned about the missing children and started working with state and local law enforcement agencies to help locate them. Officials out of Hotchkiss and Delta County issued an arrest warrant for Ballard on a charge of violating a custody order. The U.S. Marshals Violent Offender Task Force adopted the investigation, which escalated it to a “Major Case” status.
In a statement, the U.S. Marshals said officials “conducted an aggressive investigation” into the whereabouts of Ballard and the children.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation issued a missing person alert, which led investigators to reportedly learn Ballard had connections to five different states in the western United States. The Colorado Violent Offender Task Force issued 12 warrants during their investigation and eventually learned Ballard would be traveling back to Hotchkiss with the missing children.
On Wednesday, Jan. 10, officers from several law enforcement agencies — including the Department of Homeland Security, United States Postal Service inspectors, and others — surveilled Ballard’s home on Aspen Avenue. Investigators spoke with the children’s aunt, Danielle Ballard, and eventually made their way into Ballard’s home, where they located the two kids.
The U.S. Marshals said the “safety of the children was of the utmost priority.” They are now in the custody of Child Protective Services.
Jacqueline Ballard and Danielle Ballard were both arrested and booked into the Delta County Jail.
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