Three kidnapped children of Kimberly Harvill, a woman found slain in Los Angeles County, were found safe Wednesday in a New Mexico motel.
According to information from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Harvill's half-sister, Brittany Humphrey, 22, and Humphrey’s boyfriend, Joshua Robertson, 27, allegedly kidnapped the children and are "persons of interest" in the woman's death, The Los Angeles Times reported.
The children — Joslynn Watkins, 2; Brayden Watkins, 3; and Rylee Watkins, 5 — were left in the care of a good Samaritan at the motel while Humphrey and Robertson are believed to be headed east from Albuquerque.
Harvill was found dead Aug. 14 along a road in rural Los Angeles County with gunshot wounds and head trauma.
Robertson and Humphrey are considered armed and dangerous and may be traveling with an infant unrelated to the other children in a silver or forest green 1999 Ford Expedition, the Times said. They have family in Nebraska and ties to Kansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
The motel where the children were found is about 700 miles east of where their mother's body was found, CBS news reported.
The children’s father died previously, CBS News reported, adding that they have a grandmother in Fresno, where they lived with their mother, who moved from motel to motel and panhandled. They appear to have been staying with Humphrey and Robertson before the slaying.
The couple are considered persons of interest "due to the fact that immediately after the murder or sometime shortly after, it is suspicious that they did not come forward to law enforcement and instead they fled eastbound towards other states," Lt. Joe Mendoza said, according to CBS.
Harvill's friend, Hannah Anderson, remembered her as a loving mother, KABC-TV reported.
"She loved her kids more than life," Anderson said. "She was a great mom. She was a great wife. She was just altogether just a wonderful, wonderful person that everybody is going to definitely miss a lot."