The search for the parents of a 10-year-old girl killed in a house fire Easter morning ended in White County Wednesday. Law enforcement arrested 47-year-old William Linn McCue and 38-year-old Carina Wisniewski McCue after tracking them to the Appalachian Trail.
“Our Fugitive Unit conducted a two-month search leading them to Helen, Georgia,” the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office says. Officers took the McCues into custody and charged them with one count each of first- and second-degree cruelty to children and false imprisonment. The sheriff’s office is withholding additional details of the arrests because the Gwinnett County Police Department is still investigating.
The McCue’s had been on the run since shortly after the deadly April 17 fire. Their 15-year-old son reportedly confessed to intentionally setting it. Police arrested him and charged him with arson, malice, and felony murder. They began investigating his parents when the arson investigation revealed evidence of possible child cruelty. First responders found Zoe McCue dead in a windowless bathroom that had a makeshift bed in the tub. And they discovered other evidence that suggested the five children who lived in the Loganville home were subjected to “unsanitary and dangerous living conditions,” police say.
The Department of Family and Children Services previously investigated the couple twice for allegations of child abuse, the AJC reports. The McCues are now being held without bond in the Gwinnett County Jail.
Multiple agencies were involved in their arrests including the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office, Gwinnett County Police Department, U.S. Marshals, Union County Sheriff’s Office, Department of Natural Resources, Georgia State Patrol, Gwinnett Fire and Emergency Services, and the White County Sheriff’s Office
