JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A Michigan woman was arrested in Duval County after kidnapping her two daughters nearly two weeks ago.
Courtney Peck, according to WXYZ in Michigan, took her two daughters on a road trip on Aug. 13 and was due to return with them on Aug. 21, however she took them across state lines.
Caitlin, 8, and Charlotte, 5, were able to speak to their father, James Peck, after the first couple of days, but the conversations were brief. James was worried for their safety because of Courtney's past.
In 2015, she was arrested after fleeing from police in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, with her infant son, not belonging to James, in the car and she skipped a recent court hearing, according to WXYZ. The couple have been divorced less than a year and according to James, she had never kept them longer than their scheduled visitation times.
James said he wasn't sure he was ever going to hear from them again because it had been so long. He received a call Saturday from bail bondsmen who had found his daughters safe here in Jacksonville.
Michigan father reunited with two little girls after mother kidnapped them and drove to Jax Beach. @FCN2go pic.twitter.com/L4ap7dBd7G
— Brittany Dionne (@BrittDionneTV) September 4, 2016
"I was shocked," James said. "I was just so happy and excited and scared. I told them, 'Don't let them out of your sight,' and got down here as fast as I could."
James said when he talked to his daughters on the phone, they didn't know they had left their home state and thought they were in Beaver Island, a place in northern Michigan. The house they were found in was said by authorities to be filthy and unfit for anyone to live in.
Home where bounty hunters found the 2 girls. Says the inside is filthy. Unfit for anyone to live in. @FCN2go pic.twitter.com/5hNRRG0clX
— Brittany Dionne (@BrittDionneTV) September 4, 2016
The girls will be returning to school on Tuesday, and Charlotte, who just turned five on Monday, will be starting Kindergarten.
