Grandparents Speak Out After 2 Abducted Guthrie Kids Are Found In Florida

Two Guthrie kids are back with their grandparents after officials said their father took them for nearly two months. The kids were found just a few days ago 1,200 miles away.

U.S. Marshals found Jaxon and Josie Townsend in Daytona Beach, Florida after they had been missing for nearly two months. Officials found the kids with their father, who they said did not have custody of them at the time.

A Logan County judge granted the kids’ maternal grandparents, Joy and Dan Newton, emergency guardianship of the kids.

But the kids were found on February 18 and were brought back home with their grandparents.

“They have been just chowing down on food and enjoying birthdays and Christmas that we didn’t get to celebrate,” said Dan Newton, the children’s grandpa.

According to Dan, the kids have shared that they have been traveling everywhere, including to Florida and Illinois.

“They have been through a lot and been moved around a great deal,” said Newton. “They have been in places that are less than ideal.

The kids’ father, Gary Daniel Townsend, was arrested and booked into jail in Florida. But he was released after the Newton’s said he wasn’t extradited to Logan County.

Joy and Dan Newton will be in court again with Townsend at the beginning of April. They will discuss where things go from here.