Sunday, March 11, 2018

Did the Missing Rucki Sisters Want To Be Found? (Newsweek)

From the Archives... 



Did the Missing Rucki Sisters Want To Be Found? by Max Kutner

"When Minnesota police and federal marshals executed a warrant at the remote White Horse Ranch this week, they found Samantha and Gianna Rucki, teenage sisters who had been missing since 2013. An ongoing investigation led police to the ranch, where the sisters were safe and in good health. But given that the Rucki girls, now 17 and 16, once gave a television interview while they were missing, it seems possible they were being hidden, and didn’t want to be found..."

ALSO READ:

(Nov 2015) Social Worker Recommended – Protective Care for Rucki Girls, Supervised Visits With Father Due to Safety Concerns

Court records reveal that a Dakota County social worker, believed abuse allegations raised by S.R. and G.R.  and fought to keep them in foster care in order to protect them from their father, David Rucki...
 
EPC Hearing Transcript Nov 30, 2015 (See page 23 for social worker’s recommendations)


Family Crisis Main Reason Children Run Away – Studies Validate Arguments Raised in Grazzini-Rucki Defense


Family crisis is the main reason kids runaway- escaping to the streets to avoid chaos, abuse in their homes… (2015 report, National Runaway Safeline)

Studies reveal that family crisis is the main reason why many kids run away from home.  47% of runaway / homeless youth indicated that conflict between them and their parent or guardian was a major problem. (Westat, Inc. 1997: National Runaway Safeline: Statistics ) 

 Further, a majority of runaways are victims of child abuse. According to another study, “80% of runaway and homeless girls reported having been sexually or physically abused. (Molnar, et al, 1998: National Runaway Safeline: Statistics)

Findings validate claims raised by the 4 defendants in the Grazzini-Rucki criminal trial, who raised the affirmative defense stating their actions to help two troubled teen sisters was not criminal, but rather an effort to keep them safe. The Rucki sisters, S.R. and G.R., ran away after learning of a court order that they felt would endanger their lives, on two separate occasions in September 2012 and again in April 2013. 

Both sisters have asserted, on numerous occasions, that they feared their father and ran away to escape his violence.Rucki social service records