US mother accused of abducting children, then posing as father
A US woman accused of abducting her two young children from their father, then radically changing her appearance and assuming his identity, was in custody on suspicion of kidnapping, North Carolina authorities said.
Shellie White, 30, was taken into custody in Roanoke Rapids on Friday, more than two years after she was charged with custodial interference in the children’s disappearance, the US Marshals Service said. Her ex-husband, Ernest Karnes, was living in Globe, Arizona, and had custody at the time.
“Ms White radically changed her appearance to that of a man and assumed many aliases,” including her ex-husband’s, the US Marshals Service said.
“She even went so far as to tell her children, aged three and five at the time, that she was their father,” the Marshals Service said. “When she was arrested, the children, now aged six and eight, asked why they were arresting their daddy.”
Karnes said the break came when a debt collector led detectives to White’s home.
