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Alleged Killer Couple Who Murdered Woman And Abducted Her Children Charged, Face Life Behind Bars

By Tito Ojo-Medubi
Published on: 05:21 PST, Sep 23, 2016

A couple identified as Joshua Robertson, 27, and Brittany Humphrey, 22, were arrested in Colorado for allegedly killing a mother and kidnapping her three kids and have been charged as of Thursday with murder and kidnapping by Los Angeles County District officials, KTLA News is reporting.

Robertson, who was penciled to appear in court Thursday, refused to come out of his cell. Humphrey is still awaiting extradition from Colorado. A DA spokesman said bail was expected to be set at $2 million for the 27-year-old man who allegedly was the one who pulled the trigger and shot his girlfriend’s stepsister.

Robertson and Humphrey were arrested in Pueblo, 40 miles south of Colorado Springs after being declared as wanted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The discovery of Kimberly Harvill’s body riddled with bullets in an isolated area of Los Angeles County and her missing children had sparked a massive hunt to find the persons of interest.

The couple was arrested less than a day after the children they had abducted were found unharmed in a motel on the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Police had been called to the motel for an unrelated matter and found the three children, aged between two and five at the hotel. The children are in the process of being returned to California where they will be united with relatives or placed in state custody.

Robertson and Humphrey were picked up two blocks away with an 18-month-old child who allegedly is the daughter of a prison convict. Authorities say that Harvill was killed within 24 hours of being found and are saying that the trio were methamphetamine users.

The father of Harvill’s children, Kenneth Watkins, had committed suicide in 2015 by lying in front of a train. Kimberly and her children were having a difficult time living out of motels and depending on panhandling to get by.

However, at the time of Kimberly’s death, she was staying with her stepsister and boyfriend in Lebec, an incorporated area of Los Angeles County.

Michelle, Humphrey’s godmother had told police Brittany was innocent, arguing that her goddaughter had nothing to do with Harvill’s death or the kidnapping of the children.

“She loved her sister and she loves those babies. The fact that she’s missing is just as concerning as the fact their mother is dead.”

Police had said it was suspicious that the persons of interest in the case had disappeared before they could be brought in for routine questioning.

“Due to the fact that immediately after the murder or sometimes shortly after, it is suspicious that they did not come forward to law enforcement and instead they fled eastbound towards other states.”

A spokesman for the police said the alleged killers had relatives in Nebraska, Kansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, adding that they could easily have eluded authorities. Charging documents revealed that Humphrey and Robertson had been planning to kill Harvill for awhile and had forcibly made the children leave with them by scaring them.

It is unconfirmed if Joshua Robertson and Brittany Humphrey have any legal representation. Robertson has been charged with one count of possessing a firearm by a felon. He had two prior complaints. Robertson and Humphrey were previously charged with kidnapping, it was later amended to include murder. Both of the suspects face life imprisonment if convicted.

Harvill’s Facebook page which has since been activated showed her in a picture with her stepsister and Robertson having a drink, two days before her dead body was found. Her profile picture had suggested that she recently got engaged before she died.

“Soon to be Mrs. Keithley,” she captioned the selfie taken August 4 with an unnamed man.

[Featured Image by Frances Twitty/iStock]

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