Midwest
Utah mom kept missing daughter, 5, hidden in cult 'compound' for months with help from adult sons: prosecutors
![Utah mom kept missing daughter, 5, hidden in cult 'compound' for months with help from adult sons: prosecutors Utah mom kept missing daughter, 5, hidden in cult 'compound' for months with help from adult sons: prosecutors](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Drolet.jpg)
A Utah woman is accused of kidnapping her then-4-year-old daughter in January 2023 and evading law enforcement for 18 months, with help from her adult sons, before she was finally caught.
At the time when Kimberly Dell Davidson-Drolet, 53, allegedly kidnapped her daughter, she and her now-estranged husband, Laurence Drolet, were in the process of getting a divorce.
After 14 months of planning, on Jan. 10, 2023, Davidson-Drolet sold her vehicle in Utah for $13,000 and deposited the check into her bank account, according to a federal indictment.
Three days later, she withdrew $16,000 and transferred the remaining balance to her sister, Kristine Merrill, over the next month.
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Kimberly Dell Davidson-Drolet is charged with kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. (Buchanan County Sheriff)
On Jan. 23, 2023, Davidson-Drolet allegedly packed their personal belongings in duffle bags, piled them into her 30-year-old son Jaxson Davidson’s truck and drove cross-country to Missouri.
She left her personal cellphone at home in Utah and purchased a burner phone, federal court documents state.
Jaxon’s attorney, Craig Johnson, told Fox News Digital in a statement that the defendant is “presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, according to his constitutional rights,” and he will not be commenting further because it is an open criminal case.
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Merrill later told police that she destroyed Davidson-Drolet’s personal phone when she had allegedly given it to Davidson-Drolet’s 23-year-old son, Dallas Davidson.
Jaxson Davidson allegedly admitted to discussing taking the child out of state, and Merrill was present at the time and assisted with Davidson-Drolet’s departure, authorities wrote in court filings.
![Kimberly Dell Davidson-Drolet's daughter](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/1723965796_511_Utah-mom-kept-missing-daughter-5-hidden-in-cult-x27compoundx27.jpg)
More than a year after Kimberly Dell Davidson-Drolet allegedly kidnapped her daughter from Utah, authorities would discover the now-5-year-old girl at “a compound run by a religious cult leader Paul Dean who is the founder of an FLDS religious type cult.” (NCMEC)
More than a year later, authorities would discover the now-5-year-old girl at “a compound run by a religious cult leader Paul Dean who is the founder of an FLDS religious type cult,” according to a complaint filed against Davidson-Drolet reads, referring to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
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Dean is reportedly a White, self-described Christian man who founded two “Native American” churches in Missouri, according to local news outlet Springfield Daily Citizen. He calls himself “Man Found Standing.”
Dean, who is not charged in the kidnapping case, is involved in Native American traditions like sweat lodges and believes bitcoin is the solution of government instability.
“I thought: Here’s a solution. Here’s a way you can go and store value … that isn’t controlled by governments,” Dean can be heard saying in a 2017 YouTube video.
READ THE INDICTMENT:
Davidson-Drolet allegedly concealed her whereabouts by using burner phones and mailing letters back home to her other children through her sister via the U.S. Postal Service.
In her letters, she apparently said she felt safe in Missouri because “they don’t participate in extradition” and she and Dean were planning to “flee to Thailand,” the indictment reads.
“Kimberly Davidson-Drolet and other coconspirators went through great lengths to utilize pre-paid cellular phones that were rotated regularly to prevent law enforcement interception,” the complaint reads.
Davidson-Drolet, her sons, Jaxson and Dallas Davidson, and Merrill have all been charged with kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
Read the full article from Here
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Detroit, MI
NOTEBOOK: Vaki impresses in Lions' preseason win over Chiefs
Saturday was the second big-time pressure situation kicker Jake Bates found himself in this week.
It turns out Bates, Scott Daly and assistant special teams coach Jett Modkins made the finals of the Lions Fowling tournament earlier this week but lost in a close final.
“We had this Fowling competition and he’s in the championship and he makes two critical throws in crunch time and there’s something about this kid that’s intriguing,” Campbell said. “He’s got a little bit of confidence to him.”
Bates said after kicking a game-winning 43-yard field goal to walk it off for the Lions against the Chiefs, he tries to stay as even-keeled as possible and never gets too high or too low depending on the situation. Fowling included, he joked. He made all four of his field goals against the Chiefs (55, 23, 32, 43) and was 1-for-2 on extra points.
“It feels good to make kicks,” Bates said after the game. “Obviously, I can’t have that (missed) extra point happen. I can’t put our offense in that situation where they have to go for two in the fourth to tie it. So, just keep getting better and never settling is big. But making kicks is always fun.”
Milwaukee, WI
Milwuakee's Hoancoming Fresh Coast Party lit up the sky Saturday night
MILWAUKEE — The Hoancoming: Milwaukee’s Fresh Coast Party certainly drew a crowd and dazzled spectators with a light show featuring drones Saturday night.
Currently, there are only lights on the West side of the bridge, but in addition to the party, Hoancoming is also an annual fundraiser to raise money for lights on the East side of the bridge. Raised money also goes to general maintenance and community programs.
Boats began to arrive around 8 p.m. in anticipation of the show, and the shore under the hoan was filled with spectators. The show began around 8:30 p.m. and went for about a half hour.
Rado Milwaukee’s mobile app and 88.9FM broadcasted DJ Shawna to accompany the light show.
The drones flew up and over the Hoan from the North and sketched out the words, “Hoancoming” and “Light the Hoan” at the beginning of the show.
Here are some of the cool drone pictures:
Light the Hoan
Light the Hoan
Light the Hoan
Light the Hoan
Light the Hoan
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Minneapolis, MN
Growing encampment in South Minneapolis prompts safety concerns
![Growing encampment in South Minneapolis prompts safety concerns Growing encampment in South Minneapolis prompts safety concerns](https://kstp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/0817-JFK-HOMELESS-ENCAMPMENT-BROLL_mp4_00.02.08.42.jpg)
Welna Hardware is a family business with deep roots in South Minneapolis.
“We’ve been on the block for seventy years,” owner Mark Welna says.
But he explains he has concerns about a new neighbor.
“We have another encampment in the old Super America parking lot,” Welna notes. “It’s just been very tough on the neighborhood.”
He says about three weeks ago, a couple of tents began appearing just across the street, at East 25th Street and Bloomington Avenue.
The encampment is now much bigger — and Welna says it’s having an impact.
“The shoplifting at the store, the panhandling, people afraid to come across Lake Street and shop at our store,” he declares. “On a daily basis, we’ve had people coming in and out that we’ve had to kick out that have been from the encampment.”
Welna, who has tenants living in a building next to the encampment, says some of them have moved out because of safety concerns.
“It’s really unsafe, and we really need something done,” says Angel Roa. “This is getting worse every time.”
Roa, a longtime employee at the store, has lived in the building since 1992.
He showed us hypodermic needles littering an alley behind his apartment — and part of a cardboard box used as an outdoor restroom.
Roa says the needles began appearing when the encampment went up.
He adds his 80-year-old mother, visiting from Puerto Rico, is afraid to leave the building.
“Every time we have to open the door, there’s people blocking the door using heroin and all kinds of drugs,” Roa says. “You see young people doing the heroin and stuff right in your face. It is sad.”
Welna says he believes police are doing what they can — there is an MPD security camera right next to the encampment.
“I feel bad that people feel like that, I don’t like it that people are scared or in fear, but I doubt that’s happening,” declares Nicole Nalewaja.
A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crew tried to speak with people in the encampment but were asked to leave.
But Nalewaja — who says she has friends and family there, agreed to be interviewed.
“We started in tents, teepees, and wigwams, whatever, right?” she says. “So, it’s like a community, we’re like a family, right, so why is that a bad thing?”
Nalewaja disputes that encampment residents have done any shoplifting at Welna’s store — and says there were drug issues in the area long before the encampment arrived.
She argues that people have a right to live there.
“We don’t want to live in houses, some people don’t want to live in houses, they want to live like we used to live,” Nalewaja declares. “So, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
City Council member Jason Chavez, who represents the area, released a statement Saturday, which says in part:
“People are going to live outside until we have enough public health infrastructure to meet their needs. If we don’t have adequate shelter space that’s effective for people and they have nowhere to go, they will be living outside in the community.”
Chavez says the city recently lost a total of one-hundred-thirty shelter beds, run by two different programs, despite a search for resources by Agate, a Minneapolis housing and services non-profit.
He says he’s also reached out to city staff to see how to address issues like more “proactively cleaning up the neighborhood and cleaning up the needles.”
On Monday, Ward 8 Council Member Andrea Jenkins is hosting a meeting to discuss the city’s unhoused community and encampment issues.
Chavez says the City Council will hold a public hearing on September 11th to discuss one of four ordinances designed to address homelessness in the city.
Still — Roa says he’s worried about the future.
“Ten years from now, what’s my neighborhood going to be?” he asks. “I work here, I go to church here, I go to the bars here, my grocery store is a few blocks away. This has been my life for over thirty years.”
Welna — who’s planning to sell the store to his children to keep the business in the family, hopes there will be a path to move forward.
“It’s very, very sad. I’m kind of at my wit’s end about this situation,” he says. “But I would hate to close down the store because of crime. That’s the part that really, it tugs at my heart.”
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