RCMP have laid a series of charges against  Alison, 38, and Therese O’Driscoll, 68, for the abduction of 5-year-old Leonine O’Driscoll-Zak and 2-year-old Wyatt O’Driscoll-Zak of Cochrane.

They jointly face charges of forcible confinement, abduction of a person under 14, abduction in contravention of a parenting order, and abduction.

The children and their accused abductors were found at an undisclosed private residence in the Columbia Valley. The charges were laid without incident on the evening of April 14th.

Inspector Rick Jané, Southern Alberta Operations Officer for the Serious Crimes Branch, says the investigation continues, and no other charges against anyone else have been laid at this point.

That includes anyone who may have a party to their confinement, or their mother Jacqui O’Driscoll-Zak.

"We are still investigating as to whether the mother was aware of where her children and mother and sister were," confirmed Jané.

The children were last seen on March 12th, and the lengthy investigation that followed involved pursuing numerous avenues.

"In this case, we had information that we gathered that lead us to British Columbia, and that began to give us reasonable grounds to believe they were in that area."

The children remain with officials of Children's Services to assess the impact of the lengthy abduction. 

Jané said cases like this are especially difficult for the RCMP and provided limited details on the investigation.

"I can say that high conflict custody battles are some of the most challenging situations that the police are called to respond to. These challenges are due to the understandable emotional commitment of the parties, and intersecting roles of multiple government systems, including the courts, children's services and police."

Currently, processes are underway to have both accused returned to Alberta.

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