Published: March 5, 2012 7:42 PM EST
Updated: March 5, 2012 7:42 PM EST

Fugitive mom arrested trying to cross border

The Associated Press

A Louisiana woman accused of kidnapping her 7-year-old daughter has been arrested trying to cross into Canada with the girl after a month of fleeing authorities.

Laney Smith, 29, was arrested early Sunday at Montana's Port of Sweet Grass near the Canadian border on a St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office warrant on kidnapping charges, authorities said.

Smith fled with the girl on Feb. 5 after a judge awarded the girl's father full custody when Smith failed to appear at the hearing, U.S. Marshals said. Reports put Smith, husband Cody Wyble and the child in the Little Rock, Ark., area at one point in late February.

On Saturday, alert Canada Border Services Agency officers discovered Smith's outstanding warrant as she, Wyble and two children attempted to cross into Alberta. Canadian officials turned her over to U.S. border agents and she was arrested shortly after midnight without incident.

Smith was being held at the Toole County Detention Center in Shelby pending extradition to St. Landry Parish. Her husband was not arrested.

Authorities did not identify the second child in the group. Both children are in the custody of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.

Marshals said the 7-year-old girl has a serious medical condition that they did not identify and which requires extensive care and medication.

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