(Spencer)– The woman accused of kidnapping her three children in Spencer last week has died in a Georgia hospital.
Clay County Sheriff Randy Krukow says 30-year-old Samantha Pardue died over the weekend at the northeast Georgia Medical Center. Krukow was told she died of natural causes.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety issued an Amber Alert last Wednesday after Pardue and her husband Keith took their three children from their grandparents home in Spencer. All five were located the next day in Cleveland, Georgia at the home of a relative of Keith Pardue.
Krukow says Georgia law enforcement told him of Samantha’s death Saturday night. She was transferred to a hospital from jail Friday night after complaining of breathing problems.
The grandparents left for Georgia Friday. They hope to bring 12-year-old Starla, 10-year-old Ryan and six-year-old Skyla back to Spencer with them.
Samantha and Keith Pardue were being held in jail on a felony custodial violation out of Iowa.
(Story from Danielle Hitchings of sister station KDWD Hot 100 in Spencer).
