fabricate allegations in order to get back at their ex but it cant negate the many thousands of other cases where parents are genuinely trying to protect children who are genuinely at risk she said well at that point we knew sandy was involved he said what i was hearing coming out of their mouths was hard david rucki said everything was going through my mind i dont know what to think grazzinirucki said 151 it was a bitter cold evening in april 2013 when sisters samantha and gianna rucki ran away from their lakeville minnesota home its like a little pin sticking in your heart and you cant get rid of that little pain he said two and a half years into the rucki divorce the judge awarded full custody of all five children to david rucki in november 2013 dismissing sandra grazziniruckis allegations of abuse thats what i saw is two children begging for help again and they didnt get it after he saw the girls on tv david rucki said he made weekly calls to the police and spent countless hours searching on his own but got nowhere the five rucki children were at the center of the bitter custody and divorce battle between their parents sandra grazzinirucki and david rucki i dont remember any of this joan meier a law professor at george washington university and founder of the domestic violence legal empowerment and appeals project dv leap said when mothers claim abuse their chances of losing custody are extremely high if you raise abuse especially child abuse youve got to make a very strong case meier said if you cant nail it not only will you lose custody they left without their shoes or coats and disappeared into the night she is awaiting trial and declined to discuss any details directly related it you think of all these terrible scenarios they said they were helping the girls out of good intentions because they said samantha and gianna told them their father was abusive when their father david rucki who owned a multimillion dollar trucking business found out his girls had disappeared he said he was terrified the girls were found almost three years later alive healthy and living at a therapeutic horse farm less than three hours away from their family home i see their shoes and their backpacks so im thinking theyve got to be here i didnt recognize em because you know you know your children grazzinirucki maintains that she did not tell any of her children to run away but at this point police suspected that not only did grazzinirucki have contact with the two missing girls but also that she had help hiding them grazzinirucki claims thats exactly what happened to her immediately after being taken from the dahlens horse ranch samantha now 17 and gianna now 16 were placed into foster care when the star tribune published nathans story david