Missing boys found

The FBI has located two boys who have been missing since late May.

Mimi C. Hiibel, 35, as well as her six-year-old son, Leo Isador Hiibel-Cloutier, and 17-year-old Gene W. “GW” Heckman, were found in Lawrence, Kan.

Local law enforcement and the FBI are reportedly working to reunite the children with their fathers. Hiibel has been taken into custody.

The boys were last seen the morning of May 31 in Rathdrum at Super 1 Foods. Reportedly facing the loss of her custodial rights over her six-year-old son, authorities said they thought Hiibel may have been heading to Winnemucca, Nev., where she lived as a child and has relatives. Their disappearance prompted an Amber Alert.

Hiibel began showing up in Kootenai County court records in 2014 when she was cited for two counts of injury to a child, both of them misdemeanors, and both were dismissed by prosecutors.

She was cited two more times in 2015, also for injury to a child. Both counts were dismissed.

Misdemeanor injury to a child can be charged any time an adult allows a child to be in harm’s way. In one of the 2015 cases, Hiibel was allegedly transporting a child in her car while she was under the influence of alcohol.

The 2015 charges included a DUI, one misdemeanor count of having an open container of alcohol and two counts of assaulting police officers, also misdemeanors.

The charges came about the same time as her custody battle with Robert A. Cloutier, 62, of Rathdrum, who is Leo Isador Hiibel-Cloutier’s father. Court records show that Hiibel was already engaged in a custody battle in Winnemucca at the time because of earlier Kootenai County charges.

Since her 2015 misdemeanor convictions, Hiibel was twice charged with custodial interference. Both of those misdemeanors were also dismissed in First District Court.

Last month, after a report was filed by a court-appointed child guardian, attorneys for Cloutier asked the court for a temporary restraining order against Hiibel and to have her visitation rights taken away.

The investigation is ongoing.

Ralph Bartholdt contributed to this report.