Missing Utah mother, children found unharmed

ST. GEORGE, Utah (KSL.com) — A St. George mother and her three young children who police said were “missing and endangered” have been found safe by the Nevada Highway Patrol.

St. George police issued a brief statement just after 2 p.m. saying that Brittany Etta Deal, 27, and her three children — age 2, 5 and 9 — had been found unharmed and that David Gene Remley, 36, was in custody.

“St. George police detectives are working with the Nevada Highway Patrol to determine what happened. More information will be released when it becomes available,” the department stated.

Deal and her children had not been heard from since Monday afternoon and police put out an alert calling them “missing and endangered.” The children were last seen being picked up from a St. George day care center about 5:15 p.m. Monday by Remley.

“David was driving a white GMC Terrain registered to Brittany Deal. It is unknown if Brittany was inside the vehicle or anything about her whereabouts,” St. George police announced in a statement Tuesday. “There is an active protective order between David and Brittany and the children from a recent family fight. Because of this, we consider Brittany, Quetin, Braylee and Briston to be endangered.”

According to the Missing People in America website, Deal was not believed to have been in the vehicle.

By Tuesday afternoon, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada, which borders southwest Utah, posted on its Facebook page that Remley “could possibly be in our area do not approach. If you have any information or come in contact with male or vehicle pictured please contact LCSO immediately.”

Remley has a long history of domestic violence, according to court records. Most recently, he was charged Friday in 5th District Court with aggravated assault, a second-degree felony; and three counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, violating a protective order and witness tampering, third-degree felonies. A warrant was issued Friday for his arrest.

The charges stem from an Aug. 14 incident during which Deal was hospitalized following a fight with Remley, her boyfriend, according to court documents. Remley head-butted Deal, causing her to lose consciousness, charging documents state. Deal had a protective order against Deal at the time that was issued June 29 due to a prior domestic violence incident.

In June, Remley was arrested and later charged with assaulting Deal when she told him she no longer wanted to be with him, according to a police booking affidavit.