Couple Who Fled During Trial Nabbed By Feds

A Middletown Township couple who disappeared during their trial for endangering the welfare of their kids has been captured by federal authorities.

Albert Dunkowski, 54, and Christine Dunkowski, 47, skipped out as the closing arguments of their trial took place on October 6 at the Bucks County Justice Center.

In absentia, the couple were convicted of three counts each of endangering the welfare of a child.

Warrants were issued for the couple’s arrest and the U.S. Marshal’s Service picked up the case.

Christine Dunkowski was arrested last Friday in Wilmington, Delaware, and Albert Dunkowski was nabbed Thursday in Maryland.

From the U.S. Marshal Service:

On Friday, October 15 at approximately 10:30 a.m., Deputy Marshals and Task Force Officers from the Delaware and Philadelphia offices apprehended Christine Dunkowski at a motel located in the 1000 block of south Market Street in Wilmington, Delaware. On October 21 at 11:30 a.m., Deputies and task force officers from Philadelphia and the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Albert Dunkowski at a bus stop in the 200 block of Belle Hill Road in Elkton, Maryland. Both arrests were made without incident. These apprehensions were a result of a joint investigation including U.S. Marshal’s Offices in Eastern Pennsylvania, the District of Delaware, the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, and the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.

The two will have to be extradited to Bucks County.

The two will be charged with flight to avoid apprehension, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.

“Crimes against children loom at the forefront of human tragedy. We immensely appreciate the opportunity to support Bucks County DA Matt Weintraub and the Bucks County Detectives’ always diligent efforts to identify, capture and prosecute those that perpetrate such heinous crimes,” said Eric Gartner, U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Bucks County President Judge Wallace Bateman has delayed sentencing until the Dunkowski’s were in custody again. Bail has been revoked for the couple.

The two were arrested in 2019 after officers found them and four kids – ages 5, 6, 9, and 13 – sleeping in a vehicle at the Woodbourne Train Station. The family was living in the vehicle and the nearby woods, authorities said.

While the couple objected to medics being called, police requested them because they observed the children “appeared sickly.”

At the trial, Deputy District Attorney Matt Lannetti said the conditions in the vehicle were so bad that bugs were crawling around, there was trash piled so high the view of one child was obstructed, and there was a strong odor of urine and feces.

An evaluation by a doctor found the kids were malnourished and had urine-soaked pants. The two youngest were in diapers that had not been changed and a girl with cerebral palsy had bed sores all over her body, police said.

Police learned the couple had more kids who weren’t with them in the vehicle at the train station.

One girl was found at a family friend’s home with serious neglect-caused dental problems. She couldn’t chew on one side of her mouth, authorities said.

Another child was located in Falls Township and was malnourished and 30 pounds underweight, authorities said.

Albert Dunkowski told police the family ended up living in the vehicle and in a wooded encampment near the train station after they lost their home following a fight with a family member.

During the trial, prosecutors told the court none of the kids went to school and the family never had contact with social services agencies.

The children are recovering from the neglect after being taken away from their parents.