University of Utah police were expected to fly to Billings, Mont., Friday to escort Christopher and Kyndra Fink back to Utah.
U. police planned to return the couple to the state on a commercial airline flight, the same afternoon flight that brought their children David, 22 months, and Elijah, 14 days old, back to Utah on Wednesday.The couple has been in federal custody since Monday, when they were discovered hiding out in the rugged Beartooth Mountains. They appeared Friday morning in a Montana district court and waived extradition.
Christopher, 22, and Kyndra, 24, face felony kidnapping and aggravated assault charges in Utah stemming from the alleged Sept. 19 abduction of their son David from Primary Children's Medical Center.
The child was suffering from dehydration and malnutrition and weighed only 16 pounds when he was admitted to Primary Children's Medical Center Sept. 14. He was in the custody of the Utah Division of Child and Family Services at the time of his abduction.
The parents led authorities on a 16-day chase across three states after the kidnapping. The search ended Monday after two hunters reported seeing their car and campsite in the Montana wilderness.
The Finks will be arraigned either Monday or Tuesday in a Utah court, Salt Lake County assistant district attorney Bud Ellett said.
The couple could face additional charges of child neglect or endangerment, stemming from David Fink's medical condition, but that possibility has yet to be investigated, Ellett said.
Authorities have said the couple believed their first-born son was a religious prophet or the Christ Child and had restricted his diet to certain vegetables and fruits.
During their run from authorities, Kyndra Fink gave birth to the couple's second son, Elijah Evergreen. Authorities believed the boy was born at their campsite in Dead Indian Gulch, a remote part of the Beartooths, about 48 miles southwest of Billings.
The children were hospitalized in Montana but were turned over to the Utah Division of Child and Family Services and returned to Utah Wednesday. They are now in foster care.
Doctors at St. Vincent's hospital in Billings have said David weighed only 15 pounds when he was admitted for care, but that baby Elijah, who had reportedly been fed breast milk, appeared healthy. Wednesday, doctors at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake said David weighed in at 17 pounds and was eating voraciously.
Kyndra Fink told police the family had survived on potatoes and a granola cereal while in the wilderness. She was also hospitalized briefly before being booked into the Yellowstone County Jail in Bil-lings.
Reports that Christopher ate hamburgers and stopped for beers after ditching the family car in Columbus, Mont., are unconfirmed, FBI special agent George Doughtery said.
FBI agents dismantled the Finks' campsite on Thursday and were in the process of inventorying their possessions. Dougherty could not release details of the Finks' belongings since some or all of them may be used as evidence in the case against the couple, he said.
In a copyrighted story in the Friday morning Billings Gazettte, Christopher Fink said he does not believe his son David is "Christ" and that his beliefs have been misrepresented by his in-laws. David's food intake was not restricted, except that the Finks fed him a vegetarian diet, he told the Gazette.
Fink also said he believed taking David from the hospital was "totally legal," because he was certain his son's life was in danger. "I saw him get progressively worse," Fink said.