LAW enforcement officials say the mother of a fugitive teen who invoked “affluenza” as a defence in a 2013 fatal drunken-driving accident took $30,000 from a bank account and cut ties with her husband before fleeing to Mexico.

Tonya Couch and her son Ethan Couch were arrested in Mexico last month after he missed a meeting with his probation officer.

The bank withdrawal and phone call to her husband on Dec. 3 saying he’d never see them again were documented in Tonya Couch’s arrest warrant released Friday.

She is being held in Tarrant County on $1 million bond on a charge of hindering apprehension of a felon.

Ethan Couch remains in custody in Mexico after winning a delay on his deportation back to Texas, where he could face jail time.

Tonya Couch was deported from Mexico last week, and arrived on a flight from Los Angeles in handcuffs and leg irons.

Authorities believe Couch and her 18-year-old son, Ethan Couch, fled Texas in November as prosecutors investigated whether Ethan Couch had violated his probation in the deadly 2013 drunken-driving wreck.

They disappeared shortly after a video surfaced showing what appears to be Ethan Couch at a party where people were drinking. Ethan Couch’s 10-year probation conditions prohibit him from consuming any alcohol.

Ethan Couch is being held at an immigration detention centre in Mexico City after winning a court reprieve that could lead to a weeks —or even months —long legal process in Mexico.

Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said Tonya Couch was “cooperative” and respectful as she was being taken into jail. As for Ethan, he said, “it’s not a question of if he’s coming back, it’s a question of when he’s coming back.”

Tonya Couch’s attorneys last week released a statement last week saying she has done nothing illegal.

“While the public may not like what she did, may not agree with what she did, or may have strong feelings against what she did, make no mistake — Tonya did not violate any law of the State of Texas and she is eager to have her day in court,” lawyers Stephanie K. Patten and Steve Gordon said.

After the crash, Ethan Couch pleaded guilty in juvenile court to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury and was sentenced to 10 years’ probation.

He received only probation after a defence expert argued that Couch had been coddled too much by his wealthy parents, a condition the expert called “affluenza.”

The condition is not recognised as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation drew widespread ridicule.