Two children are set to return home to Pine County after their father, Peter Kunze, was taken into custody in Kansas nearly two weeks after the Sheriff’s Office issued a missing-person alert, authorities said Wednesday.

Kunze, 44, failed to appear or make his children available during a Sept. 12 child custody hearing, when it was determined that the children were to be placed in custody of the county’s Health and Human Services Department, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities said Pine County deputies and health and human services workers found that Kunze and his two juvenile children, along with two adult children, had left the home with the family dogs in their car. The Sheriff’s Office launched a missing-person alert for Kunze that same day and issued an arrest warrant on two counts of depriving custody rights.

Around midnight Wednesday, they were stopped in southern Kansas for a minor traffic violation and Kunze’s outstanding warrant was discovered, according to the Pine County Sheriff’s Office. The children in the car at the time thought they were on a family vacation, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Pine County is working with Kansas to return the children, while Kunze awaits extradition.

Maya Rao