Two teenage girls were reported missing. They were found at a rural farmhouse 2 years later.

2152215+RuchiGirls.JPG — Gianna Rucki (left) and Samantha Rucki.

By Trisha Taurinskas

June 06, 2024 at 6:01 AM

LAKEVILLE, Minn. 鈥� The discovery of two teenage girls on a rural Minnesota farm in 2015 closed a missing persons case that plagued the Lakeville Police Department 鈥� and opened the investigation into their mother鈥檚 role in their disappearance.

Fourteen-year-old Samantha and 13-year-old Gianna Rucki were discovered in a rural Minnesota farmhouse in November 2015, two and a half years after vanishing from their aunt's house, near their home in Lakeville.

Their disappearance sparked a nationwide manhunt for the girls, who authorities initially believed ran away in the midst of their parents鈥� divorce and custody battle.

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The reality became clear after their discovery, though.

Their mother, Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, executed a plot to secretly take the two daughters.

She convinced others to join her, using baseless claims to convince accomplices that her ex-husband and father of her children, David Rucki, was abusive 鈥� and the girls needed to be saved.

Samantha and Gianna were returned to their father鈥檚 care after their discovery 鈥� and the four people involved in their disappearance were convicted on various charges related to deprivation of parental and custodial rights.

Their story was at the center of a 2016 20/20 episode, "Footprints in the Snow," now available on .

Custody battle disappearance

Grazzini-Rucki lost a custody battle in November 2013 to David Rucki. As a result, he was awarded full custody of the couple鈥檚 five children, according to the website .

The decision angered Grazzini-Rucki, who made allegations in court that her husband was abusive.

David Rucki denied in court that he abused his daughters, and a judge agreed, according to a .

Her claims of alleged abuse were also refuted by a psychologist, who determined Grazzini-Rucki brainwashed her two daughters, according to a .

The loss of the custody battle set in motion a missing persons case that led investigators down a twisted trail that ended in the discovery of the missing girls 鈥� and answered the question: How did they get there?

The Lakeville Police Department executed a search warrant at the "White Horse Ranch" in November 2016, in search of the two girls.

Samantha and Gianna Rucki disappeared from their aunt's Lakeville home in 2013. Two and a half years later, law enforcement discovered they had been living at White Horse Ranch in Herman, Minn. Their mother was later charged and convicted for her role in secretly taking the girls to the ranch.

White Horse Ranch sat in the wooded areas of Herman, a small town of 386 people on the western side of the state, according to a filed after the discovery.

Lakeville Police Lt. Jason Polinski told Minnesota Public Radio after the arrests how the investigation unfolded, with the help of a series of clues.

"Every search warrant we did, we got another little cookie, so to speak, and the last warrant that we ended up executing yesterday, the girls happened to be there," .

The girls were discovered in good health and were returned to their father's home in Lakeville.

From there, the full story began to unravel.

Breaking down the plot

Grazzini-Rucki generated support from a network of vigilantes dedicated to protecting children they believed were being abused.

She used allegations against her husband as the motivation to generate support.

The allegations set off a string of events that led to the disappearances of Samantha and Gianna from their aunt's Lakeville home on April 21, 2013.

They vanished, leaving their backpacks and shoes behind.

Grazzini-Rucki and her friend Dede Evavold took the girls to the rural Herman property, owned by Doug and Gina Dahlen.

The small town of Herman in western Minnesota made national headlines after two missing teenage girls were discovered on a ranch miles outside of town. Samantha and Gianna Rucki vanished from a Lakeville home in 2013 鈥� and were discovered by authorities more than two years later.

The girls stayed there for two and a half years while the rest of the state 鈥� and nation 鈥� kept their eyes open for the missing children.

After they were discovered safe and in good health, investigators crafted their cases against the four individuals involved.

In the end, all four were held accountable.

Doug and Gina Dahlen each pleaded guilty in 2017 to one count of deprivation of parental rights.

Evavold was convicted on six counts of deprivation of parental rights in 2017.

Grazzini-Rucki was convicted on six counts of deprivation of custodial rights and sentenced to 34 days in jail.

The sentence also came with an unusual twist. For the following six years, Grazzini-Rucki was sentenced to a 15-day sentence every year, on Nov. 18, the day her daughters were discovered, according to