LOS ANGELES — The mother of teen U.S. fugitive Ethan Couch has been returned to the United States without her son after her deportation from Mexico.
Tonya Couch was in handcuffs in the custody of U.S. Marshals when she was brought through Los Angeles International Airport early Thursday after a flight from Mexico.
She looked away from cameras as she was taken to an unmarked car and driven away.
It was unclear why she was brought to Los Angeles instead of Texas, where she and her son live and where he was on probation for a 2013 drunken-driving crash.
A U.S. Marshals spokesman said he could not reveal any details about her trip through California, citing security concerns in transporting someone in custody.
Her son remains in Mexico in an immigration facility because a judge issued an injunction temporarily blocking his deportation.
Authorities say the 18-year-old Ethan Couch, who used “affluenza” as a defense in the fatal drunken-driving wreck, fled with his mother to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, as prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation.
Both were detained Monday.
Ehtan is being transported to a larger immigration facility in Mexico City.
The official was not authorized to speak about the case and agreed to reveal the information only if not quoted by name.
The official says the decision to move Couch was made because the Mexico City facility is larger and better equipped to hold someone for days or weeks.
He didn’t say whether Couch is being transported by air or ground.
The Texas teenager was serving probation for killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck after invoking an “affluenza” defense.
