Arizona

Bullhead City, Arizona, police arrest mother of murdered girl after standoff on drug charges

Associated Press
Published | Updated

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Bullhead City, Ariz., Police Department shows Isabella “Bella” Grogan-Cannella, an 8-year-old Bullhead City girl who was reported missing on Sept. 2, 2014, and found dead a day later. A monthlong narcotics investigation resulted in the arrest Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014, of Grogan-Cannella's mother, stepfather and grandmother on drug charges. Police said Tania Grogan, 29, and Ralph Folster III, 28, and grandmother Freddie Nicholson were dealing methamphetamine and heroin in Bullhead City, and that Grogan likely supplied methamphetamine to a family friend charged in her daughter's death. (AP Photo/Bullhead City Police Department) Authorities say Grogan-Cannella reported missing from her Arizona home had been strangled. The Mohave County medical examiner released the manner of death for Grogan-Cannella on Friday, Sept. 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Bullhead City Police Department,File) (The Associated Press)

In this Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, photo released by the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office shows suspect Tania Ann Grogan, 29. A police SWAT team arrested Grogan and her husband, Ralph Leroy Folster III, not seen, at their home on Wednesday, Oct. 15. A family friend, Justin James Rector, 26, has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, child abuse and abandonment of a body in the death of Isabella "Bella" Grogan-Cannella. He was arrested shortly after the girl's family reported her missing on Sept. 2. (AP Photo/Mohave County Sheriff’s Office) (The Associated Press)

In this Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, photo released by the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office shows suspect, Ralph Leroy Folster, 28. A police SWAT team arrested Folster and his wife,Tania Ann Grogan, not seen, at their home on Wednesday, Oct. 15. Folster, the stepfather and mother of the 8-year-old girl who was killed last month have been arrested on drug charges, police in the northwestern Arizona community of Bullhead City said. (AP Photo/Mohave County Sheriff’s Office) (The Associated Press)

Police in Bullhead City have arrested the mother of a 8-year-old girl who was killed last month on drug charges.

A police SWAT team arrested 29-year-old Tania Ann Grogan, 29, and her husband, 28-year-old Ralph Pat Leroy Folster III, at their home Wednesday evening. Folster refused to surrender for about two hours.

Police say they learned the couple were selling heroin and methamphetamine last month. They were booked on drug sales and possession charges and Grogan faces an additional charge of manufacturing meth.

The body pf Grogan's daughter, Isabella Grogan-Cannella, was found in a shallow grave on Sept. 3, a day after she was reported missing from her home.

A 26-year-old family friend has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, child abuse and abandonment of a body.