Alaska Native News has learned that the mother of the two children battered in Barrow, Esther Edwards-Gust, age 28, was arrested on Monday.

This follows the arrest of her boyfriend, Richard Tilden Jr, age 28, last week on identical charges. Although records show that the warrants for both Gust and Tilden were issued at the same time, there was a delay in carrying out Gust’s warrant. No bail information was available, and Gust has been released from custody. The charges were two counts of Fellony Assault. Gust was at her job as a school teacher when police responded to the scene of the beatings.

The two children, aged, 3 and 1, were severly beaten last week. The three-year-old has since passed away because of its injuries. He died at the Alaska Native Medical Center on Saturday. The one-year-old is still hospitalized at the center.

Tilden, who’s bail was set at $100,000, remains in custody. Police expect new charges to be filed against Tilden as a result of the death of one of the children from injuries sustained in the beatings. These assault charges are only the latest, in a long list of alcohol related charges filed against Tilden through his life. Records show several alcohol related filings against Tilden since he was a teenager.

Also arrested as a result of the incident was an alledged Barrow bootlegger, Samisoni Kilifi Fotukava. Police raided his home in Barrow, arrested him and confiscated his alcohol. Fotukava, it is believed, supplied Tilden with the alcohol that police say may have been a factor in the incident. Charges of Felony Failure to Obtain a Alcohol License or Permit were leveled at Fotukava.