By Nicholas K. Geranios
Associated Press Writer
Friday, June 1, 2001; 8:57 a.m. EDT

SANDPOINT, Idaho –– One of six children involved in a standoff at their rural home was taken into custody overnight after he went to a neighbor, authorities said Friday.

Benjamin McGuckin, 15, who initiated the standoff and is said to be an avid reader of survivalist magazines, went to a neighbor's house late Thursday and accepted the neighbor's offer to drive him to a meeting with authorities, Bonner County Prosecutor Phil Robinson said.

The boy met with a sheriff's deputy, a social worker and two doctors, a pediatrician and a family practitioner.

Although there was "some indication that he was suffering from malnutrition," the boy did not need to be hospitalized and was in the custody of the state Department of Health and Welfare, Robinson said.

The children's mother, JoAnn McGuckin, 46, was arrested Tuesday on a warrant charging felony injury to a child. Since then, the children left at home – ages 8 to 16 – have refused to leave the house. Two older children live elsewhere.

The other children who remained inside Friday have been identified as Kathryn, 16, Mary, 13, James, 11, Frederick, 9, and Jane, 8.