Leadville, Colorado (CNN) -- A 31-year-old Colorado mother is being detained in Ireland after being arrested as part of an investigation into a conspiracy to commit murder, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the case.
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez of Leadville is being detained in connection with the investigation into an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who poked fun at the Prophet Mohammad, the newspaper reported. CNN was not immediately able to verify the report.
Paulin-Ramirez would be the second American woman to be linked to the alleged murder plot in Sweden.
Colleen LaRose, a Pennsylvania woman indicted March 4 for allegedly conspiring to support terrorists and kill a person in a foreign country, would be the other.
Last year, LaRose, who authorities say called herself "Jihad Jane," agreed to kill a resident of Sweden, the indictment says, and a U.S. government official familiar with the case identified the target to CNN as Lars Vilks, a cartoonist who outraged some with a drawing of Islam's most revered prophet.
LaRose worked with at least five co-conspirators, the indictment says. Authorities did not identify them, but police in Ireland took into custody Tuesday seven people in arrests that the U.S. official said were directly related to the plot involving LaRose.
Irish police confirmed to CNN on Saturday that seven people were arrested last week, though they would not release the identities or the reasons for the arrests. Three of the suspects -- a married couple from Algeria and a Libyan woman -- have been released, police said. One woman, whose nationality was not disclosed, remains in custody, police said.
The main contact for LaRose is believed to be an Algerian man among the seven suspects, who has a relationship with Paulin-Ramirez, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person close to matter. LaRose spent roughly two weeks in Ireland last fall, the source said, according to the newspaper.
U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Dean Boyd told CNN on Saturday, "We are aware of the arrests in Ireland last Monday but at this time we have no comment on the identities of those arrested in Ireland. Our investigation continues."
Paulin-Ramirez's stepfather and mother, George and Christine Mott, told CNN that they heard of their daughter's arrest first from the Wall Street Journal, and have no official confirmation. They said she converted to Islam last spring and disappeared on September 11, 2009. Her decision to convert, George Mott said, came as a surprise to the family because "she always hated that I was Muslim" and that they had a rocky relationship over his faith.
Aside from her stepfather, she was introduced to Islam by African Muslims who came into the clinic where she worked as a medical assistant, he said. Her parents say she was studying to be a nurse practitioner.
She increasingly spent time surfing popular Muslim Web sites, and started listening to Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based international news network, and perusing Islamist chatrooms, her parents said.
Their daughter eventually began wearing items of hijab, the Islamic dress code, covering her head in veils that only revealed her eyes, the Motts said.
They said in one chatroom, she met a Pakistani man who wanted her to help him come to the United States. They urged her to quit visiting such chatrooms, but she refused, her parents said.
When Paulin-Ramirez went missing, her parents say they contacted federal authorities with concerns that she had become radicalized and could be dangerous.
Leadville police Sgt. Saige Thomas told CNN Saturday that the FBI in Denver was in touch with the city's police chief in mid-September after George Mott contacted the federal agency.
Leadville police closed the case after an investigation didn't indicate a crime had been committed, she said, adding that police didn't hear from the FBI again.
Her parents say that after Paulin-Ramirez went missing, she called them and has been sporadically in touch with her family. They say she took her 6-year-old son, whom they last spoke to while the pair was in Ireland.
The child's father has been deported to Mexico, the Motts said.
You know, right about now I wish I had Cobra Commander's moon doodling laser. Not for drawing CC's face, but for a more controversial picture.
"See? There you go. Now what are you going to do?"
I know, I'm awful.
