Missing Ala. Children Last Seen in March, June; Search Started Weeks Ago
MOBILE, Ala. (CBS/WKRG/AP) Investigators only began searching for the bodies of two young Alabama children just weeks ago, but police say they were last seen in March and June.
PICTURES: Missing Children, Where are They?
On Monday Mobile police spokesman Christopher Levy said no one had seen 3-year-old Jonathan DeBlase since March, around when they believe he was killed, and the couple reportedly lived in their Mobile apartment until June, when 5-year-old Natalie was last seen, reports CNN.
Their disappearance wasn't reported until police in Kentucky received a tip recently from a relative of the stepmother, police said. Mobile police said they began investigating Nov. 19.
"It's really terrible, as if nobody really cared," Levy said to CNN regarding the time that passed between the children's sightings and search launch. "That's what we can't seem to understand at this point."
The children's father, John DeBlase, 27, admitted to burying Jonathan and Natalie, in March and June, but claimed it was their stepmother Heather Leavell-Keaton who killed them, police said.
"He's placing the blame on Heather, and Heather's placing the blame on him," said Levy. "Both of them are ultimately responsible for the deaths."
Levy said DeBlase has been trying to help investigators find the bodies, which led to searches over the weekend in rural areas of Alabama and Mississippi, but nothing was found.
According to Levy, DeBlase had a problem remembering exactly where the bodies are located because the children were buried at two different times. He said the father told investigators that he buried the boy's body around the end of March in Mississippi and later disposed of his daughter's body near the end of June in Alabama.
It remains unclear whether the children were killed at the same time.
DeBlase was being held on $206,000 bond on child abuse and corpse abuse charges. Meanwhile, Leavell-Keaton, is jailed in Louisville, KY. on child abuse charges and will soon be extradited back to Alabama, say authorities.
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December 6, 2010 - Mobile Ala. Cops: Father, John DeBlase, Says 2 Missing Children Dead, Buried
