Jan 10, 2009 7:25 am US/Eastern
Police Search For Missing N.J. Mom, Kids
East Hanover Woman, 2 Children Disappear Without A Trace
Husband Passes Lie Detector Test, Pleads For Their Return
EAST HANOVER, N.J. (CBS) ―
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John Schafer, 13, and Jessica Schafer, 4, went missing with their mother on Jan. 9.
CBS
On Friday night the father whose family is missing led an investigator and evidence technician back into his East Hanover home. The one he shares with wife, Patricia, and their two children.
An hour later, Douglas Schafer, 42, left with a police escort without talking to reporters, a far cry from Friday morning, when he was telling CBS 2 HD about the wife he confronted moments before she disappeared.
"I said I knew you were taking money from me. I walked up in the bedroom and I came back down and within five, 10 minutes she was gone," Douglas Schafer said. "With the children."
Schafer said his Patricia Schafer, 38, took off in a metallic Saturn wagon with New Jersey plates PFZ-77A with 13-year-old John and 4-year-old Jessica. He said that she suffers from drug dependency and cancer and has burned bridges with family.
"I called some family members and they said they hadn't spoken to her in months because she had stolen some checks from them," Schafer said.
Those who live nearby were stunned, while some were skeptical.
"I can't see why she'd run away," neighbor Tom Cavezza said, adding he didn't really think it was possible that she ran away. "No, ah, it's possible. I don't know. I don't know."
Schafer said his wife left her cell phone here at the home, and took money before she left.
"I want my kids. I want my kids to be safe. I don't really think she would hurt them," he said.
Police wouldn't say why they were back at the home.
But one thing is clear -- a father is still without his wife and two children.
Douglas Schafer said he was given a polygraph test, which he passed.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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