Police looking for parents, three kids disappeared from Dodewaard

The police are looking for a family with three children who disappeared from Dodewaard without a trace. Police officers have had telephonic contact with all five missing family members. However, their whereabouts are still unclear, and the conversations weren’t enough to put the authorities at ease, the Gelderland police said on X.

The family consists of a father from abroad, a mother, and four children - a teenage girl, a boy of around ten, and two toddlers, a boy and a girl, locals told De Gelderlander. The parents and three younger children have been missing since the weekend. The teenage girl was staying elsewhere when her family disappeared, and she is not missing.

“We last saw the children last week,” a neighbor told Omroep Gelderland. “But when the brother of the family wanted to pick them up on Friday, the house turned out to be empty. He immediately raised the alarm and called the police because he didn’t have a good feeling about it. The police immediately started the investigation. But we have no idea where they might be.”

The police managed to reach the missing family members by phone on Tuesday evening. “Their whereabouts are still unknown to the police,” the Gelderland police said. “The telephone contact did not provide sufficient information to assume that no criminal offenses have been committed.”

The investigation is, therefore, ongoing. The police are looking at several scenarios of what could be going on with the family.

The family lives in a home on Westerengstraat in Dodewaard. Forensic investigators “in white suits” spent hours at the house on Monday, neighbors told De Gelderlander. The police removed a car on Monday, and the animal ambulance took in several birds and fish.

The village has been abuzz with rumors since then, but no one knows what happened or why the family suddenly left. Several neighbors told the newspaper that the family’s black station wagon disappeared with the family. Schoolmates said that the older boy hadn’t been at school since Thursday.

“The children and woman are so very sweet. I hope they are found safe soon. But I am worried about it,” another local told Omroep Gelderland. She added that neighbors agreed with the police and the family not to say anything more while the investigation is ongoing.