A Missouri father has been reunited with his two young daughters in Maryland, three years after they went missing, Montgomery County Police said.
Officers were dispatched to the Residence Inn by Marriott on Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda shortly after 7:25 a.m. on Wednesday, June 25, when they discovered two children and a young woman sleeping on the hotel’s patio, police said.
“The children were wearing dirty clothes and did not respond or engage with officers,” the department said Thursday. “Concerned for their welfare, officers attempted to contact Child Protective Services and requested the Mobile Crisis Team.”
As temperatures climbed and worries mounted, authorities took all three to the hospital for evaluation. Investigators then identified the woman as the mother of two girls, ages 10 and 6, and discovered they had been reported missing in Missouri.
According to authorities, the father informed officers that his 36-year-old wife and daughters had been missing for years, but the case was never reported to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) because the family was last seen in Florida.
Montgomery County detectives and CPS officers came to the hospital to assist. The father traveled to Maryland and was reunited with his daughters, authorities said.
The investigation is underway.
