Authorities continued to search Sunday for two sisters who disappeared from a western Missouri home, leaving behind two young children, their purses and a cellphone.
Britny Haarup, 19, and Ashley Key, 22, were reported missing Friday after Haarup’s fiance, Matt Meyers, came home to find his 6- and 18-month old daughters alone and in the same crib and their mother nowhere to be found.
Relatives of the women said there was blood on the couch in the Edgerton residence, located about 35 miles north of Kansas City.
CBS Affiliate KCTV reports that the Platte County Sheriff’s Office is speaking with a person of interest and have executed two search warrants.
Now, loved ones are now leaning on each other and on prayer to cope.
“Whoever has them, give them a phone, have them call us, put an end to this,” the missing girls’ father, Paul Haarup, said.
Family and friends of the missing women held a candlelight vigil Saturday. “Everyone here loves them and cares about them so much, and this is just about bringing them home,” said Alexis Sweeny, a friend.
Deputies had found a white pickup – believed to be what the girls left the house in – along Clinton County Line Road, just west of U.S. Highway 169, 2 to 3 miles southwest of Trimble, MO.
Kansas City police brought in their helicopter to help, but nothing was found.
“The truck was gone, the girls were gone and Matt has some personal guns that had been missing as well. That is all he had to tell me, and I knew something was wrong at that point,” the missing girls’ mother, Taresa Haarup, said.
The family also says there was blood on the couch, and the girls left their purses, shoes and cell phones behind. However, deputies won’t confirm that while the crime lab is still processing evidence.
“She would never, ever, ever leave them alone,” Paul Haarup, said.
Investigators are not sure where to turn next. Their search of the pickup and surrounding field yielded no signs of foul play and no evidence of what happened next.
“We are going to follow up on some other leads, friends, acquaintances, people they’ve been in contact with,” said Capt. Erik Holland with the Platte County Sheriff’s Office.
“There is just too many things that took place yesterday that don’t add up to anything other than an abduction,” the missing girls’ father said.
So now he is asking for the public’s help to bring his girls home.
“Just look in the car next to you, look at the restaurants, look at the faces,” he said. “They are mothers. They are humans. They are people. They are everybody’s daughter.”
Haarup is described as 5’3″ and weighing about 130 pounds. Key is about 5’5″ and weighs about 100 pounds.
Along with prayers, family and friends are asking anyone with information to call the Platte County Sheriff’s Office at (816) 858-3521 or the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS.
