Four Members of Crestwood Family Missing Illinois State Police issue "Endangered Missing Person Advisory"
Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/120925084.html#ixzz1Ktlrx7VbBy Jeff Goldblatt and BJ LutzIn an "endangered missing person advisory," Illinois State Police said they're looking for four members of a southwest suburban Crestwood family.
Madison Owens, 11, and her 9-year-old twin sisters, Kristen and Nicole Owens, were last seen with their mother, Stephanie Owens, on Sunday at their Crestwood home. All four are missing.
The family has lived with Stephanie Owens' brother for about the last 18 months, he told authorities. He said he didn't think anything of not seeing his nieces on Monday because they had off of school and assumed they were with their mother.
He alerted authorities on Wednesday when the family still hadn't turned up, adding that his sister seemed depressed and distraught when he last saw her.
In their investigation, authorities started calling other family members. The grandmother of the girls reported receiving a text message from the young girls:
"Hi mom mom. We are not having Easter because God told mommy not to. Also, Happy Easter. But guess what if you don't do Easter you get to see God."
"I'm very scared for my grandchildren. [Stephanie Owens] is truly a wonderful person. She has a heart of gold, but I'm afraid of what she's going to do," the grandmother, Cheryl McKinney, tearfully told NBC Chicago via telephone. "I never in my wildest dreams imagined I'd see one of my children or my grandchildren on one of those [missing persons] flyers."
Investigators said they're also looking into email messages and Facebook messages that may have been traded between Stephanie Owens and a Facebook friend in California.
"The Facebook friend didn't put too much weight into these messages, the emails going back and forth, until now, now that she's missing. She talks about God, talks about the Devil and something big that's going to happen," said Theresa Neubauer, Crestwood's police chief.
The four are believed to be traveling in a 1996 silver Lexus four-door with Illinois license plates L321854.
The vehicle was last reported being seen by police in Abingdon, about 50 miles east of the Iowa/Illinois border. The vehicle was parked, unoccupied, in the American Legion parking lot at the time but is no longer there. It has also been seen this week in Streator and in Canton, near Peoria.
Cell phone records indicate the phones have been powered off since Monday.
Full descriptions for each are detailed on MissingKids.com.
The circumstances of the case do not fit the criteria of an AMBER Alert, authorities said. Anyone with information on the family's whereabouts should contact the Crestwood Police Department at
708-371-4800.
Facebook: Help Find the Owens Family
Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/120925084.html#ixzz1KtljTPn9 
Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:44 pm