Virginia Woman, 2 Kids Found Safe After Mom Went On Blind Date
A Virginia mother and her two young children, who disappeared after her blind date Saturday, have been found safe, Virginia Beach Police said.
Police issued a missing and endangered alert for the mother, Monica Bogart Lamping, 29, and her children earlier this week after family members said she had stopped responding to their text messages and calls.
At about 11:54 a.m. Wednesday, police said Lamping and her two children — Kai, 7, and Oria, 9 months, were found safe “in an adjoining state," police wrote in an update on the department's website earlier today.
"Investigators have determined that they left on their own free will," police said.
Police did not immediately release how and where the mother and children were found. However, earlier this week, police said they were missing “under suspicious circumstances.” At the time, there wasn’t any evidence of foul play.
Lamping, who was driving a green 2002 Jeep Cherokee, dropped off her children at a friend’s house Saturday afternoon before her date. The single mom then picked up her kids around 5 p.m., reports said.
No one knows her partner; they only know his name, Chad, Moira Lamping, her son’s stepmother, said.
“Her best friend Ann did watch the kids last night for her to go on a date, with somebody named Chad,” [Moira]Lamping told WVEC, Norfolk. “She said something about car trouble and Chad could fix it.”
After picking up her children, Lamping communicated with her friend for a while via text, and sent her last text around 10:30 p.m., reports said.
Following her disappearance, Lamping's home caught on fire early Sunday, killing two of her pets: a dog and a cat, according to officials. A space heater caused the fire, which occurred at 3 a.m. Her mother told WVEC she learned of the fire because she was notified by the Virginia Beach Fire Department.
“In regards to the residential fire, this investigation is being conducted by the Virginia Beach Fire Department,” police said.
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