DETROIT – A panicked Detroit father was waiting to see if he can take his son and 10-month-old daughter home from police custody after the children were left home alone Thursday morning.
Two questions remain unanswered: why was their mother gone and why were items missing from the home?
Read: 2 Detroit children safe after being found home alone
The 10-year-old boy called police just after 5 a.m. Thursday. He said he woke up to find the family's 60-inch flat-screen TV was missing. More, and more importantly, his mother was missing.
The children had been left home alone and while they were there a neighbor says he heard what sounded like a break-in.
"Next thing I know they were calling and saying the house was broken into, the kids ran next door ... they were knocking on our door but evidently we didn't hear them," said Mario Fox, a neighbor.
The young boy ran next door crying for help. Sheena Vance was there. She watched as the boy held his little sister and waited for police.
"When the police took them they had the car seat and put the car seat in the trunk and I think he was holding the baby ... I felt bad," Vance said.
The mother came home mid-morning to find her children gone. She did not know they had been taken by police.
So, where was she?
The mother says she left the kids with her sister, but that sister was nowhere to be found when police arrived at the home. Moreover, police say the mother never shared those details with them.
It's not clear if the mother left the children alone and left with the TV or if someone broke into the home while the kids were alone inside.
The children are in protective custody. The father does not live at the home. He said he is taking them to his home and will have custody.
Child Protective Services are still investigating.