New Details In Search For Missing Woman In Teller County
CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. (CBS4/AP) - Authorities say they're looking for a 25-year-old woman who disappeared after police contacted her in Teller County to question her about her 6-year-old missing son from North Carolina.
Teller County and Colorado Springs authorities went to the home of Vania Rae Sisk on Wednesday but she and her son were not there. Police say that nine other children were in the home and are now in protective custody with the Teller County Department of Social Services.
Teller County Sgt. Nick Olmsted says Sisk was supposed to attend a child custody hearing Thursday but did not show up. Authorities contacted Sisk because they found out that she recently moved to Woodland Park.
Investigators believe she may also be using the name Vania Rae Higgenbotham, her maiden name.
Investigators are calling the disappearance "suspicious." It all started when Durham, N.C. authorities say they got a tip from a police informant saying, Sisk's 6-year-old child was missing. Once they looked into it, they learned the boy has been missing since October and Sisk never reported it.
She was tracked to Colorado by a welfare debit card.
Police believe a group of three men, five women and nine children all moved to Woodland Park from Durham. Sheila Moses was home when investigators showed up looking for Sisk at the house.
"They came and took my kids that had nothing to do with this," Moses said.
Teller County deputies took all nine children into custody at the request of Durham Social Services. Of the nine, deputies say, three are Sisk's, but still missing is the 6-year-old that started the investigation.
The group living in the home claimed they only just met Sisk, who left them a note.
"This lady left a note saying that she was gone, saying she was sorry for the stuff she put us through," a man living in the house told CBS4. "She said that she has no will, that she was hurt they took her two kids and she can't let them get her boy."
Anyone with information is asked to call the Teller County Sheriff's Office.
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