UPDATE @ 2 p.m.
Few details have been released after a woman and her two children, missing for days from Virginia Beach, Va., were found safe in another state.
It was welcome news to Kevin Lamping, the Vandalia native and U.S. Navy man who returned from duty after his ex-wife Monica Lamping, son Kai and her infant daughter Oria were reported missing over the weekend.
Monica Lamping and the children were found “safe and healthy” in North Carolina, Kevin Lamping said in a phone interview with WHIO’s Letitia Perry.
Plenty of questions remain unanswered, including how and why the mother left without contacting anyone and why her home burned in a fire the same night. The fire heavily damaged the home and killed two of four pets that lived there.
“Its not like Monica to leave the house for extended amounts of time without contacting her parents,” Kevin Lamping said. “She loves pets, so I would've thought if she was going to leave intentionally from the house, that she would've packed up a lot more of her items, to include the pets.”
Update@12:48 p.m.:
Monica Lamping and her two children were found safe in North Carolina, Kevin Lamping said. We are working to get more information.
First report:
Dayton area native Kevin Lamping has been granted leave from the U.S. Navy while a nationwide search intensifies for his ex-wife, son and her infant child who are considered endangered missing out of Virginia Beach, Va.
A missing and endangered alert has been issued for Lamping's 7-year-old son Kai, who is missing along with Lamping's ex-wife Monica Lamping and her 9-month-old daughter Oria. Authorities said the family was last heard from around midnight Sunday, the same night that a fire heavily damaged Monica Lamping's Virginia Beach home.
Local authorities are trying to learn the identity of a man with whom Monica went on a blind date hours before she disappeared.
“This goes against everything she's done in the past,” said Kevin Lamping, who was born and raised in Vandalia and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy after being nominated by Congressman Mike Turner.
Lamping is in Virginia Beach, Va. working with the local authorities in the search. He is being interviewed today by national media outlets and talked with this reporter by phone this morning.
“We’re hoping that someone has a clue where they are,” he said. “Local law enforcement is cooperating and fully in concert with federal law enforcement to try to figure out where they are. They are pursuing all leads.”
Monica Lamping reportedly went on a blind date with a man she knew as “Chad.” She reportedly told a friend after their date that he was going to fix her Jeep Cherokee, which had been overheating.
The Jeep was recorded around 2 a.m. Sunday traveling west through the Portsmouth tunnel. Lamping said that was about an hour before firefighters were called to battle the blaze at his ex-wife’s home.
Lamping said Monica’s cat and her roommate’s dog perished in the fire. No one was home at the time and a cause has not been determined.
If you can help in the search, contact Virginia Beach, Va. police at (757) 385-5000.
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