Mom of Three Vanishes Without a Trace

Jan. 8, 2009 — -- The husband of a Missouri mother of three who has been missing for nearly a week is being uncooperative with police about his wife's disappearance, Kansas City authorities told ABCNews.com.

Renee Pernice, 35, was last seen by her husband, Shon Pernice, 37, on the morning of Jan. 2, when Pernice said his wife left and never returned.

Pernice has told police that he "doesn't remember" where she said she was going.

"[Pernice] retained an attorney almost immediately and will not talk to us except for through his attorney," said Kansas City Police Capt. Rich Lockhart.

No formal charges have been filed in the case, added Lockhart, and no arrests have been made. Police have been searching for woman using dogs and helicopters and dozens of volunteers are helping.

Messages left for Pernice's lawyer, Kevin Baldwin, were not immediately returned.

But Baldwin told the Kansas City Star newspaper that he has told Pernice not to comment to the media about his wife's disappearance or agree to an interview with police because he believes that his client is "being blamed for her disappearance."

"He misses her; he wants her back even if she chooses not to be with him; she needs to be there for the kids," Baldwin told the paper.

Police said that Pernice has not allowed authorities to speak to any of the three children – ages 11, 8 and 6 – or search the couple's home.

"There is obviously concern for [Renee's] well-being," said Lockhart.

"This is a woman who has no criminal history she is a very loving mother who would not abandon her children," said Lockhart. "She talks to her family regularly and she has not talked to her family since Thursday night and has not seen her children."

"This is totally out of character for her," he said of Renee, who is a teaching nurse at a local hospital.

According to a statement given to police by Pernice and his attorney, Pernice's wife left their middle-class home in Kansas City on foot between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Jan. 2.

Lockhart said that besides the time frame in which Pernice said his wife left their home the husband has "not given authorities a lot of details surrounding her disappearance."