Cops Find Runaway Parents Who Abandoned 3 Tots

ROME, April 23, 2009 — -- After days of searching, Italian police in the Northern Italian region of Valle D'Aosta near the Swiss border found a young German couple who left three children -- including an 8-month-old -- in a pizzeria and then vanished.

A wide-scale search got underway days ago to find Ina Caterina Remhof, 26, and her partner Sascha Schmidt, 24, both of Finnentrop in Germany, who abandoned the children Remhof had from a previous relationship. The children were left on the outskirts of the town of Aosta Sunday night.

Police throughout Italy and abroad were alerted. The search intensified this morning with police patrols spanning the area to check the rivers and waterways with helicopters flying above.

The Italian press agency ANSA reports that the couple were found wandering in the woods, near the Brisogne small lakes, 10 kilometers from Aosta at 3:30 p.m. local time. They are reportedly in good physical health. A police car picked them up. They are now at the police station awaiting the official interpreter.

The police were tipped off by a woman from the area. She told the police that she had seen them at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. They had taken refuge in a small vehicle which was parked on the road between Saint-Christophe and Quart, where they reportedly spent the night. She also found cigarette butts that she said were left behind by them.

Before the couple were apprehended, they were last seen as they stepped outside of the pizzeria to smoke a cigarette while the three children, 8 months, 2 and 4 years old, continued eating their meal.

According to Italian media reports, the family arrived at the pizzeria "Il Capanno" on the outskirts of Aosta at 8:30 p.m. Sunday night. They reportedly seemed like a normal family on holiday. They ordered their meal -- a pizza each.

About 9:15 p.m., according to authorities, the two adults got up from the table and told the owner of the pizzeria they were going outside for a few minutes to smoke a cigarette. The three children remained in their seats and continued eating. At 9:30 p.m., the owner of the pizzeria went outside to look for the couple ,but did not see them. He came back into his pizzeria and called the police.

The couple's car, an old grey Ford Fiesta, was found on the outskirts of Aosta, not far from the hotel where they had spent the previous night. ANSA has reported that the car was out of gas but it did contain documents and Remhof's diary-like notebook in which she wrote of their financial difficulties and reportedly alluded to Schmidt's past drug problems.

Schmidt had reportedly been sentenced for drug-related crimes and was on prison parole when the couple were in Aosta.

Italian newspaper La Stampa reports that the children's father is in jail in Germany for having killed their newborn daughter because it was crying too much while he was wanting to sleep.

Parents Could Not Pay for Hotel, Credit Card Declined

Remhof's father, Horst made an appeal today to his daughter, saying, "We're very worried and want her to know that we realize she's in a difficult situation, but she should not be afraid to come home. We're here to help her."

La Stampa reported yesterday that the manager of the hotel where they stayed in Aosta Saturday night said, "They had no money on their credit card. The woman seemed very agitated Sunday night, almost scared, in panic. The children were not dressed very warmly and looked cold. They kept the youngest child in their arms in the portable car-seat. They took two rooms."

The family left the hotel Sunday night without paying for the rooms, but saying they were coming back. They asked where they could eat nearby and were given directions to the pizzeria.

The pizzeria owner told La Stampa that after the adults left the table Sunday night, "the children were calm, they thought their mother had just gone to the toilet." He said the pizzeria was full of customers who helped by playing with the children in the hope of distracting them while they waited.

The youngest eventually started to cry and, shortly afterward, they were all taken to the nearby hospital for a check up. They were found to be in fine physical health and were assigned to a home by the local court for minors. The Aosta courts officially opened a case and charged the couple with abandonment of minors.

The German welfare office told reporters on a German TV channel that children will likely initially stay with their maternal grandmother as the district youth welfare office in charge has withdrawn custody from the parents. The welfare spokesperson also said that prosecutors will likely charge the mother with child neglect and the abandonment of minors.

Christel Kucharz contributed to the reporting of this story from Germany.