DETROIT – Police say they are now using cadaver dogs in the search for 8-month-old Kristian Justice and 6-year-old Kaylah Hunter, who were last seen on May 26 with their mother, Alicia Fox, whose body was found Monday night in a vacant home.
More than a week after last being seen, Alicia texted the father of Kaylah for the last time. After the family missed her kindergarten graduation on June 6, her father filed a police report.
Three days later on June 9 an anonymous tip led family members to a Alicia's body inside a vacant home.
"This is still very much an active and certainly a highly sensitive investigation given that we're looking for two critical missings," said Detroit Police Chief James Craig.
Fox recently had moved out of a home in the 1800 block of Ardmore Street, which she shared with her daughter and her husband -- the father of her son. Police are investigating where she lived after moving out.
Local 4 has learned the FBI has made contact with the father, who reportedly came in voluntarily and gave a statement. However, he is not in custody.
As the search continues for these two small children, Michigan State Police received a tip late Tuesday that sent them back to the vacant home with cadaver dogs. Several family members also took shovels to the yard of the home to dig.
"I love my family," said Brenda Fields, Fox's mother. "(I) would do anything. Going keep looking for Alicia's babies as she would mine."
An Amber Alert was not issued for the children. Detroit police said that's because at the time of the initial report the case did not meet the criteria for a statewide notification.
"The mother packed up and left her residence with her children and so at that point it hadn't become an emergency situation. There was no idea that she was with the children. We just didn't know. So it didn't meet MSP criteria," said Craig.
Police are looking for a 2004 Chevrolet Impala with license plate CCR-1286.