PASCAGOULA, Miss., Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The Alabama mother of two missing children authorities fear are dead says she's holding out hope they are alive and will be found.
Authorities said they believe Jonathan Chase DeBlase, 3, and Natalie Alexis DeBlase, 5, are dead, and their bodies were dumped, one in Vancleave, Miss., and one in Citronelle, Ala., The (Pascagoula) Mississippi Press reported.
Their mother, Corrine Heathcock, says she's not ready to accept that.
"Until the police come to me and say they have their bodies, I won't believe it," Heathcock, 27, of Mobile, Ala., said. "If they do tell me that, then I want to bury them together. They were always inseparable. I couldn't separate them in death".
The children's father and stepmother are facing criminal charges in connection with the case but have not been charged with killing the children.
Authorities said the two children haven't been seen since they moved to Kentucky with John Joseph DeBlase, 27, and stepmother Heather Leavell-Keaton, 22.
Heathcock said when she and DeBlase divorced she made the best possible choice for her children.
"I wasn't living in a place that was suitable for children," Heathcock said. "He was the best thing for them. He loved them. I would have never let him take them if I thought otherwise".
Things were fine for a while, Heathcock said, but then DeBlase stopped letting her see the children.
"He'd make up excuses why I couldn't see them," she said. "He'd forget to bring them over. He eventually stopped answering his phone".
She last saw her children on Nov. 18, 2009, she said. UPI
