Authorities continue search for two Missouri sisters

EDGERTON, Mo. -- Authorities continued to search Sunday for two sisters who disappeared from a western Missouri home, leaving behind two young children, their purses and a cellphone.

Britny Haarup, 19, and Ashley Key, 22, were reported missing Friday after Haarup's fiancé, Matt Meyers, came home to find his 6- and 18-monthold daughters alone and in the same crib. Relatives of the women said there was blood on the couch in the Edgerton residence, about 35 miles north of Kansas City.

The Platte County Sheriff's Department said Sunday that authorities are speaking with a person of interest in the case and have executed two search warrants. No further information was available, but Capt. Erik Holland, the department's public information officer, told the St. Joseph News-Press that more will be released as soon as it's known.

A voicemail left for Holland by The Associated Press wasn't immediately returned.

The missing truck was found parked on a gravel road Saturday, prompting authorities to search the surrounding fields. Although there were no signs of foul play, the truck was towed to the Kansas City crime laboratory to check for evidence.

The sisters' father, Paul Haarup, begged for his daughters' safe return during a candlelight vigil Saturday night that drew a crowd of about 70 people.

"Whoever has them, give them a phone, have them call us, put an end to this," Haarup told KSHB.

Family members fear the sisters were abducted. They said Key, the mother of a 4-year-old girl, had been running with a bad crowd and sought her sister's help turning her life around.

"That's why she came to Britny and Matt's house; to get help, to get out of that lifestyle. She was very serious about getting help," Cassandra Meyers, sister-in-law of Matt Meyers, told KSHB.

Haarup's fiancé said his daughters need their mother back home.

"Your babies love you and they miss you," he told The Kansas City Star.