Missing kids found safe; mother charged

NORWICH – Two children reported missing by their aunt and uncle were located safe and unharmed Wednesday morning.

Their mother, Jennifer E. Langer, 24, East Pharsalia, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child, criminal possession of a controlled substance, and was charged for a separate incident of petit larceny.

At approximately 2 p.m., Tuesday, Langer took her two children, 6-year-old Elizabeth Hayes and 7-year-old Matthew Hayes, to local babysitter April Collier, and left them for an extended period of time. When the mother did not return after several hours, Collier took the children to “a safe location,” said police.

According to Norwich Police Sergeant Gard Turner, the children’s aunt and uncle became increasingly worried as time went by. Turner said he thought the relatives may have been in contact with Langer and were told where the children had been left. When the relatives could not locate the children, they notified the police that they were missing. In an effort to find the children, the aunt and uncle made flyers and distributed them in the Norwich area Tuesday. The flyers indicated the children were taken by Collier.