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Mom, kids missing after house fire found safe

UPDATE, Jan. 25, 12:15 p.m.: Monica Lamping and her children have been found safe in an adjoining state, reports CBS affiliate WTKR. Virginia Beach police say they’ve determined the family left of their own free will.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Police in Virginia are looking for a mother and two children last seen Sunday before a fire at their home, reports CBS affiliate WTKR.

Investigators called the disappearance of 29-year-old Monica Lamping and her children, 9-month-old Oria and 7-year-old Kai, suspicious, the Virginian-Pilot newspaper reports.

Family members said Lamping told them she had gone on a date with a man she recently met – and said he was going to help her fix her Jeep the following day. That Jeep Cherokee was tracked going into Portsmouth, Va., around 2 a.m. Sunday, roughly two hours before authorities were called to Lamping’s home for the fire.

A cat and dog died in the fire, but no one else was home. 

Lamping’s ex-husband Kevin is in the military and was in Florida when he got word his son had not shown up at school Monday. The military flew him to Virginia so he could join the search.

“He’s just a regular kid and depending on the circumstances he could be really happy right now and doing his normal thing, or could be really scared,” Kevin Lamping told the station.

Investigators are asking anyone with information about the case to call 1-888-LOCK U UP or the Virginia Beach Police Department at (757) 385-4141.

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