Father arrested in California hours after children found dead in Nebraska house

BELLEVUE, Neb. (TCD) --

A Nebraska man was arrested in California Sunday, hours after two of his children were found dead in his house in Nebraska.

Police officers and firefighters discovered two young children dead at their father’s residence in Bellevue on Sunday morning, May 16, 2021.

Bellevue Police identified the victims as 3-year-old Theodore Price and 5-year-old Emily Price.

Bellevue Police said officers went to the residence on the 2700 block of Alberta Ave. at 9:50 p.m. on Saturday, May 15, and again at 9 a.m. Sunday “to check the well-being of two children and their father.” Officers “did not observe exigent circumstances that would allow them to force entry into the home.”

Police were responding to a welfare check requested by the children’s mother, who called Bellevue Police after she couldn’t contact her kids on Friday and Saturday. The Oklahoma World-Herald reports Mary Nielsen had spoken to the children via FaceTime on Thursday night.

Mary Nielsen and the children’s father, Adam Price, were in the process of divorcing, the World-Herald reports. Nielsen had moved to Illinois with the kids in November 2020. The children were reportedly visiting Price for a week, the World-Herald reports. Price was under court order to provide the children daily communication with their mother, the Associated Press reports.

After Bellevue officers had twice visited the Nebraska residence, Nielsen reportedly asked a friend in the area to check on the house. The friend reportedly found the house unlocked, and found the children dead inside, then called police at about 11 a.m. Sunday.

The children’s causes of death were not released, but their deaths were considered suspicious, Bellevue Police told the World-Herald.

Police said Adam Price, 34, was not at the house.

Sunday night, Adam Price was located in Pacifica, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, after Bellevue Police asked for the public's assistance in locating him.

The AP reports Price was arrested and held on a felony fugitive warrant. The California arresting agency was not reported. KETV-TV reports Price was held at the Maguire Correctional Facility in San Mateo County, Calif., pending extradition to Nebraska.

“Detectives are no longer searching for anyone else possibly involved in the case,” Bellevue Police said Sunday.

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