Father and Stepmother are suspects in the murders of their two children

By Justin Reis

Police search for the bodies of two young children in Mobile, Alabama believed to have been killed by their father and stepmother, police said.

According to CNN, Jonathan DeBlase, 3, and his sister Natalie, 4, went missing in late June. Authorities began investigating the missing persons report on November 19, Officer Christopher Levy said, spokesman for Mobile police.

John Joseph DeBlase, 27, is the father of the children and was arrested Friday. He faces two counts of aggravated child abuse and two counts of abuse of a corpse, Mobile police said.

Stepmother Heather Keaton was arrested and faces two counts of willful abuse and neglect of a child, police said. Keaton filed a restraining order against DeBlase, police said.

The couple was living in Louisville, Kentucky when they eventually separated, CNN reported.

"Detectives have determined that both John DeBlase and Heather Keaton are responsible" for the children's deaths, the Mobile police said in a statement. "Police will continue to search for the children."