Sonar used to search Oklahoma pond for 2 missing children

Searchers used sonar on Tuesday to examine a Tulsa pond for two young children last seen days ago with their noncustodial mother, who was arrested after being questioned about their disappearance.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol and Tulsa firefighters joined Tulsa police in searching a pond near an east Tulsa apartment complex for 3-year-old Miracle Crook and 2-year-old Tony Crook.

Authorities have previously used a helicopter, a boat and divers in unsuccessful searches of the pond.

“So now we are going to clear this location and we’re going to head back ... and we’re going to reassess and see if we can do some sonar searching within the pond that’s in the apartment complex,” Tulsa Officer Jeanne Pierce told reporters at the scene.

Tulsa police did not immediately return phone calls Tuesday for further comment.

An aunt of the two has legal custody of them, but they were last seen Friday with their mother. Donisha Willis, 24, was arrested the same day on charges of child neglect and assaulting a police officer.

Jail records do not list an attorney for Willis.

During a Sunday news conference, Police Chief Wendell Franklin painted a potentially grim outlook of the fate of the two missing toddlers.

“There’s only two things that can happen here ... these children are either on someone’s couch asleep and the people that they’re with don’t know that these children are missing, or these children are dead," Franklin said, “and every single moment that these children are away leads us to believe the latter.”