OMAHA, Neb.—To the young children of Matthew and Rowena Schade, the 18 days they spent on the run with their parents were akin to a camping trip.
Knox County Sheriff Jim Janecek said Tuesday there was no evidence to suggest that any member of the family from northeast Nebraska was taken against his or her will.
Matthew and Rowena Schade turned themselves in Monday after an 800-mile roundtrip that took them to western South Dakota and back to Nebraska. They told authorities they fled their home in Creighton because they feared social services would take away their children. Law enforcement had interviewed the Schades on March 20 about abuse allegations.
Matthew and Rowena Schade were jailed in Knox County, according to the sheriff’s office in Center. Matthew, 26, was taken into custody on an Antelope County warrant for probation violation. Rowena, 29, was held on a detainer from the Nebraska Department of Probation.
Bail was set at $10,000 for Rowena Schade. Bail was to be set Thursday for Matthew, Janecek said.
Matthew is on probation in Knox, Antelope and Pierce counties and Rowena is on probation in Pierce, said Pierce County Attorney Verlyn Luebbe.
Both Schades had been convicted in the burglary of a grocery store in Plainview, in Pierce County, in 2004. Both have court hearings scheduled in that county April 14.
Prosecutors in Knox and Antelope counties did not return phone messages seeking comment.
South Dakota authorities also are trying to learn whether the family was involved in a string of burglaries and a vehicle theft, but no charges had been filed as of Tuesday, Pennington County (S.D.) chief deputy state’s attorney Lara Roetzel said.
Sheriff Janecek said in an e-mail response to reporter questions that the Schades’ 11- and 8-year-old children did not appear to be harmed. The children were staying with an uncle and aunt in the area, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
“The children were happy and talked about their CAMPING TRIP (sic), and were more worried about having to leave their baked potatoes in camp than anything else,” Janecek wrote.
The family holed up in a cabin on private property northwest of Creighton for three or four days before they surrendered, Janecek said.
Janecek said the family was never in danger despite a weekend snowstorm that dumped almost a foot of snow on portions of northeast Nebraska.
“The family was well-prepared with tents, sleeping bags and food and were able to sit out the storms in comfort. They were experienced winter campers,” Janecek wrote, adding that the children continued their home-school lessons while “camping.”
According to court papers in Knox County, three days after the family disappeared, friends and relatives of the Schades told Janecek that they were concerned about the welfare of Rowena and the children. One person told Janecek that Rowena told her she planned to leave Matthew and go to a shelter in Columbus.
Rowena’s mother, Sandra Epstein, told authorities that she suspected the Schades had fled to the Black Hills of South Dakota. A search there revealed evidence of the family, and a pickup stolen from Silver City, S.D., was recovered near Brunswick, Neb., late last week.
Matthew Schade called his father, Chester Schade, last week and told him that the family wanted to be left alone. Rowena Schade called her mother on Friday and said she and her husband planned to disappear so social services wouldn’t be able to take away their kids.
“The fact that the family had talked on the phone did not assure us that one or more of the family members was not being held against their will,” Janecek wrote. “Until we could separate the family members and talk to them individually we could not rule out a possible abduction.”
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