A judge has ordered the mother of Pennsylvania twins whom child welfare caseworkers haven't been able to locate for more than 10 years to undergo a mental health evaluation.
A district judge postponed Monday's preliminary hearing for Patricia Fowler on charges she endangered the children and obstructed efforts to find them. The judge rescheduled the hearing for Sept. 12 and said the evaluation must be done before then.
The 47-year-old Penn Hills woman and her lawyer declined to comment.
Fowler has given various accounts of where the 17-year-old twins live, none of which have checked out, said police.
"We have no reason to believe she did harm them," Penn Hills Police Detective Leo Johe told NBC affiliate WPXI. "There's no evidence. There's no bodies. But since we don't know exactly what happened, we can't rule it out."
Family members told investigators they also don't know where the twins are.
Fowler's son, 18-year-old Datwon Fowler, is charged with pretending to be one of the twins and sending a text to police saying they're OK. He doesn't have an attorney listed in court records.
