A real-life “Home Alone” story of twin 9-year-old brothers in New Hampshire managed to take care of themselves.
The boys’ uncle, who told police he’d stop by every few days while the parents were on a trip in Africa. The parents, Jerusalem and Catherine Monday, left the United States in July, expecting to return in August. But they were delayed in Nigeria for another three months. For their part, the boys transitioned from summer vacation into the school routine: They came home from school every day, ate snacks, watched TV until their failure to pay the cable bill got it shut off, did homework, went to sleep, got up the next morning, got dressed, got on the school bus – all on their own. Neighbors say they regularly saw the boys and didn’t have any concerns about them.
“The kids were so resourceful that they managed to take care of themselves and handled whatever problems that came along,” says Michael Valentine, the Hillsborough County, policeman handling the case. “They certainly knew what time school started, they’d get themselves downstairs, out of the building, onto the bus. The uncle claimed that he would drop off food somewhat regularly, but the officers found there was only some noodle in the cabinets.”
The boys’ school finally realized something was wrong when one of them came to class underdressed during an early-November cold weather. When asked whether their uncle could get them some warmer clothes and shoes, the boys said he didn’t live with them. The uncle, Giobari Atura, who is in his 20s and is the younger brother of Mr. Monday, was charged in December with one count of child endangerment, a misdemeanor. While authorities at first wondered whether the parents had been neglectful, it soon became clear that the problem was that the uncle had reneged on a promise to move in with the children during their parents’ absence.
The family is now back together, an apparent happy ending to an incident.
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