Authorities search again for N.H. kids

9/13/2003

Local, state, and federal authorities searched areas in Ottawa and Sandusky counties yesterday, looking for the bodies of two New Hampshire children who may be buried in northwest Ohio.

They came up empty in their hunt for the bodies of Philip Gehring, 11, and his sister, Sarah, 14. Their father, Manuel Gehring, 44, is accused of killing them. He is charged with murder.

He told authorities he shot them in New Hampshire and buried them in a shallow grave in the Midwest.

Authorities believe he disposed of the bodies between July 5 and July 6 on his way across the country. He was arrested in California.

Authorities searched a five-mile area around interchanges on the Ohio Turnpike in Ottawa and Sandusky counties between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., said Special Agent Lou Genide, of the Toledo FBI office.