NEW ULM, MINN.
Defying a court order, the mother of Daniel Hauser has gone into hiding with her 13-year-old son rather than subject him to the chemotherapy that doctors believe is his only hope against cancer.
State and national crime alerts went out Tuesday afternoon after Daniel's father startled a courtroom here by saying that he didn't know the whereabouts of his son or his wife, Colleen.
Anthony Hauser said he last spoke to his wife about 4 p.m. Monday as he milked cows at the family farm near Sleepy Eye. He said his wife told him she was going to leave and "That's all you need to know."
Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg reacted by finding Colleen Hauser in contempt of court. He also ordered that Daniel be placed in a foster home as soon as he is located, then sent to a pediatric oncologist for treatment of his Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Doctors have said that with treatment Daniel has an 80 to 90 percent chance of survival; without it he likely will die within five years.
"The court's priority at this point is to try to get Daniel Hauser and get him the care he needs," said Rodenberg, who at one point urged lawyers to speed up what became a 90-minute proceeding. "Daniel is 90 minutes farther away from here" than when court convened, Rodenberg said.
Had Daniel attended Tuesday's hearing, he would have heard his doctor testify that a chest X-ray taken Monday showed that his tumor has grown back to its original size before chemotherapy. A medical report filed with the court also noted a "significant worsening" of the tumor since a March 13 X-ray.