David and Sharon Schoo lived in a comfortable, Tudor-style suburban home with a pool, swings and a child's playhouse in the back yard.
However, daughters Nicole, 9, and Diana, 4, were rarely seen outside the home and were often believed to live elsewhere, neighbors say."We were always saying `Where's the kids?' " said Toni Potts, who lives next door to the Schoos and shares a large pond with them.
"They would be driving off to go somewhere, and we never saw the kids," she said.
The Schoos were arrested Monday for leaving their children home alone while they vacationed for nine days in Acapulco, Mexico. On Thursday, Joseph Kuzma put up $10,000 to bail his daughter and son-in-law out of jail. He hadn't seen or spoken to Sharon Schoo in eight years.
The couple faces felony charges of child abandonment and cruelty to children and misdemeanor charges of child endangerment. A court hearing is set for Tuesday.
Neighbors say the Schoos seemed withdrawn - almost reclusive - in the close-knit 12-home community in an un-in-cor-po-rat-ed area outside St. Charles, where the doors are unlocked during the day and folks socialize regularly. The town is about 35 miles west of Chicago.
They say Davis Schoo, a 45-year-old engineer with a smoke-alarm company, waited until well after dark before cutting the grass and that Sharon Schoo, 35, rarely spoke to neighbors, even when they said hello first.
Neighbors say Nicole waited for the school bus at the edge of her own driveway instead of standing with other children at the designated bus stop. Younger sister Diana was rarely, if ever, seen.
"We always thought they were peculiar," said Connie Sta-del-mann, who lives across the street. It was to Stadelmann's home that the girls ran Dec. 21 after a smoke alarm was accidentally triggered.
"This is a family neighborhood with a million kids," Stadelmann said. "Why would you move here if you didn't like kids or didn't want your own to socialize with them?"
Neighbors said the Schoos appeared uncomfortable around people and overprotective toward their children.