NEED TO KNOW

In 1992, a case drew national scrutiny after two parents were found to have left their children home alone on Christmas

Nine-year-old Nicole Schoo and her four-year-old sister Diana were discovered to be living alone in Chicago, while their parents vacationed in Acapulco

The case ultimately changed state law

It was a story that rocked a nation: A woman answered the door to her Chicago home to find the daughters of her reclusive neighbors — nine-year-old Nicole Schoo and her 4-year-old sister Diana — shivering in the cold. Their parents, they said, had left them for a nine-day Christmas vacation to Mexico.

Connie Stadelmann would later recount that the girls told her their fire alarm was going off and something was leaking.

It was Dec. 21, 1992 — two years after Home Al

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