NEWTON, Ill. (WCIA) – A 2-month search for a missing Newton family of four has finally come to an end. Police say all four members of the Lutz family turned up alive and well in Arizona Monday, but their loved ones still have questions about their disappearance.

According to police, 44-year-old Stephen Lutz says his family just wants a fresh start. He left Central Illinois with his wife, 34-year-old Monica, and sons, 11-year-old Aiden and 9-year-old Nicholas in February.

Newton Police Chief Riley Britton says Stephen Lutz told him he has no plans to return.

“I was asking him about his house – ‘what’s the plan for your guys’ house? You got a lot of stuff there.’ He says: ‘I plan on selling it,'” Britton said, describing a phone call with Stephen Monday afternoon.

Stephen was out on bond with the condition of having no contact with his family when they all disappeared. A warrant for his arrest was issued after Britton says he failed to appear in court last month. The problem is, the warrant doesn’t apply outside of Illinois due to a geographic limitation. Still, Britton says he plans to follow up on the bond violation and the domestic battery charges brought against Stephen, but for now, he’s not sure there’s much more his department can do.

“That’s going to be up to the court to decide because at this point if the court’s out of state, which they are, there’d have to be some [other] type of warrant issued,” Britton said.

WCIA asked Britton if he feels confident Monica and the children are safe.

“There’s been speculation. At the same time, we’ve had concerns and we try to look at every angle imaginable,” he said. “In this case, we’re getting the story that they decided together to move away as a family.”

Some things still don’t make sense to Britton and others following the Lutz case.

“What drives someone to want to leave town? Was it because of the pending court cases? Is it because their life’s a wreck and they want to do something different? I don’t know,” Britton said.

While Britton says Stephen was “cooperative” during their phone call, “it sounded like he had some anger toward Newton.” He said Stephen referenced being “backstabbed” but didn’t elaborate further. He says after the couple vanished with their kids and disconnected their phones, police had to get creative, ultimately relying on automated license plate readers to find them.

“There would be days, sometimes weeks where we wouldn’t get any hit at all,” Britton said.

State Police helped Britton’s department track Stephen’s truck from Illinois to Pennsylvania and across the country.

“Went down south – looked like they were in Baton Rouge for a bit, went across Texas, went to Las Cruces for a bit in New Mexico. And that’s where we got to Arizona,” Britton said.

Britton says eventually, it looked like the family settled somewhere in Cochise County in southeastern Arizona. A sheriff’s deputy was able to make contact with Monica and the boys separately from Stephen.

“Said they were fine, kids seemed healthy,” Britton said.

Monica told the deputy where to find Stephen – a tire shop where he now works. That was when Britton was able to get him on the phone. Stephen asked police not to share his location with the rest of his family back home.

“Sounds like he doesn’t want much to do with Newton anymore.”

Missing Persons Awareness Network President Gia Wright says she’s still waiting for answers from the couple.

“You can choose to walk away from your life and move on, because you’re an adult, and you get to do that. But there has to be some kind of responsibility when it comes to these kids,” Wright said.

She’s concerned about previous reports of domestic violence in the home.

“If something happens to these kids or the mom in the future, then whose responsibility did that fall on?” Wright asked. “I don’t know that they’re well, but we can say they’re alive.”

Stephen’s adult daughter Brittany says she still doesn’t understand why the family left most of their belongings behind. She’s also worried about Stephen’s pending charges, and she misses her brothers.

“The fact that they can skip state and be free of that – it’s very concerning to me,” Brittany said. “I’m trying to be happy knowing that they were found alive. But I mean, I won’t ever get to see them again.”

Another concern raised by Brittany Lutz and Gia Wright throughout the investigation was an encounter between Aiden and Stephen in January during which Aiden says he walked into his father’s bedroom to find him talking to a “clown mask” on the wall saying he would kill his family. Chief Britton says while the statement is “alarming,” police could only consider it hearsay, and he isn’t privy to Stephen’s mental health history.

“Even though someone said something maybe during an episode of whatever they had, does that constitute certain steps to take him away from his family? I don’t know, that’s usually decided by a doctor or another agency like DCFS,” he said.

Police, the Missing Persons Awareness Network and Brittany Lutz are all thanking everybody who helped spread the word and supported the investigation.