Saturday, March 3, 2012

TODDLER'S MOTHER PERSISTS IN SEEKING STOLEN DAUGHTER.(MAIN)

Byline: REBECCA COOK Associated Press

TACOMA, Wash. -- Theresa English only looked away for a minute.

It was Jan. 23, 1999, and English was watching her 2-year-old daughter play in the video arcade of a crowded bowling alley. The mother of five walked over to the lane where her friends and family were bowling, then quickly returned to the video games.

Teekah wasn't there.

English scanned the crowds of children and adults that filled Tacoma's New Frontier Lanes that Saturday night. She checked the spaces between the video games, in case Teekah was playing hide-and-seek. She walked into the women's restroom, where a cousin was changing her baby's diaper.

``Have you seen Teekah?'' English asked, checking the stalls.

``No,'' her cousin replied.

English ran out of the bathroom and found an off-duty police officer, who started searching with her. Over the loudspeaker, a voice announced that a 2-year-old was missing.

People went on bowling, cheering for strikes and groaning for gutter balls. But English knew something was seriously wrong. Teekah was a mama's girl who cried when others tried to hold her. She wouldn't even let uncles or aunts pick her up.

English pushed open a side door near the arcade and stood in the …

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