Cold and Missing: Teekah Lewis

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The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.

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All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages and is intended for a mature

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audience.

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Listener discretion is advised.

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Hello everyone and welcome back.

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Welcome back everyone.

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I am your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.

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And I am your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.

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And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases.

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And missing person cases.

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Okay, Eli's back this week.

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Yes I am, grateful to be here.

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Okay, so this week we are focusing on a missing persons case, correct?

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Mm-hmm.

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Alright, let's get started.

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Okay, great.

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So today I have a missing person case, but just as a content warning at the top, this

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case does involve children and there is a brief mention of sexual assault.

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Today I have for you the unresolved missing person case of Teekah Lewis, which takes place

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in January of 1999 in Tacoma, Washington.

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But first a little bit about Teekah.

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Teekah was two years old in 1999.

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She was born July 4th, 1996.

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She would be 26 years old today.

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Teekah is part Chippewa and part Black.

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She was three feet tall and weighed 35 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

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She loves Starbursts, French fries, and Winnie the Pooh.

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Her family called her My Little Old Lady.

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Teekah was shy and everyone knew her as a mommy's girl.

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And now a timeline of events.

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On Saturday, January 23rd, 1999, Teekah and around 16 family members went to go Moonlight

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Bowling at the New Frontier Lanes located at 4702 Center Street in Tacoma, Washington.

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Today a jack-in-the-box and a Home Depot sit where the bowling alley once stood.

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The family arrives at 830 and the bowling alley is packed with families.

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Witnesses remarked that there were no more parking spaces in the parking lot.

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Teekah's family was bowling in lanes 7 and 8 at the 32-lane bowling alley.

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Tika was playing in the arcade.

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She was carrying her new purse she had gotten for Christmas.

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It was filled with Starbursts and change that an uncle had given her.

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With the help of an uncle, she was able to win a teddy bear from a claw machine which

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she promptly gave to her 10-month-old baby sister.

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Between 1015 and 1030 PM, Teekah was playing on the racing arcade game Cruisin' World,

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which was about six feet from the exit.

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Teresa Czapieswki, Teekah's mother, was standing with her and watching her.

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When it was Teresa's turn to bowl, her then-boyfriend Fred Biggs stood by and watched Teekah.

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When it was Fred's turn to bowl, Teekah's uncle, Tim Czapiewski, stood near Teekah.

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Tim turned around to watch Fred throw his ball, and when he turned back around, Teekah

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was gone.

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Family immediately begin to look for her.

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They check the bathrooms, they check behind the arcade games.

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Teresa even steps outside in the parking lot and calls for Teekah.

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When they don't find any sign of the girl, they immediately alert the bowling alley security

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guard who is an off-duty police officer.

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The bowling alley makes an announcement, and the bowling alley is thoroughly checked.

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They check behind the bowling lanes, they check in the bathrooms, behind the machines.

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Again, everyone is looking for Teekah.

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Within 15 minutes, police begin to arrive.

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Police block the parking lot and search every car that leaves the parking lot that evening.

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Teekah's mother, Teresa, is in a panic.

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She says, quote, someone had to pick her up and run out the door.

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She's a mommy's girl.

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She wouldn't wander off, end quote.

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Police and volunteers, including eight dog handlers, begin searching for Teekah through

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the night.

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They cover 1.5 miles around the bowling alley and also launch a helicopter with heat-seeking

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capabilities, and there is no trace of Teekah found.

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Pierce County Sheriff Sergeant Cindy Fajardo says, quote, there's no concrete evidence

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about what happened.

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She vanished into thin air, end quote.

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So police are working through the night searching for Teekah.

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So into Sunday, January 24th, police are quickly able to rule out a parental kidnapping, as

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Teekah's father, Robert Lewis, was serving time at the McNeil Island Correctional Center.

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He is woken up at around 4 a.m.

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Robert says, quote, the detective said my daughter was missing from the bowling alley.

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Then he asked if I knew anything about it.

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I said, how could I know anything?

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I've been up here ever since 1997, end quote.

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The FBI and the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children joined the search for

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Teekah.

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Searchers begin to go door to door to homes and businesses.

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Police also set up a tip line for Teekah, and they receive about 75 tips within the first

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24 hours.

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Police finish their searching around 5 p.m. Sunday evening and announce that Teekah had

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been abducted.

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They are sure she just didn't wander off.

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Teresa says, quote, just bring my daughter back.

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I want my daughter back.

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I will do anything to get my daughter back, end quote.

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On Monday, January 25th, more FBI agents join the case and police start to focus on Teresa.

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They give her a polygraph test and according to Teresa, quote, they ask stupid questions

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like what's your name and were you involved with her taking?

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I've got other kids.

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Why would I just take one of them, end quote.

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Police tell media that they're not focusing on the family, but, quote, we want to rule

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them out, end quote.

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Teresa believes that Teekah was kidnapped by someone who wanted a mixed race baby.

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Teresa tells police that a woman had asked another member of their family if she could

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hold her baby, but police say they have accounted for this woman's whereabouts for Saturday

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night.

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Teresa says, quote, all I want is my daughter back.

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Someone in that bowling alley saw something.

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I just want them to call Tacoma police and don't be scared, end quote.

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On Tuesday, January 26th, police still have no strong leads and they ask that anyone at

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the bowling alley Saturday night that took any photos or video to bring it to police.

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Police also drag a pond that is nearby the bowling alley, but don't find anything.

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Police will also search an area across the street from the bowling alley.

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During the initial search, two dogs had hit on this area.

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As police comb the area, they find under a bush a bundle of men's clothes.

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Police are unsure if it's related to Teekah's disappearance, but they collect it as evidence.

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Police don't believe the clothes have been there for long as there's no mold or mildew

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on them.

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In the bundle, they find three items.

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A Boat Works brand, hip length, navy blue wool coat with green lining.

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The coat is a size large and has markers on the label from a local thrift shop called

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Value Village.

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A pair of off-white jeans.

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The waist was 34 inches and the length was 32.

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The jeans were stained with blue or purple ink and were Lee jeans.

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And the third item was a new Columbia button down flannel shirt.

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The shirt had blue and green plaid on a white background with yellow highlights.

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On Wednesday, January 27th, police give Teresa a second polygraph test to wrap up loose ends,

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according to them.

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Police also give another family member a polygraph, but decline to say who it is.

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Police also pull the phone records for the payphone at the bowling alley for Saturday

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evening.

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On Thursday, January 28th, police announced that Teresa has been cleared.

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Tacoma police spokesperson Jim Mathis says, quote, she is not a suspect.

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At this point, nobody else has been cleared, end quote.

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Police also asked the public's help to find the owner of the clothes they found on Tuesday.

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On Saturday, January 30th, so this is one week that Teekah has been missing, a candlelight

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vigil is held for Tika at the bowling alley.

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Teekah's grandmother, Mary Czapiewski, says, quote, this is to tell you, sweetheart, we

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want to tell you that we all love you and miss you very, very much.

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And for the persons who took her, how do you live with yourself knowing you have taken

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Teekah away from people who love her dearly, end quote.

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Police say that they have received 500 tips in Teekah's case, but none have led to the toddler.

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On Monday, February 1st, police, desperate for a break, ask a psychic for help.

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Now, this psychic had helped police find the body of Cindy Allinger.

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The psychic points police to an area near the East Gate of Fort Lewis McCord, but nothing

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related to Teekah is found there.

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On Saturday, February 6th, so this is two weeks now Teekah has been missing, Teekah's case

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appears on America's Most Wanted and dozens of tips are called in after the program airs.

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But again, nothing leads to Teekah.

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On Tuesday, February 23rd, so this is one month now that Teekah has been missing.

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Teekah's family hold a Chippewa prayer service to mark the one month of her being gone.

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Tacoma police still have 10 detectives assigned to the case full time with help from the FBI.

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Police are working on IDing and interviewing everyone who is at the bowling alley that

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night.

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Police say they only have a handful more to find of around the 300 people there.

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Detective Lindbergh says, quote, usually in an investigation this size, we have the name

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of the suspect.

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We just don't know what it is yet, end quote.

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The next day on February 24th, police ask that anyone that was at the bowling alley

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on January 23rd, who has not been interviewed by police to please come forward.

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Specifically, police are interested in talking to other kids that were at the bowling alley

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that evening.

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And then over the next few months, police will continue to work the case, but it will

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be scaled back.

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There'll be less detectives assigned to it.

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The family will continue to hold vigils and fundraisers for reward money, but there are

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no leads and there's no signs of Teekah over the months.

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In July of 1999, New Frontier Bowling closes and the property is developed and the property

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next door is developed.

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When construction is happening, police actually inform the construction crews to be on a lookout

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for anything that could be related to Teekah's disappearance.

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And police were hopeful that something would turn up in that construction, but nothing

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ever does.

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On January 23rd of 2000, so this is one year, police say that over the last year, they have

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received over 700 tips.

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They are most interested in one that came from a 17-year-old boy who was at New Frontier

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Bowling.

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The teen saw two men standing near Teekah.

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The first guy is described as 30s or 40s, 5'11", around 200 pounds, brown hair, thick

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mustache, a large nose, and a pock-marked face.

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The second man is described as in his 30s or 40s, 5'9", around 200 pounds, has long

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black hair, and he was wearing dirty jeans and a gray jacket with a sports logo.

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Detective Larry Lindberg, the head of Tacoma's missing person unit, says, quote, they looked

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like they were following her as she walked toward the front desk area, end quote.

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And this would be Teekah he was referencing here.

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Police also received a tip from a woman who was pulling into the bowling alley parking

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lot around 1030, around the time Teekah disappeared.

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She says a 1980s or 90s model Grand Am was speeding out of the parking lot as she was

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coming in.

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The car almost hit her and it fishtailed as it sped off.

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That's how fast it was moving.

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She didn't get a license plate, but said it was possibly maroon, had four doors, tinted

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windows, and a spoiler on the back.

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Police want to ID the two men the teen saw and the driver of the vehicle.

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At this point, police do not believe that Teekah's family was involved in her disappearance

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at all.

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Family will hold a candlelight vigil for Teekah on the one year anniversary, and this is something

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that will happen every year continuing into 2022.

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Teekah's younger sister looks so much like her that a neighbor had recently called police

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to say that Teekah wasn't missing, but she was home playing in the front yard with her mother.

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And then the next kind of significant update comes in May of 2001.

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So this is over two years that Teekah has been missing.

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The body of a decapitated four year old was found in Kansas City, Missouri.

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She's known as Precious Doe and police will send in Teekah's DNA.

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Because the artist's composition of Precious Doe looked so much like Teekah's age enhanced

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photo.

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Ultimately, Teekah will be ruled out by DNA and Precious Doe is ultimately IDed as Erica

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Green on May 5th, 2005.

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In April of 2006, so this is seven years, the family's private investigator that they

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had hired to look for Teekah found a girl living in Texas that looks like Teekah and her sisters.

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When the PI shows Teresa a photo of the woman the girl was living with, Teresa said she

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recognized her from the bowling alley.

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The FBI is unconvinced that this girl is Teekah, but they still test her DNA.

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And in June of 2006, the results come back that it is not Teekah.

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In January of 2008, so this is nine years, Teekah's family released more photos and videos

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of her hoping to jog someone's memory on the case.

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Police hope that the passage of time would make someone more likely to talk.

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Detective Brad Graham says, quote, we want to reach out to people here who knew somebody

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who changed their demeanor or attitude level or suspicion level that night or the days

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following.

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We want people to reexamine their conscious and revisit that night, end quote.

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In January of 2010, at the 11 year candlelight vigil, a man approaches Teresa and tells her

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he had a vision of where Teekah was buried.

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Teresa turns this information over to police and it's so detailed that police end up digging

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an eight by 12 foot hole in the native plant garden in Point Defiance Park.

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Nothing is found there.

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On July 4th, 2011, on Teekah's 15th birthday, police asked the public for help IDing the

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driver of the Grand Am and police believe that the vehicle was involved in Teekah's disappearance.

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In January of 2012, so 13 years now that Teekah has disappeared, Detective Lindsay Wade went

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back through all 700 tips received in the case.

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She finds three tips of other children being approached by a stranger.

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The first tip happens on November 29th, 1998.

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So this would be two months before Teekah disappeared.

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A father is bowling at New Frontier Lanes in a league and his son is playing in the

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arcade.

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The boy goes to the bathroom and is sexually assaulted.

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The suspect was a white guy with brown curly hair and a beard.

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He wore a hat with the word husky on it.

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The second tip is a few weeks before Teekah's disappearance, a family was bowling at New

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Frontier Lanes and their six-year-old son was playing in the arcade, but his mom could

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watch him from her lane.

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The mom looked up to see a white man with brown hair holding her son's wrist and talking

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to him.

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As the mom goes to confront the man, he was telling people that he was the boy's father.

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And the third tip comes hours before Teekah disappeared.

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A father and his two kids were at the Oakland Madrona Park, which is about a half a mile

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away from the bowling alley.

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The dad notices a white guy with brown hair motioning for his children to come inside

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the bathroom.

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The dad chases this guy and he speeds off in a blue 1995 Grand Am.

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Detective Lindsay Wade says, quote, I can't say for certain if all these incidents are

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related or if they are related to Teekah's disappearance.

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There's a possibility that they are given the Pontiac Grand Am, end quote.

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In July of 2012, so this is 13 and a half years since Teekah has been missing, police

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searched the home of John William Black.

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He had pleaded guilty to child luring at another Tacoma bowling alley in 2010.

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Police say that John William Black had made comments that led police to become suspicious

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of him and search his home.

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But police failed to find anything related to Teekah and police ultimately rule him out

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as a suspect.

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And then in January of 2020, so this is 21 years now that Teekah has been missing, police

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have a new push to ID the brown haired man with a pockmarked face that the teenager had

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seen the night that Teekah disappeared.

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Detective Steve Riopel was reviewing the case and realized the man has never been ID'd.

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The teen who originally saw it spoke to local news but stayed anonymous.

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He says, quote, we'd gone to that bowling alley plenty of times.

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It's the kind of place where people can go with their families and kids just roam.

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I had to use the restroom, so I went towards where the restrooms were.

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This rude guy bumped into me with this little girl and he was white.

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The little girl was mixed.

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I just thought it was a father rushing his daughter to the restroom, end quote.

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And this guy, then a teen, says that he remembers this interaction because the guy had hit his

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shoulder with so much force but didn't even apologize.

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He was in such a rush to move.

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The man was wearing blue jeans and a blue checker flannel shirt.

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Detective Riopel says, quote, about a week after Teekah's disappearance, they were filming

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a reenactment down at the bowling alley.

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And someone who was standing there watching noticed a person with a pockmarked face was

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also watching the reenactment.

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And the witness who called it in thought he was acting strange, end quote.

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And that's really all that we know about the disappearance of Teekah Lewis.

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So if you know anything about what happened to Teekah Lewis in January of 1999, or if you

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know the identity of this man with brown hair and a pockedmarked face that was living in

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Tacoma, Washington in 1999 or around that area, you are encouraged to call Crime Stoppers

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at 1-800-220-8477.

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And the sources from today's podcast come from the News Tribune.

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And I personally read over 50 articles from the News Tribune on this case.

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So they really covered this case from the beginning.

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The Olympian, the Lewis River News and Kalama Bulletin, Longview Daily News, South Florida

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Sun Sentinel, Springfield News Sun, Tri-City Herald, the Kansas City Star, the Columbian,

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Fox 13 Seattle and the Charlie Project.

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So that is the case of Teekah Lewis.

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Yeah, I mean, you kind of spelled it out for everyone.

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I just want to know who the person in the Grand Am is.

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Yeah.

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I feel like that's the major key here, right?

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Yeah, definitely.

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I think whoever is driving the Grand Am holds something in this case, for sure.

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This man with brown hair.

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I have some questions because originally when they talked about this teen, what he saw,

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he said there were two men.

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And when the detective goes back in 2020 to kind of review these things, he says that

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this brown haired man hadn't been ID'd.

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So I wonder if the other man had been ID'd and ruled out.

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I question that if they were together because originally when they presented this tip, it

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sounded like these men were standing together and were kind of moving in tandem around Teekah's

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movements.

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And it sounded like this case had a lot of attention at the time.

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Or is that not true?

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No, this case, I think was really popular in Washington.

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I think it got a lot of local coverage.

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I did see some articles, you know, all the way to Chicago and in Ohio.

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So like it did get some national coverage.

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But a lot of people in the city of Tacoma remember this case pretty clearly.

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Yeah I imagine that if you were near it, it would be hard to forget.

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Yeah.

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I saw the pictures of her already.

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Very sweet.

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Definitely.

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We say it every recording session, every episode, just like what happened here?

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How?

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I don't know.

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I guess this is a more of just a bigger statement on life, but the fragility of existence from

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moment to moment because he turned or she who was with her again?

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Her uncle?

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00:21:55,980 --> 00:21:56,980
Yeah, it was her uncle.

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Yeah, he turned and then turned back.

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I don't know.

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I think doing this podcast with you has made me realize the fragility of moment to moment

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and how quickly your life can change when something like this happens to it.

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And like change you forever.

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Forever.

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It's like the moment something like that happens, you are forever changed.

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In doing the podcast, you know, we're just around the stories more.

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So I don't know.

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It's clear to me the impact that things like this have on people.

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00:22:37,420 --> 00:22:38,820
Absolutely.

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I have a lot of friends and you included who would be called a little old lady.

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I loved that.

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Yeah, this story really resonated with me because I was a kid who grew up in bowling

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alleys.

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Yeah, I know everything about her.

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Honestly, I got a little teary eyed because I've, you know, heard stories about you as

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a kid down to the way that she eats.

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Like Ali still loves candy and french fries and stuff.

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00:23:08,940 --> 00:23:09,940
Yeah, I do.

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00:23:09,940 --> 00:23:12,540
If you opened up my purse right now, there would be Starburst in there.

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00:23:12,540 --> 00:23:16,820
Yeah, that was probably why I had the reaction of like, she sounds awesome.

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I want to hang.

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Your characteristics.

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But yeah, it's like a kid who, you know, my mom was in a bowling league and I was in bowling

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leagues.

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I was in the bowling alley a lot.

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So this case really struck me because it was a place where kids were allowed to roam, you

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know, like we were allowed to play at the arcade and they know that and that's what's

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that's one of the things that makes me really upset like it like people who like abusers.

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But in this case, like Teekah was always with somebody in her family, you know, she was

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young.

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She was two.

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She couldn't be by herself yet.

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00:24:00,060 --> 00:24:06,860
But yeah, in just that moment of turning around to watch somebody throw a bowling ball, which

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is so natural.

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It like that's what makes me think that for that for it to happen that quickly, multiple

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eyes need to be on that child and that adult and a plan needs to be in place.

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So it can like happen like that.

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00:24:24,100 --> 00:24:29,100
Another kind of question that I have that I just wonder if they are related or not in

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00:24:29,100 --> 00:24:34,460
this case, just because I have been spending so much time with it recently.

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00:24:34,460 --> 00:24:44,340
The clothes that were found shortly after Teekah disappeared, one of the items was a blue

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flannel button down.

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And the teen says that the guy that he saw, you know, rushing past him was wearing like

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a blue checkered shirt.

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So I wonder, like, are those things related?

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What happened with those clothes?

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Were there was there any fibers found evidence found?

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Are they related to the case?

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00:25:07,820 --> 00:25:08,820
Are they not?

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00:25:08,820 --> 00:25:11,940
I, you know, you can go back and test them again.

373
00:25:11,940 --> 00:25:13,020
Like, I don't know.

374
00:25:13,020 --> 00:25:18,020
I don't know, but I, I do know that this is a nightmare.

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00:25:18,020 --> 00:25:20,780
So like, it's a nightmare scenario.

376
00:25:20,780 --> 00:25:21,780
Complete nightmare.

377
00:25:21,780 --> 00:25:22,780
Yeah.

378
00:25:22,780 --> 00:25:27,060
And, you know, detectives kind of remarked again and again that this is, you know, this

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00:25:27,060 --> 00:25:30,260
is not typical of a child abduction.

380
00:25:30,260 --> 00:25:32,620
You know, it's normally family related.

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00:25:32,620 --> 00:25:37,100
Like a stranger isn't going to take your child nine times out of 10.

382
00:25:37,100 --> 00:25:38,100
Yeah.

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00:25:38,100 --> 00:25:41,900
And for this circumstance, like for parents to be so close in a packed place, nobody to

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00:25:41,900 --> 00:25:45,820
see anything, it's just like this shouldn't have happened.

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00:25:45,820 --> 00:25:47,460
This doesn't happen, but it did.

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And what a nightmare.

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What a complete nightmare.

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Again, if you know anything about Teekah Lewis's disappearance, her whereabouts today, or the

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identity of the man with brown hair and the pocked marked face, please call Crime Stoppers

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00:26:05,340 --> 00:26:10,460
at 1-800-220-8477.

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00:26:10,460 --> 00:26:13,940
And while you're getting ready to go to your next show, if you could just give us a little

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00:26:13,940 --> 00:26:15,780
review, five stars.

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00:26:15,780 --> 00:26:24,380
If you're in Apple reviews, leaving us a worded review is the quickest way to my heart to

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00:26:24,380 --> 00:26:26,060
becoming a celebrity in our household.

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00:26:26,060 --> 00:26:29,800
So it also makes us more like visible.

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00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:30,800
It totally does.

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00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:32,260
It helps other people find us.

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00:26:32,260 --> 00:26:38,620
And as I've mentioned before a thousand times, the goal of this podcast is just to get these

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00:26:38,620 --> 00:26:41,420
names into as many ears as possible.

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00:26:41,420 --> 00:26:46,880
So just by reviewing, you're doing a small part in helping with that mission.

401
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:48,820
So thank you so much.

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00:26:48,820 --> 00:26:53,120
We're going to be posting pictures of Teekah on our Instagram.

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00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:57,660
If you're not following us there, you can find us on Instagram at Cold and Missing.

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00:26:57,660 --> 00:26:59,720
But that's all I have.

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00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:01,620
Have a good week and stay safe, y'all.

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00:27:01,620 --> 00:27:08,820
Stay safe, y'all.