TACOMA, Wash. — The case of a Tacoma toddler who vanished from a bowling alley 13 years ago now has a possible break as police continue to investigate.
Two-year-old Teekah Lewis disappeared from New Frontier Lanes when her family went bowling in January 1999.
On Friday and Saturday, Tacoma police dug up and searched the yard of a home on South Hawthorne Street.
The Tacoma Police Department confirmed with KIRO 7 Eyewitness News that the investigation was in connection with the 1999 abduction of Teekah.
KIRO 7 reporter Stacy Sakamoto spoke with Teekah’s mother, Theresa Lewis, after the police called her Sunday morning about their search and their interview with a man.
“Everytime I hear something like that, it breaks my heart because I think the worst,” Lewis said. “He said he talked to my daughter that night, he said she was lost, so he approached her.”
KIRO 7 searched archives and found that the man who lives at the house, is a man who pleaded guilty in 2010 of child luring at another bowling alley, Tower Lanes. The man was 56 at the time.
Police said the man is not a suspect and he has not been arrested or charged in connection with the Teekah Lewis’ case.
“I wish I could see a picture of him 13 years ago, and I would know exact,” said Theresa Lewis. “Now, can this be the man that took my daughter? And if he is, where is she today?”
The man disputed what police told Lewis and said he was not at the New Frontier Lanes when Teekah disappeared. The man told KIRO 7 that he didn’t know who Teekah was.
New Frontier Lanes has been torn down, but Lewis still holds vigils at the site for her daughter.