Missing Since:01/23/1999
Missing From: Tacoma, Washington
Classification: Endangered Missing
Sex: Female
Race: Biracial, Black, Native American, White
Date of Birth: 07/04/1996 (26)
Age: 2 years old
Height and Weight: 3’0, 35 pounds
Jewelry/Clothing Description: A green Tweety Bird sweatshirt or t-shirt, white sweatpants and black and white Air Jordan sneakers, hair pulled into ponytails. Carrying a clear purse with a fish design, containing Starburst candies.
Medical Conditions: Due to her asthma, Teekah Lewis needs to be under medical supervision and use a ventilator or inhaler. Before she vanished in 1999, Teekah Lewis received medical attention at an Indian Health Practitioners clinic in Puyallup, Washington, which serves Native Americans nationwide.
Associated Vehicle: Maroon four-door late 1980s or early 1990s model Pontiac Grand Am with dark-tinted windows and a large spoiler
Distinguishing Characteristics: Female of mixed race. Brown eyes and black hair Teekah is of African, Caucasian, and Native American ancestry. Eczema has caused patches of light discoloration on her face and the left side of her buttocks. Teekah has dimples on her face and her ears are pierced. She has a large birthmark on her left buttock and her hair has red natural highlights.
Circumstances of Disappearance
On January 23, 1999, Teekah and nearly a dozen members of her family spent the evening at the bowling alley New Frontier Lanes on Center Street in Tacoma, Washington. Between 10:00 and 10:15 p.m., Teekah was last observed in the arcade area of the alley playing a racing video game.
She was about six feet from the building’s exit and a few feet from her family. Theresa English, Teekah’s mother, claimed that she briefly turned her back before the child vanished. She was never again seen. There were not many leads as to her whereabouts despite a thorough search of the area.
An unidentified maroon Pontiac Grand Am sped out of the parking lot the evening Teekah vanished, according to a witness at the bowling alley. The car might have been four doors, a late 1980s or early 1990s model, with dark-tinted windows, and it might have had a big spoiler. With this case summary are images of a car that looks similar.
Another eyewitness claimed that during the night, an unidentified Caucasian man may have followed a youngster to one of the alley’s exits. The person is described as having brown hair that falls to his shoulders, facial pockmarks, a moustache, and a big nose. He is in his thirties. If the car or the unidentified man have anything to do with Teekah’s case, investigators are unsure.
Two months before Teekah vanished, in November 1998, a four-year-old boy was sexually assaulted in the New Frontier Lanes restroom. The suspect had a beard and brown hair that was curly, and two security personnel thought they had seen him before at the bowling alley, but they couldn’t remember his name.
Several weeks later, a brown-haired Caucasian man attempted to entice a six-year-old boy from the same bowling alley by claiming to be the boy’s father. On the day Teekah vanished, a man with curly brown hair made an attempt to abduct two kids from a park not far from the bowling alley. He was chased away by the father of the kids, and he sped off in a blue 1995 Pontiac Grand Am.
Three days after the incident, when he learned of Teekah’s disappearance from the news, the father of the kids finally reported the incident to the police. None of these cases resulted in an arrest, and it’s not clear if they have anything to do with Teekah’s apparent kidnapping.
The biological father of Teekah has been disqualified as a suspect in her case because he was incarcerated at the time of her disappearance. According to reports, Teekah is quiet and reserved. She likes to eat candy, and her favorite variety is Starbursts. Foul play is suspected in her case, which remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
- Tacoma Police Department 253-798-4721
- Federal Bureau of Investigation 202-324-3000