Family Draws Close In Search For Toddler

TACOMA - Sporting a sweat shirt with her little sister's photo on it, Dominique Czapiewski paused during her card game with her grandfather to point to her signature on a white-and-blue banner spread across the living-room floor.

In childish handwriting were the words, "I love you Teekah."

As police search for clues and friends and family members hand out fliers around the city, the disappearance of 2-year-old Teekah Lewis left more victims than just the child who vanished.

"Scared" and "sad" is how the oldest of Theresa English's five children sums up her feelings about her sister's disappearance.

Dominique's grandfather, Ernie Czapiewski, said English's children have been especially quiet since the girl disappeared from the New Frontier Entertainment Center in Tacoma on Jan. 23. The hardest thing is not knowing who took her or why.

Teekah vanished in what English said was virtually the blink of an eye. Teekah was last seen playing near an arcade area not far from lanes 7 and 8 where her mother, uncles and their friends bowled. English said she turned to watch her brother bowl, looked back and saw that Teekah was gone.

Over the past week English's family has drawn closer, bound together in grief, they say - grief made more painful when the lack of obvious suspects has - at times - turned suspicion toward them.

English took two polygraph tests and has been cleared as a suspect, police say.

`We don't see you cry'

At times the family has seemed stoic when talking about Teekah's disappearance, said Phillip Czapiewski, English's brother. "A lot of people have said, `We don't see you cry.' "

He said it was not part of his family's half-Native-American, half-Polish traditions to openly express emotions.

"What you don't see on our faces, we feel in our hearts," he said. "It's a private matter."

On Saturday night, as 150 people gathered at the bowling alley for a candlelight vigil and prayer, English broke down and sobbed, and pleaded for the return of her daughter.

Despite massive searches and campaigns to distribute fliers, there remains no suspects and few clues as to Teekah's whereabouts, police say.

The East Tacoma home of Mary and Ernie Czapiewski has become command headquarters for the family, with many of English's seven brothers and sisters coming and going. About 25,000 fliers have been distributed so far.

"I don't know why anybody would take a child that's not your own," said English's sister, Dawn Czapiewski.

She said she walked the short distance from lanes 7 and 8 to the arcade to try to make some sense of what happened.

"It must have been 10 to 15 seconds that she looked away," Dawn Czapiewski estimated. "It was that close. Someone had to have been watching."

Teekah is described as half Native American and half African American, 3 feet tall and 35 pounds. She was last seen wearing a green Tweety Bird shirt.

Friends often take care of English's other children so she can focus on searching for Teekah, and her brothers have all been granted time off from work so they can help distribute fliers.

Strangers also have come to help.

Help from strangers

At the Tacoma Mall yesterday, Linda Mueller of Spanaway, Pierce County, who heard about Teekah and volunteered to help, handed out fliers with Teekah's photo and a police hot-line number (253-591-5649).

"I'm an advocate for kids," she said. "Whether we know it or not, we're all related one way or another. I had the time . . . now I just hope they find her."