As she combed through more than 700 tips called in to Tacoma police after little Teekah Lewis vanished from a bowling alley 13 years ago, detective Lindsey Wade came across three that made her stop.

The sheets detailed three incidents involving children approached by a stranger in and around New Frontier Lanes.

One incident occurred just hours before Teekah, a brown-eyed 21/2-year-old, disappeared Jan. 23, 1999, from the bowling alley as her family bowled nearby. In another incident, a 4-year-old boy was sexually assaulted inside a bathroom stall in the bowling alley.

In the third, a 6-year-old boy was approached by a stranger who claimed to be the boy’s father inside the alley.

Wade doesn’t know if the three incidents are related to Teekah’s disappearance or to each other. But she does wonder.

Tacoma detectives have never found a witness to Teekah’s abduction, so they have no description of a suspect. But there is a woman who spotted a dark-colored Pontiac Grand Am speeding from the business’ parking lot moments after Teekah vanished.

In one of the three incidents Wade found, the suspect’s vehicle is listed as a blue 1995 Pontiac Grand Am.

“I can’t say for certain if all these incidents are related or if they are related” to Teekah’s disappearance, Wade said. “There’s a possibility that they are, given the Pontiac Grand Am.”

Tacoma police and Teekah’s mother, Theresa Lewis, are renewing their push for new information from the public in the girl’s case as her family marks the 13th anniversary of her disappearance tonight with a candlelight vigil.

“We really need to get the community’s help, and we need them to look at this,” Lewis said. “We are talking about a missing child.”

SEEKING SIMILARITIES

Teekah had been at New Frontier Lanes the night of Jan. 23 with her mother and other family members. She was last seen playing near the “Cruisin’ World” video game as her family knocked down pins on two nearby lanes.

Teekah vanished about 10:15 p.m. Family members searched for her for 10 to 15 minutes, then notified an off-duty Tacoma police officer who was working at the bowling alley that night.

There’s been no sign of her since.

Wade inherited Teekah’s case in recent years and, over time, has been going back over the case, looking for any nugget of new information. Last year, she re-interviewed the woman who spotted the Pontiac Grand Am speeding out of the parking lot.

She also has been searching through old Tacoma police reports. She looked for kidnappings, child lurings, sexual assaults and other incidents involving children and reviewed 50 cases to see if there are any similarities to Teekah’s or that listed a Pontiac Grand Am. She hasn’t found any.

“In a lot of abduction cases, these guys will make several attempts before they are successful,” Wade said. “They will get involved in incidents like exposing themselves or luring.”

1998 INCIDENT

Wade went through the tip book and re-read the more than 700 tip sheets. She found three incidents that caught her attention.

The first occurred Nov. 29, 1998, at New Frontier Lanes. A 4-year-old boy and his father were at the bowling alley. As the father bowled on a league team, the boy played in the arcade area. At one point, he went to the bathroom.

A short time later, another patron went into the bathroom and found the boy laying on the floor in one of the stalls. Wade said the boy had been sexually assaulted by a stranger.

The suspect was described as a white man with brown, curly hair and a beard. He possibly wore a hat with the word “Husky” across the front.

The bowling alley’s private security guards were notified. The father assumed the security officers called Tacoma police. They didn’t.

The father called Tacoma police the next day, discovered the crime hadn’t been reported and filed a police report.

The security guards reported that they believed they knew who the suspect was but didn’t know his name.

“The guy must have been a regular at the bowling alley,” Wade said.

The incident came up during an interview with one of the employees at the bowling alley after Teekah disappeared but no new information was gleaned, Wade said. No arrest has been made in the case.

NEAR-KIDNAPPING

The second incident occurred a few weeks before Teekah’s disappearance. A tipster called Tacoma police Jan. 26, 1999, to report that a 6-year-old boy was almost kidnapped from the bowling alley.

Wade contacted the boy’s mother, who recalled the incident. The family had been at New Frontier Lanes on a Saturday night to bowl.

The boy was in the arcade by himself, though his mother was able to see him and watch him.

At one point, the mother said, she looked up and saw a stranger bent down, talking to her son. The stranger had a hold of the boy’s hand, Wade said.

As the mother rushed to her son, she heard the stranger say he was the boy’s father. The mother and others confronted the man, Wade said.

Security guards were called and escorted the man outside. The mother assumed Tacoma police were called, but Wade said they were not.

“I’ve checked all the names of those involved, and there was no report of any contact or any arrest,” Wade said.

The stranger was described as a white man with brown hair.

“We have no idea who that person was,” Wade said.

ANOTHER PONTIAC

The third incident happened hours before Teekah went missing.

A father and his two kids were hanging out at Oakland/Madrona Park, less than a mile away from the bowling alley. About 2 p.m. Jan. 23, 1999, the father spotted a stranger near the bathrooms. It appeared the man was trying to lure the two children and was motioning for them to come with him, Wade said.

The father chased the man off. The man reportedly hopped into a blue 1995 Pontiac Grand Am and sped off.

The man was described as white, with brown hair. He wore a baseball hat.

The father didn’t call police right away. He called the department’s tip line Jan. 26 after seeing news of Teekah’s disappearance.

WHO’S THAT MAN?

Wade said each of the incidents was listed in the tip sheets but that it doesn’t appear as though detectives, at the time, looked at them as a group or potential pattern.

Wade hopes the incidents jog someone’s memory or remind them about a similar type of incident they never reported to police.

“I still firmly believe somebody at the bowling alley saw someone walk out with Teekah,” Wade said.

Teekah’s mom has been briefed on the incidents. The news brought her to tears. For years, Lewis has held on to a strong hope that her daughter was still alive. That has been shaken.

“Now, I have a little hope,” Lewis said. “It’s hard for me to accept it.”

Lewis said the man described in the incidents needs to be identified, regardless of whether he also took Teekah.

She also needs to know what happened to her daughter.

“Regardless of whether it is good news or bad news, I need closure,” Lewis said. “Me and my family just want her home.”

In addition to the candlelight vigil that they have every year, Teekah’s family is collecting toys and clothing for area homeless shelters and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Health Center.

This is the first year they’ve collected items. Lewis said the family wanted to do something to honor Teekah.

“Teekah was a bright child,” Lewis said. “I need something to honor her.”

Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268 stacey.mulick@ thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/crime

If you go

A candlelight vigil for Teekah Lewis will begin at 7 tonight at 4702 S. Center St. in Tacoma.

Teekah’s mom, Theresa Lewis, and her family will be at the location from 5-9 p.m., collecting donations of gently used clothes and toys for the homeless shelters as well as new teddy bears, toys and arts and crafts supplies for Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Health Center.