Tacoma police said Thursday they are investigating a new claim from a person who came to police headquarters and said they are Teekah Lewis, the child who disappeared from a Tacoma bowling alley in 1999.
According to the Tacoma Police Department, similar claims tend to surface around the anniversary of Lewis’ disappearance, when annual memorials are held.
Police said those reports have come by email, phone calls and in person over the years, and each one is investigated individually.
The process can include DNA testing, police said.
Lewis was two years old when she disappeared at about 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 23, 1999, from the New Frontier Lanes bowling alley off Center Street.
She was last seen playing in the arcade area before she went missing.
At the time, Lewis was a Black and Native American girl, about three feet tall and 35 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes and pierced ears.
Police said she had asthma and allergies and was wearing a green Tweety Bird T-shirt, white sweatpants, and red, white and black Air Jordan shoes.
Detectives have said a maroon late-1980s or 1990s Pontiac Grand Am with tinted windows and a spoiler was seen speeding away from the bowling alley parking lot shortly after Lewis disappeared.
The case remains open, and investigators have previously released an age-progression image showing how she might look as an adult.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Tacoma/Pierce County at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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