The Vanished is a true crime podcast that explores the stories of those who have gone missing. The Vanished goes beyond conventional news reports to take a deep dive into the story of a different missing person each week. Host Marissa Jones brings you exclusive interviews with family members, friends, law enforcement and experts. What will The Vanished uncover next?
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On January 23, 1999, 2-year-old Teekah Lewis vanished from New Frontier Lanes bowling alley in Tacoma, Washington. That night, Teekah was there with her mother, Theresa, and several other relatives. She was playing in the arcade when her mother briefly looked away to bowl. When Theresa turned back, Teekah was gone. Panic set in as family members searched every corner of the building, hoping she had simply wandered out of sight, but Teekah was nowhere to be found. Police were called, and despite extensive searches, no trace of Teekah surfaced.
Witnesses offered only fragments of clues. One recalled a maroon Pontiac speeding out of the parking lot around the time Teekah disappeared. Another described a suspicious man inside the bowling alley who had followed a child toward an exit that evening. He was able to give a detailed description of the man, including that he had a pockmarked face. Then, more accounts emerged of unsettling incidents involving children at or around New Frontier Lanes, raising the possibility that the bowling alley and the surrounding neighborhood may have been used as a hunting ground by a predator or predators. For decades, those scraps of information were all investigators and Teekah’s family had to go on, but in 2025, Teekah's case finally began to gain momentum.
Through it all, Teekah’s mother has never stopped searching for answers. Theresa has worked tirelessly to keep her daughter’s story alive for nearly 27 years, clinging to the hope that someone may have taken Teekah to raise as their own, a far easier thought than the darker alternatives. Today, she wants what any mother in her position would: the truth about what happened to her little girl, and the chance to bring her home.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Teekah Lewis, please contact the Tacoma Police Department at 253-287-4455 or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.
If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.
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