Huntington Beach : Bracelets Will Be Sold to Help Find Missing Girl

Patty and Mike Bradbury are hoping that a batch of identification bracelets, similar to those worn for Vietnam prisoners of war, will help bring their missing daughter home.

The Bradburys and others searching for 3-year-old Laura soon will begin producing metal identification bracelets inscribed with her name and date of disappearance--Oct. 18, 1984--from Joshua Tree National Monument.

Those who purchase the bracelets for an estimated $4 also will receive a picture of the Huntington Beach girl. The idea is to keep her name and face before the public and raise funds for her search, Patty Bradbury said, adding that she hopes to distribute the bracelets nationwide.

“We want Laura’s face to become so familiar that we want everyone to be looking for her,” the girl’s mother said. “We want her to become everyone’s child and not just some missing child in Orange County. We want everybody to think of her like they thought of the POWs during the war.”

Children who wear the bracelets can get their names inscribed on the other side, said Ann Harman, who is involved with the Laura Bradbury Corp., the name of the group that has been searching for the little girl since she disappeared from her parents’ campsite at Joshua Tree.

The bracelets will be manufactured by a Lake Forest jeweler, who will divide the proceeds with the Bradburys.

Child television star Ricky Schroder a distant relative of Laura’s--is to be given a solid silver bracelet bearing Laura’s name at her preschool in Costa Mesa on Monday night. He also will be given one made of 14-karat gold to deliver to First Lady Nancy Reagan when he attends the President’s inauguration Jan. 20, Harman said.

Eventually, parents of other missing children will be able to get the same bracelets with their children’s names, Harman said. Her husband, Bob, came up with the idea when he and others were brainstorming for ways to find Laura and other missing children, she said.