The State - News from Oct. 3, 1988

An Orange County mother who allegedly left her 11-year-old mute daughter at a La Jolla department store more than two weeks ago was booked for investigation of child abandonment, San Diego police said. Karen May, 37, of Anaheim, was arrested in Torrance at the home of a relative who had contacted authorities, police said. A second child, Floyd, 7, was with May at the house. May’s daughter, Tanya Tegerdine, was discovered Sept. 14 wandering in a May Co. store in La Jolla Village Square. Employees said the girl was left by a woman who appeared agitated. The girl, a mute who is able to sign only a few words, scrawled the name “Tanya Anderson,” on a piece of paper when questioned. She was identitied this week by an Orange County teacher’s aide who saw her photograph on a San Diego television broadcast and recognized her as a former student.