Ordeal Worsens as Missing Child’s Family Waits : Disappearance: The family of Leticia Hernandez finds itself putting its hope in prayers, the police and in recent reported sightings of the 7-year-old.

When Victor Hernandez turns 10 years old later this month, the one gift he wants is his little sister safe at home.

“I hope she is all wrapped up in paper,” he told his mother. “I hope she has a bow on her.”

Three confirmed sightings of a child fitting Leticia’s description have given a glimmer of hope to the family of Leticia Hernandez, missing since Dec. 16.

Sgt. William Krunglevich of the Oceanside Police Department said the first sighting was of a man with a child at the Buckman Springs rest stop in East San Diego County on Dec. 16. The second was of a man, woman and a child at the San Simon rest stop on Interstate 10, near the Arizona-New Mexico border Dec. 27. The third, also on Interstate 10, was of a woman and a little girl at a rest stop in Fabens, Tex., east of El Paso.

The longer the family endures the ordeal, “the farther away she feels,” said the mother, also named Leticia. In the meantime, she said, she finds herself dreaming about her daughter and growing less patient with her five other children.

Not “until the detectives see her and know that it is her will I feel happy,” she said.

Another sighting of the couple in Trinidad, Tex., remained unconfirmed Thursday by the Oceanside Police Department.

A police officer in the small town 75 miles southeast of Dallas reported seeing a couple matching the description of the kidnapers driving a maroon car. However, he did not stop the car because it was hours later before he saw the first notice on the kidnaping, said Oceanside Police Officer Bob George.

The officer said he saw the woman reaching into the back seat, but he did not see a child, George said. So Oceanside police officers doubt the validity of that sighting.

Oceanside Lt. Ron Coll said detectives and FBI agents are following up on hundreds of leads.

“Although we have this description of a couple with a little girl, we still do not know if it is Leticia,” Coll said. “If people think they have seen her, we are still urging them to call us.”

The detectives received another lead Thursday from Channel 12 in Tijuana. A man called the station on New Year’s Eve and asked for the Hernandezes phone number, said reporter Norma de la Vega.

The man called twice and gave his name as Roberto Ramirez. He told Guadalupe Flores Chapa, director of information for the news division, that he had Leticia. Chapa refused to give him the phone number. But he called again at 6 p.m. and said he had information about Leticia. This time Chapa gave him the phone number of the Oceanside police. He hung up right after that, Vega said.

Coll said there was very little the detectives could do with that information. “They use Roberto Ramirez down there like we use John Doe,” he said. “If he does have her, we hope he will give us a call.”

Since the disappearance of the 7-year-old girl, the family has received continuous attention but family life has remained suspended. The Christmas tree is still up and decorated, but copies of her picture are now among the ornaments, trimmings and greeting cards. Presents given to the family by friends and strangers remain unopened.

Although the younger children keep asking their mother if they can open the gifts, Leticia Hernandez, 32, said she cannot bring herself to allow it.

“I am waiting for her to come back,” she said.

Hernandez said prayer and the concern shown to the family by the detectives and agents working on the case, friends, members of their church, and strangers have helped them face each day.

“We pray every night, and many people have told us that they are praying for her safe return,” Hernandez said.

She said she has not left the house since the disappearance.

“I do not want to go out. I have the hope that at any moment they will come with her,” she said.

Hernandez said she wakes up many times during the night. And, when she dreams, she dreams of her little girl. “I see her at the door, happy and smiling,” she said.

But the disappearance has begun to wear out the mother of six.

“I don’t know if it is (the children) or if it is me that has changed,” she said. “I find myself scolding them more than I used to. I hit them now, and I never used to hit them.”

That’s typical for the parents of kidnaped children, said Chris Hatcher, clinical professor at the Center for the Study of Trauma at UC San Francisco.

“We have found that parents experience a high degree of frustration for the smaller things in life,” Hatcher said.

In May, 1988, the center began a nationwide study of 300 families whose children had been abducted. The continuing study has followed the families from the disappearance to the recovery of children.

“Generally speaking, the remaining children receive less attention,” Hatcher said. “The longer a disappearance continues, the greater the difficulties. They ask themselves, ‘At what point can we have fun without feeling guilty?’ ”

But having fun is not on Leticia Hernandez’s mind. She is still crying for her little girl.

“Sometimes people yell out when they cry because it helps them feel better,” she said. “But I cry silently, until I feel I am going to drown.”

Times staff writer Jonathan Gaw contributed to this story.