‘Sick Joke’ Sparks Search for Little Girl

A picture of a San Diego girl who had been taped to a wall launched a cross-country police investigation into her identity and welfare.

Louisiana police, suspecting the girl was a victim of child abuse, tracked her down in San Diego earlier this month and determined that the photograph was a joke and that she was safe.

San Diego police found that the 5-year-old had been taped against a wall and photographed during a party last February at the girl’s house. The photographs were sent to relatives in Louisiana.

“This was just a sick joke on the behalf of the momma,” San Diego police Detective Dan Dennis said.

Dennis said the mother, whose name was not made public, was not arrested, though a police report was filed in case anything should ever happen to the girl.

Louisiana narcotics officers found the photograph July 2 when they searched a trailer home for drugs. On July 6, they gave the picture to Alexandria Police Detective Ethel Queen, a child-abuse investigator.

“The expression in her eyes showed fear. That was my perception of it,” Queen said.

The color photo showed strips of duct tape across the girl’s body, including her head and legs. The girl’s arms were pressed down against her sides and she was pressed against a wall.

Police said the back of the photograph included a handwritten message:

“This was how to babysit your 5-year-old niece when the child stops responding to basic discipline.”

The three men who occupied the Pineville house where the photograph was found would not talk to police, Capt. Gary Moore said.

Police searched the trailer again July 8 and found information that led Queen to fax Dennis a copy of the photograph. Dennis contacted the girl’s grandmother. Within the hour, the grandmother, mother and the 5-year-old girl were in Dennis’ office discussing the photograph.

The mother explained about the February party and the attempt at a joke, Dennis said. She admitted she had sent the photograph with the message to the girl’s uncle in Pineville.

But Dennis said the mother also appeared close to her daughter, who was happy and healthy. He concluded that the girl was not being abused and closed the file on the case.