OKLAHOMA – It has been a cold case for nearly two decades – an Oklahoma child, a little girl just three years old abducted from her father.
All these years he has had no idea where she is, what she looks like or if she is even alive. Now there is a renewed effort to find that missing girl.
The Chickasha Police Department has been investigating since 1997. They have had several leads, but all have been dead ends.
Somewhere out there, Bethany Tiner is now 20 years old if she is still alive.
Age progression photos show what she would look like today, and even though she is an adult, the case is still open.
“I can’t imagine the roller coaster of emotion her father goes through on a day-to-day basis where his child is,” Chickasha police detective Kori Brewer said. “Has she graduated high school, what has she done with her life.”
Back in 1996 Bethany’s parents divorced after 10 years of marriage.
They had joint custody until a judge granted Bethany’s father, Joe, full custody of both Bethany and her older sister. However, her mother, Teresa, took Bethany and ran.
Since then police believe she has been in Oak Harbor, Washington, and they’ve had leads in Canada, Colorado and California. Bethany now has other siblings she has never met who have taken their pleas to YouTube.
“I don’t know if she’s still alive, but her family really wants her to come home, because we really miss her,” a sibling said in the video.
There is still an active warrant out for Teresa’s arrest, and an active search her family is not giving up, every lead a possibility and every 20-year-old girl gives hope.
“I ran into a girl today named Bethany and wanted it to be her so badly and maybe it was. I don’t know,” her sibling said in the video.
Police say if Bethany’s mother comes forward they are willing to work something out with her. They just want to reunite Bethany with her father and finally close the case.