Opinion ID: 2600593
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Tahisha's disappearance

Text: Tahisha resided in the Rimrock Apartments in Barstow with her mother, Marianne Clay, her brother Stefan, nine years of age, and her mother's boyfriend, Frank Mond. The apartment complex was surrounded on three sides by a solid block wall five to six feet high, and on the fourth and front side by an iron fence six feet high. An access code was required to open the gate that secured the entrance to the complex. Tahisha's father, David Clay, served in the United States Army and was stationed at Fort Hunter Liggett, about 80 miles south of Monterey. During David's last visit with Tahisha and Stefan in February 1993, he took the children to a mall in Bakersfield, where he purchased for Tahisha a card of stick-on earrings. At the conclusion of the visit, Tahisha returned with the earrings to Barstow. On the day Tahisha disappearedFriday, April 23, 1993her mother picked her up from kindergarten at 4:00 p.m., and they arrived home about five minutes later. On that particular day, Marianne found in her vehicle Tahisha's card of stick-on earrings, and gave them to Tahisha. Marianne explained to Tahisha that on the card particular earrings were assigned to particular days, and that Tahisha should wear a pair of Friday earrings because it was Friday. The Friday earrings were star shaped. When they arrived home, Tahisha went upstairs to their apartment, taking the card of earrings with her. Her brother Stefan saw her put on star-shaped earrings in their room after she came home from school. Just prior to 5:00 p.m., Marianne drove Stefan to his piano lesson, and they returned at approximately 5:40 p.m. While Marianne and Stefan were away a neighbor, Ulrike Meyers, watched Tahisha. After they returned from the piano lesson, Tahisha came back to the apartment for about 10 minutes, and then went back outside. Her mother last saw her sometime after 6:00 p.m. when Tahisha was playing with other children at the playground located outside the apartment. Stefan soon joined Tahisha, and they began tossing a ball back and forth to each other. At some point, the ball rolled down a hill and toward two satellite dishes that were located on the grounds of the apartment complex. Tahisha went to retrieve the ball, and Stefan saw her for the last time when she walked down the hill toward the satellite dishes. As Stefan watched Tahisha head down the hill, he heard their mother call to them to come inside. Stefan then turned around to go back to their apartment. He went upstairs with his mother and told her Tahisha had gone to get the ball. Approximately 10 minutes later, about 7:00 p.m., Marianne told Stefan to find Tahisha, but he was unable to locate her. Marianne then checked at Meyers's apartment and at the apartments of Tahisha's friends, but Tahisha was not at these locations. Meyers estimated that Marianne came looking for Tahisha after 7:00 p.m., perhaps 7:30 p.m., and that it was starting to get dark. Marianne and other adults then walked around the entire apartment complex, yelling Tahisha's name, but she was not found. By this time, at approximately 9:00 p.m., Frank Mond, Marianne's boyfriend, returned home. Mond contacted the Barstow Police Department and reported that Tahisha was missing. In the meantime, as it was getting dark on Friday evening, [2] Michael Elston, another child who lived at the apartment complex, found Tahisha's ball inside a fence surrounding the satellite dishes.