Family ‘finds’ dress missing girl was wearing

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Missing … Three-year-old Talei Raikadroka. Picture: SUPPLIED

THE family of the three-year-old girl who reportedly disappeared from their home at Kalekana, Lami claim they have found the dress the missing toddler was wearing before her disappearance.

The revelation was made by Talei Raikadroka’s (missing girl) grandmother, Arieta Ronaqato, yesterday.

Ms Ronaqato said the family was shocked at the discovery, but they had high hopes that their granddaughter was alive.

The toddler mysteriously vanished from her house last Saturday and what happened to her in the hours leading to the following morning remains a mystery.

Ms Ronaqato claimed her daughter, Losalini Lalaia – the toddler’s mother – was shocked to find Talei’s dress neatly placed on top of her bed.

“We had been looking for that dress since last Saturday but we couldn’t find it and when my daughter went to their house last night (Wednesday) she found it,” she claimed.

Ms Ronaqato said for the past five days, they had been away in a nearby forest adjacent to Kalekana searching for her missing granddaughter.

She said they would seek spiritual intervention now from a pastor to help them locate her granddaughter.

“We will take her dress to a pastor we know to pray over it because we wanted to do that earlier but we couldn’t because this favourite dress of hers was missing.

“We believe God will reveal to us where my missing granddaughter went to or who might have taken her.”

Talei’s paternal grandparents thought she had gone for breakfast at a nearby relative’s home when they did not see her last Saturday morning.

It was not until they returned from church later that day that the alarm was raised.

The police Criminal Investigations Department is also helping in the search for the little girl, who was last seen going to bed with her paternal grandmother last Friday night.

When asked if police were aware about the discovery of the missing toddler’s dress, police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro said they were still investigating the case.

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