A timeline establishing publicly known
movements and events.
MICHAELA GARECHT
EVIDENCE
I.
Description of Abductor
The given descriptions of the man who abducted Michaela.
01
FBI'S OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION
02
DEAR MICHAELA WEBSITE DESCRIPTION
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His most outstanding characteristic was severe acne, like boils.The eyewitness noted his eyes.“He had fox eyes,” she said.“He looked right at me, but he didn’t even see me.”
“
II.
Description of Michaela's clothing
What Michaela was wearing during her abduction
03
THE CHARLEY PROJECT'S DESCRIPTION
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A white t-shirt with "Metro" printed on the front and images of people imprinted on its midsection, denim pants rolled above her knees, flesh-colored nylon stockings, white anklet socks, black cloth shoes with brown plastic soles, and three-inch-long pearl or white-colored earrings that resembled feathers.
“
III.
Abductor's Vehicle
What Michaela was wearing during her abduction
04
THE CHARLEY
PROJECT'S DESCRIPTION
“
The abductor drove a large older model American-made sedan. It was possibly a four-door vehicle and was cream, gold, or tan in color. The car may have had cement splatters on the sides and lights set into the rear bumper. The front bumper was battered; the vehicle may have previously been in an accident. It appeared to be run-down. The car was last seen speeding south on Mission Boulevard towards nearby Union City, California with Michaela inside.
“
05
FBI'S OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION
CITATIONS
1. “It was a sunny Saturday morning, the first day of Thanksgiving vacation, when Michaela and her best friend, Trina, asked if they could go to the neighborhood market to get some candy and sodas.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
2. “The market was only two blocks away, but Michaela had only been there a few times, and then only in the company of the teenage girls who lived next door.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
3. Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
4. “Michaela and Trina had left their scooters by the side door of the market while they went in and purchased some candy and sodas and beef jerky. Family’s account of abduction on family’s website.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
5. “When they left the market, they started to walk home, completely forgetting that they had ridden the scooters there.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
6. “Halfway across the parking lot they remembered, and turned back to get them.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
7. “One of the scooters was not by the door where they’d left it. Michaela spotted it first, about three parking spaces down from the door, next to a car.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
8. “She went to get it. As she bent over to pick it up, a man jumped out of the car next to the scooter, grabbed her from behind, and threw her screaming into his car as Trina watched in horror.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
9. “He climbed in and started the car, drove out of the parking lot.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
10. “Took off driving erratically down the busy highway which is Mission Boulevard in Hayward.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
11. “Trina ran into the store for help. The police were called.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
12. “Trina then called her dad, who drove by my house on his way to the store and told Michaela’s dad what had happened.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
13. “I went back inside and started washing the breakfast dishes.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
14. “Michaela hadn’t been gone for long, not long enough for me to worry about her, when I heard shouting out in the street, where Michaela’s dad was working on the car in the driveway.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
15. “A minute later he stuck his head in the kitchen doorway. ‘Somebody snatched Michaela up at the market,’ he said breathlessly. ‘You call 911. I’m going up there.’ I stood there with my mouth open, unable to comprehend the horror of what I was hearing. Somebody ‘snatched’ Michaela up at the market? What did that even mean?” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
16. Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
17. “He was driving an older, tannish-gold, full-size sedan, boxy in shape, with body damage. We do not know the make or model.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
18. “The police response was immediate, arriving before Trina’s dad and Michaela’s dad.” Family’s account of abduction on family’s website Seeker’s Road
19. “She was attempting to retrieve her friend's scooter that the abductor had moved closer to his vehicle while the girls were inside the market when she was grabbed by the assailant and pulled into a car.” FBI's page on Michaela Garecht
20. “Michaela's scooter wasn't where she left it by the side door.” ABC News article Search for Michaela Garecht Continues
21. “Her friend, Katrina Hogue, was only one witness to the kidnapping.” ABC News article Search for Michaela Garecht Continues
22. “The memories flood back for Katrina Rodriguez.” SF Gate article Life Never the same for Kidnapped Girl’s Friend
23. “They bought soda, beef jerky and Laffy Taffy, and when they noticed that one scooter was missing, they split up to find it.” SF Gate article Life Never the same for Kidnapped Girl’s Friend
24. SF Gate article Life Never the same for Kidnapped Girl’s Friend
25. “Rodriguez said she didn't see anyone else with Michaela's kidnapper on Nov. 19, 1988.” SF Gate article Life Never the same for Kidnapped Girl’s Friend
26. “ ‘I ran inside and told the clerk, and she called the police,’ ” she said. SF Gate article Life Never the same for Kidnapped Girl’s Friend
27. “The South Hayward girl was last seen being thrown into the back seat of a car in the parking lot of a market near her family’s home.” Mercury News article Abduction of 9 year old Michaela Garecht
28. “The clerk — who thought she had seen the man drive by earlier — offered a wrong description to a police dispatcher, according to Dennis J. Oliver, a former reporter who covered the case for The Daily Review.” Mercury News article Abduction of 9 year old Michaela Garecht
29. “Oliver, now 45, reviewed 911 tapes during his coverage and recalls the dispatcher relaying a description provided by the store clerk who said ‘I seen him earlier.’ ‘Never did she say ‘I witnessed the kidnapping’,’ Oliver said during a phone interview Tuesday.” Mercury News article Abduction of 9 year old Michaela Garecht
30. “The false description that went out to police and the public was a white male in his 30s with a mustache and driving a burgundy car.” Mercury News article Abduction of 9 year old Michaela Garecht
31. “But it wasn’t until after police interviewed Michaela’s friend that they were able to release a composite sketch of the suspect and a new description of the vehicle two days later.’Here’s a drawing of this completely different person, and for two days the Hayward Police Department allowed media to publish false descriptions of the suspect,’ Oliver said. ‘The first opportunity and best opportunity to rescue this girl was immediately after it happened, and for two days they were looking for the wrong person. The dispatcher took information from the wrong person — and from there on out communication was just not handled correctly in the crucial first 24 to 48 hours.’” Mercury News article Abduction of 9 year old Michaela Garecht
32. “Both the parents of Amber Swartz-Garcia and Kevin Collins – other kidnapping victims from the Bay area – came to the Garecht home to offer support. Fighting back tears, Sharon appeared on television in the days following the abduction and begged the kidnapper to drop Michaela off on a street corner where she could find her way home.” Morbidology article The Abduction of Michaela
33. “The car was last seen speeding south on Mission Boulevard towards nearby Union City, California with Michaela inside.” The Charley Project's Michaela Garecht page