[BrinWorld] Store spycam witnesses beating

[A.Melon]

Woman wanted for child abuse after store spycam witnesses beating:

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/Midwest/09/20/video.child.beating/index.html


SOUTH BEND, Indiana (CNN) -- The woman caught on videotape seemingly 
beating her 4-year-old daughter in the parking lot of a Kohl's Department 
Store in Mishawaka, Indiana, is wanted in Texas for skipping a court date 
-- on charges that she shoplifted from a Kohl's in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Police are searching for Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 25, identified by 
authorities as the woman seen in the videotape repeatedly striking her 
daughter, Martha, after putting the little girl in a van. 

Police said Toogood is from Texas, where she was arrested on March 27 and 
charged with shoplifting from the Kohl's store in Fort Worth, according to 
Fort Worth Police Lt. Jesse Hernandez. 

A spokeswoman from the Tarrant County district attorney's office said that 
a warrant was issued for Toogood's arrest when she missed a May 9 court 
date. 

Mishawaka, Indiana, Police Chief Anthony Hazen said Toogood's sister, 
identified as Margaret Dailey, has been arrested and charged with failing 
to report child abuse. Dailey was also seen in the video, police said. 

Hazen said authorities are "optimistic that we will find this young girl 
and her mother." 

Maggie Jones, deputy prosecuting attorney for St. Joseph County, said the 
sister was "not cooperating," and her office was considering filing felony 
charges against her for assisting a criminal. 

Battery charges against Toogood are expected to be filed later Friday, 
Jones said. If convicted, Toogood would face a maximum of three years in 
prison. 

Hazen said police are "very worried about the child," who appears in the 
video to receive several blows that "could have caused severe trauma." 

The beating occurred last Friday, when a surveillance camera recorded two 
women -- identified by police as Toogood and her sister -- walking with 
two small children as they departed Kohl's department store in Mishawaka, 
near the state's northern border with Michigan. 

The women had attempted to return several items, but were refused and were 
asked to leave, said Hazen. 

"The suspect became angry, and left the store," the chief said. "I believe 
(store personnel) followed them out through the camera system and 
witnessed the incident." 

As the camera tracked them from the store to a 2002 white Toyota Sequoia 
SUV in the parking lot, one of the women -- identified by police as 
Toogood -- placed her 4-year-old daughter in a rear seat. 

The woman, wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt, her blond hair in a ponytail, 
looked around the parking lot and -- for about 25 seconds -- shook the 
girl and hit her in the face. 

"You can see the woman grab one of the girl's ponytails and forcibly shake 
her," Jones said. "Not even counting all of the blows we saw the woman 
make, that constitutes battery." 

Using the videotape, police traced the vehicle to the woman's family and 
impounded it. 

Jones said family members told her the girl was one of the woman's three 
children. But the woman's relatives have been "less than cooperative" in 
helping authorities locate the girl, Jones said. 

The sister, who has not been identified by name, "claims not to know where 
her sister is," Jones said. 

Authorities also said they had spoken with Toogood's husband, who had not 
led them to his wife. It was not clear if the two live together. 

"I've been in police work over 20 years, and I've never seen such a 
horrendous attack on a small child," said Mike Samp, assistant chief of 
the Mishawaka Police Department. 

Samp said the family members told authorities the woman had left the 
state. 

But he was not persuaded. "My hunch is that she's still here. That's why 
we're continuing to pursue this so vigorously." 

Authorities have urged anyone with information about how to find the woman 
or the girl to call the Mishawaka police at (574) 258-1684. 

"It made me sick to think that that child is still with that mother and, 
quite frankly, if the mother is willing to do that in a public parking 
lot, what is she doing at home?" Jones asked. "Our immediate concern ... 
is to locate the child and get the child out of the environment." 

CNN Correspondent Gary Tuchman contributed to this report.