Hartlepool dad optimistic in finding missing daughter 43 years on
Katrice Lee would be 45 years-old today
It has been 43 years since the daughter of a Hartlepool man went missing - but her family say they are remaining optimistic.
Two year-old Katrice Lee disappeared in Paderborn in Germany in 1981, she was celebrating her birthday and would be 45 years-old today.
Her dad, Richard, said: "I never thought at the age of 75 that I would still be fighting to find out answers to my daughter's case, but more importantly, to get justice for Katrice because the case without a shadow of a doubt, everybody knows, it was totally mishandled.
"I'm still optimistic. I've always been a person whose glass is half-full and it'll remain so until I have evidence to say otherwise. Being a soldier, I saw less of Katrice than what Sharon and her sister Natasha. I can still remember coming home from exercises and they were playing hide and seek. Katrice was a typical two year-old, as long as she couldn't see, it meant that nobody could see her. For example, hiding behind the curtain but her feet poking out the bottom.
"We believe from day one that Katrice was snatched, abducted and possibly taken and sold as a surrogate child to a childless couple and we believe, and always have believed, that she is growing up in that family thinking that family is hers.
"Don't forget that she was two years-old which meant she was a blank canvas and she could've been taken to any European country. You're in any European country within two-hours drive from where Katrice was taken. I've had no direction or evidence to say that nothing untowards has come to Katrice.
"I've been back there on four separate occasions. Natasha Katrice's sister had not been there in the actual building where Katrice went missing since we left Germany and she was only a teenager. What she remembers she stayed at the flat with her uncle that day, waved goodbye to Katrice going out the door, and she's still waiting for her sister to come back in.
"Just come home just let us know you're alive. We need to know that you're OK and hopefully you're living a good life. We aren't naive. We take the view that I could possibly be a grandparent, she possibly could be speaking a different language or she could be in England we don't know."
Song For Katrice
A tribute song is being released in the hopes Katrice will hear it and come home. It was produced in Germany and sung by a German singer called Nadja Rogue.
Nadja aims not only to honor Katrice’s memory but also to continue raising awareness about unresolved missing person cases.
She said: "Music is my way of speaking when words fall short. 'Song für Katrice' is for everyone who is missing and for the families who never give up."
Richard Lee said: "For me, it's absolutely brilliant. It's been a long time and life's been challenging for my family. All the emotions take you back and whirl you back to day one and it's certainly a lump and a tear to my eye."