Missing Woman Has No Interest in Reuniting With Father After 14 Years
Mother expected to be charged after disappearing with 8-year-old.
March 11, 2010— -- The California woman who was found last week after going missing 14 years ago at age 8 has no interest in reuniting with her father, police said today.
"Jessica is very adamant about not seeing him," Walnut Creek, Calif., police Det. Shawn Wallace said of the woman known as Jessica Click-Hill, 22.
Wallace, whom Dean Click credited with helping find his daughter, was the first to interview the young woman.
Click-Hill was found last week after her mother, Wendy Hill, allegedly abducted her 14 years ago after a divorce and custody battle with Click.
Hill has been charged with felony child abduction and has pleaded not guilty. She could not be reached for comment.
Before their disappearance, Click said, Hill accused him of child molestation, an allegation that he believed was a last-ditch effort to gain sole custody.
"As a trump card in divorce proceedings, Wendy played the molestation card," Click said. "All of the allegations were just false. I went through a lie detector test when these allegations were first aired and none of this is true."
Walnut Creek police confirmed that Click was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Jessica 'Shocked' to be Found
Wallace, whose team worked with the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to find Click-Hill, said Walnut Creek police are looking into the possible motives Hill may have had for allegedly abducting her daughter.
"We are looking at the accusations," Wallace said. "We need to look at all angles, to be fair."
As for Click-Hill, Wallace said, "she was more surprised than anything" that law enforcement found her after all these years.
"She was a little shocked that all this happened and now she is working through," he said. "She is an adult and we are going to let her make her own decision about seeing her father."