GLOUCESTER, Mass., May 27 (UPI) -- The search for a Gloucester, Mass., toddler has been an emotionally taxing trial for parents Anthony Harrison and Allison Hammond, they say.
On a pleasant April 19, when the temperature peaked in the mid-sixties, Hammond decided to head to Long Beach in Rockport with her two daughters, Elizabeth, 4, and Caleigh, 2.
Hammond went in search of their dog's ball, leaving the two girls unattended. When she came back, Caleigh had vanished.
In little over a month, Harrison and Hammond have covered the town in posters and stickers, planned a town-wide vigil and have regularly checked in with police.
"When she wasn't found after a massive search, with the Coast Guard, police and troopers, then you have to have new hope," Harrison told the Boston Globe. "You have to believe other scenarios are possible, that she's still out there, still alive and will be brought home."
The exhaustive search launched after Caleigh was reported missing was suspended a week later due to inclement weather. State Police spokesman David Procopio said the focus of the search shifted from rescue to recovery, amid concerns the child was swept out to sea by the current.
"Deep down, you know if she's in the water, every hour that went by, the chance of finding her alive was going down," Procopio said.
Procopio said investigators do not suspect kidnapping, although some family members do.
Adding to the strain is the backlash against Hammond. After appearing on the Nancy Grace show, Hammond said online viewers harshly criticized her for not openly displaying anguish, saying that she simply "looked guilty."
"I have to shut off feelings for Caleigh," she said. "I think about her, but I don't let myself feel the love, to remember what it felt to love her, because the pain is so overwhelming."
