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Fear Grows After Mom Vanishes

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By LISA A. DAVIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - It's anyone's guess where Stefanie Francique could be more than a week after she vanished.

But here's what she left behind: a doting little daughter with fuzzy - sometimes braided hair - and an enormous smile.

Francique's girl, Alyanna, whom friends and family call "her shadow" and pride and joy, turned 4 on Nov. 3. Three days later, Francique was reported missing.

"Stefanie does not abandon her daughter," her father, Ardell Mears, 60, said Tuesday. "I think she's met some foul play."

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office is investigating her disappearance, sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said, and so far no evidence of a crime has been found.

But since the night of Nov. 5, nobody has reported seeing or hearing from the young mother.

When Janet Mears awoke about 7:30 a.m. Nov. 6 she noticed her stepdaughter's car was still in the driveway of the Colony Lakes Estates home the family shares, off State Road 52.

"I said 'Uh-oh, she must've overslept,'" Mears said.

So she got Alyanna, took her to day care and then started looking around the house for Francique. She found her purse, wallet and makeup, things that Francique normally would take with her when she left the house. But she couldn't find her stepdaughter.
Mears last saw Francique before she went to bed about 11 the night before. She hasn't seen her since.

"It's puzzling," said Mears, 68.

She Had Cleaning Job Lined Up

Francique's nightly routine was to smoke and talk on the phone, often in her pajamas, out in front of the home at 11910 Old Tuscany Place. Her parents didn't let her smoke inside the house. Apparently that Monday night the routine wasn't broken.

She sent a text message to a friend sometime after 10 p.m. to remind her she would pick her up at 4:30 Tuesday morning so they could drive to Fort Myers for a cleaning job.

Sometime shortly after, she spoke with her estranged husband, Darryl, as she did every night, he said. They discussed their daughter for about 15 minutes. Although Stefanie Francique filed for divorce in September, the couple had been talking about reuniting.

Her husband said Tuesday he had hoped his wife would join him in the Brandon apartment he moved in to over the weekend. Instead, he's caring for their daughter alone.

"I don't think anything is wrong with her," he said. "I'm not quick to jump to the negatives."

He said the way in which she left home is odd, though, as is the fact she hasn't called anyone.

"If they've seen her, somebody say something please," he urged Tuesday afternoon.

Her cell phone's voice mailbox is full.

Darryl Francique said he's worried and has tried to keep their daughter busy so she doesn't realize what's going on.

Mom Spied Person In Woods

Dannielle La Clair, 27, the friend Francique was supposed to pick up the morning she was last seen, said strange things happened a couple of times when they were on the phone in the days leading up to her disappearance.

Francique heard something in the woods across the street from her family's home, she said. When La Clair tried to tell her it was an animal, Francique said it was human and the person whom she couldn't see was growling at her.

"I said, 'Girl, you better get in the house.'

"

Another night the same thing happened. Again, Francique didn't see anything.

"She had been feeling like someone had been watching her," La Clair said.

La Clair has theories about what happened, but doesn't think her friend walked away from her life or her daughter.

"She's like, a devoted mother," La Clair said.

Deputies searched the family's home Nov. 6, as well as the community's clubhouse, pool area and the woods around their house, Tobin said.

Francique is 5-foot-9, weighs 200 pounds and has long, wavy blonde hair, blue eyes and a white tiger tattoo on her upper right arm.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Kevin Macomber at 1-800-854-2862, Ext. 7462.

Her father, who is on kidney dialysis, just wants her brought home "in one piece."

"I'm desperate," he said.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

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