'Help her get some intervention,' father pleads for community's help to find woman who assaulted his daughter

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Police in Bellingham need the community's help identifying a woman accused of assaulting a child. The incident allegedly happened Nov. 11, 2023 at Playdate located inside Bellis Fair Mall.

The father of the child reached out to FOX 13 who says all he and his family want is justice and closure.

Rob Lewis recalls the day like it was just yesterday. He and his wife had previously visited the children's playground to see if it was something their daughter, Pixie, would enjoy. 

He said they went on a Wednesday, given the time and day it was empty, but it was the perfect place to celebrate their daughter's birthday. Now it's one they hope she doesn't remember. 

He says the day of, he and his wife were setting up the party room. The children ran off to play almost immediately, and a few minutes later, he says a mom ran over to them saying, "There's a problem."

"I didn't really know what happened, but I knew it was bad," Lewis said as he recalls noticing his 5-year-old at the time visibly upset and crying. He says it took him a few moments to grasp on to what was happening.

"They said this woman assaulted my daughter," Lewis said. "She was screaming at her, she shook her vigorously. She was screaming at her. She seemed like she was going to hit us."

He says at first he was shocked something like this happened in public and in a family-friendly setting of all places. Immediately he was angry. 

"I don't put my hands on my child," Lewis said. "Nobody else has the right to put their hands on my child."

Lewis tried going after the woman. He says while he was being informed of the situation he saw a red figure quickly, brush by but didn't realize who the person was. Still he walked out, searched, but the woman was gone.

"I think she realized she screwed up pretty big, and she was gone." Lewis said.

He called the police, who took a report and shared her picture on social media, hoping someone would recognize her, but they said nothing came of it.

"I'm not gonna lie, I was super angry for a couple of weeks," Lewis said. Feelings he had to get past for Pixie. "I don't want my daughter to see me as an angry role model; I need to take care of her," Lewis said.

The event was so traumatic, he says it’s disrupted Pixie’s behavior, she’s had nightmares and her emotions are already difficult to articulate as she is on the spectrum.  

"After the incident, a lot of acting out and anger is fear," Lewis said. "This is a major intrusion on my daughter's sense of safety, on my daughter's sense of well-being, on how my daughter views strangers, and it was with great physical force that we're we're lucky that we're no nasty marks of any kind."

It’s been a month and a half since the incident. Lewis hopes the woman is found soon to give Pixie justice and ensure this doesn't happen to another child.

"You may think you're doing her a favor by not turning her in," Lewis said. "I would argue that given her behavior, and given the fact she had children with her, you'd be doing both her and her family a favor. Help her get some intervention."

If you recognize the woman, you're urged to call Bellingham Police at 360-676-6911 reference case number 23B67641.