Teddy bear vanishes at California State Fair, prompting search across Sacramento
Across Sacramento, flyers taped to stoplights and stapled to street-posts offer a reward for the finding and return of Teddy.
Since losing the beige, slightly matted teddy bear, Brianda Cuellar, his guardian, has replayed her last moments with him over and over again. For Cuellar, the posters are only one part of a relentless search that’s now consumed nearly two weeks.
On July 26, at around 2 p.m., Cuellar arrived at the California State Fair with Teddy in hand.
After riding the fair’s rides and nibbling on carnival delicacies, they took a photograph near the fair’s entrance. She set Teddy down to grab her backpack from a nearby locker and purchase her souvenir pictures from a booth.
It wasn’t until she returned home to San Francisco at 9 p.m. she realized that her best friend was no longer in her embrace. Without hesitation, she drove back to the fair but arrived around midnight, after the fair had closed.
The next day, she returned, searching through trash bins and the lost and found, coming up empty handed. Since then, she’s been asking for help.
Several times, she has contacted CalExpo inquiring about Teddy’s whereabouts, but to no avail.
“We tend to, instead, receive a lot of keys, sunglasses, glasses, wallets and cellphones,” said Darla Givens, media director at CalExpo. “But we have not received (Teddy) and no one has turned in anything.”
Teddy has been Cuellar’s right-hand companion since she was 5, a gift from her father, who won the bear from a claw machine at an arcade in Reno. Prior to owning Teddy, Cuellar was fond of a similarly stuffed rabbit before losing him as well.
“(Teddy’s) just been my comfort since I was a child,” said Cuellar, 32. “It’s not just a toy; it’s a part of me and has always been there. From going through normal childhood stuff and growing up to experiencing loss and heartbreak. I never thought I would grow so attached to an inanimate object.”
Together, the pair have traveled throughout California, even as far as Disneyland in Los Angeles. She said that in light of his vanishing, she has grown upset and is unsure how to go about life without him.
Accompanied by the flyers are TikTok and Instagram accounts advocating for his return, @teddyehuau1 and @teddycomehome, respectively. Individuals concerned with his misplacement can also reach Cuellar at “teddycomehome14@gmail.com.”
Thus far, cousins who used to tease her about her lovey have reached out via social media in disbelief at the bear’s disappearance. Strangers have also offered virtual support and recalled their own stories about losing personal items at the fair.
Cuellar’s relationship isn’t an uncommon phenomenon, with many individuals building emotional attachments with objects lasting from childhood to adulthood, according to Ross Thompson, a UC Davis professor of psychology.
“The ability of any object to provide emotional comfort has to do with its association with a particular person or event,” Thompson explained. “That can be something that lasts a lifetime and I think many adults have childhood possessions because of the meaning they have and that’s not unusual at all.”
His suggestion for coping with the loss of a cherished object is to develop a sense of satisfaction for what Teddy once provided Cuellar, despite it being lost, or transferring her attachment to an object with comparable meaning.
Exhausting all resources, Cuellar has sought out six different psychics to locate Teddy.
“A lot of them were pretty helpful,” Cuellar said. “There were three who said that they believed a boy picked him up and took him.”
She said that her correspondence with the psychics has given her a better idea of Teddy’s location but will be overjoyed when the bear is truly back in her arms.
