Delaware County Daily Times - Dec 12, 1999 Article

"Happy Birthday, Sweet Katelyn"

Delaware County Daily Times (Primos - Upper Darby, PA) - Sunday, December 12, 1999

Author: ROSE QUINN ; Of the Times Staff

Happy birthday to the sweetest, most precious and beautiful little girl in the world, my daughter.

Two years ago on this very day I brought you into this world. It was the best day of my entire life. I really wish I could tell you all this in person and spend this special day with you, but until I find you I'll settle for this.

I am so heartily sorry this has happened, and that you were taken from me. But mostly, that I am being kept from you. It kills me to wonder what your poor heart is feeling and the confusion you must have. I wonder if you're really safe and if all your needs are being met.

So begins Jennifer Helton's wish today for Katelyn Rivera -Helton, loving expressions conveyed in a letter to the Daily Times in hopes that whoever has her missing toddler will at least relay the message.

At most, she hopes and prays for Katelyn 's safe and healthy return home to her and all who love her.

My heart cries for you, but please know that I'm always with you, in mind, soul and spirit. You never leave my thoughts or my heart, and you never will. If there is, or was, anything I could do to change the fact that we are not together today, I would, without question, do anything to have you back in my arms, to show how much I miss you and love you.

To Katelyn 's father, Robert Rivera , jailed on kidnapping charges, who boasted that he is the only one who knows his daughter's whereabouts while maintaining that he gave the toddler to a couple at Longwood Gardens on Aug. 10, Helton wrote:

If your father truly loves and cares for you, from the bottom of his heart, the best and only birthday gift he could ever give you is to finally tell where you are and with whom, and bring you home safe. For Katie, not for me.

Helton said last week she'll bake a cake today for her daughter, and that she and other relatives will gather and sing for her.

Meanwhile authorities, led by county Detective Lt. David C. Peifer and Special Agent Donna Kibbie of the FBI, continue the high-priority search.

Helton's letter, along with a birthday wish, is a compilation of memories that she holds closer now more than ever.

How Katelyn was learning to talk.

Especially how Katelyn referred to her as "Mony."

You are a very special girl, very bright and perceptive. I miss hearing your sweet little voice, hearing your laugh, take your little temper tantrums, and how you would hold your little hand out and pretend you were eating.

Every time you would hear music you would just start dancing and shaking your hips like that rockin' Santa. Every time I see one, I just want to cry.

You loved the outdoors and especially swimming in the swimming pool. You would hold your little nose and quickly but barely touch the water and say, "Watch Mony, I go under."

Bath time was no different. You never wanted to get out. I would let all the water go down the drain and you would say, "Water go bye bye, Mony."

Helton recalled how her little Katie made everything fun.

When I was feeling down in the dumps all I would have to do is look at your precious face. You would smile or laugh at me and make it all better. I wish I could make it all better for you and me now.

Helton remembered the first months following her daughter's birth.

I used to hold you on my stomach and rock you to sleep singing, "You are my Sunshine". Every word is true. You were and still are my sunshine and my life.

With Christmas just around the corner, Helton said it's an especially hard time seeing other children with the mothers, holding hands.

This Christmas, the only gift I ask for or really want and need is you, my Katie, to come back home to me.

In closing, Helton wrote that she'll continue praying to God and wish on a star every night that she'll have a second chance at the mother-daughter relationship they deserve.

If you have a happy feeling from your head down to your feet

And you really can't explain it, but you know it's quite a treat,

If you feel a bit like dancing as you're walking down the street

Perhaps you have an angel on your shoulder.

May you always have an angel on your shoulder

May you always keep a song within your heart,

And may you always know how much I love you

That's been true, right from the start.