Posted: 3:33 p.m. EDT September 27, 2002

MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- Could it be that the girl who was placed in foster care in Indiana isn't the same one who was seen on videotape being beaten in a department store parking lot? Police are looking into that. A statement from a police investigator says some members of the public are concerned that police don't have the right child -- or the right mother, for that matter.

Last weekend, Madelyne Gorman Toogood surrendered to police in the company of a girl she identified as her 4-year-old daughter, Martha.

Because of the questions being raised about the child's identity, police are asking for footprint records that were taken after Toogood's daughter was born.

Toogood's attorney said it's "the craziest thing in the world" to suggest that police have the wrong woman and child.

Steven Rosen says, "That's the mother, and that's the daughter."

Toogood is facing a felony charge of battery to a child.

-- Anonymous, September 27, 2002

Answers

Beating Video Mom Faces New Charge The Associated Press Sep 27, 2002 : 9:47 pm ET

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (AP) -- A woman accused of hitting her 4-year-old daughter in a beating caught on videotape was charged Friday with giving police false addresses after her surrender.

Prosecutors expected Madelyne Gorman Toogood to turn herself in a second time, this time on a warrant charging her with false informing, a misdemeanor.

Toogood, 25, was released on $5,000 bond earlier this week. She had turned herself in and pleaded innocent to felony battery of a child in the Sept. 13 incident in a department store parking lot, which was caught on a surveillance camera and televised nationally.

Toogood's attorney, Steve Rosen, did not immediately return telephone messages left Friday.

Authorities say Toogood gave them addresses for commercial mailbox businesses in Mishawaka, Elkhart and Fort Worth, Texas.

Toogood has said she and her husband belong to the nomadic group Irish Travelers, but have been living in Mishawaka for about six months.

Bond on the new charge was set at $2,000. A conviction is punishable by a maximum six months in jail or a $1,000 fine.

Toogood is seeking to have her daughter, who was placed in a foster home, stay with relatives while she tries to regain permanent custody. Toogood also has two young sons who remained in her custody.

-- Anonymous, September 28, 2002