Have you ever believed in something whole-heartedly without a shred of doubt? Have you ever felt like there was absolutely, positively no way that you could be wrong, only to find out the you've been hood winked, had, took, and bamboozled.
I have.
One last question. What do Teleka Patrick and my favorite Gospel singer have in common? A protection order.
The search for a missing Michigan doctor took a bizarre twist after a gospel great Marvin Sapp said the woman stalked him, prompting him to file a protection order against her.
Sapp, who is a Grammy-nominated gospel sensation and Grand Rapids pastor, claimed that Teleka Patrick sent him more than 400 love letters, joined his congregation, contacted his children and even moved to Michigan from California to be closer to him.
Sapp, 46, filed the protection order in September, some three months before the 30-year-old doctor vanished.
The stalking had gone on for at least a year, Sapp said. In at least one instance, Patrick even professed that Sapp was her husband, according to the order.
This latest revelation begs the question. Is Teleka Parick really missing, or has she just gone off the grid in pursuit of Sapp?
In a statement to the station Thursday, Sapp said, "As a father of three and pastor of one of the largest congregations in west Michigan, I cannot take this kind of obsessive attention lightly."
Patrick was last seen on Dec. 5 at her job at Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo, where she was a psychiatric resident.
Later that evening, her abandoned 1997 Lexus was found with a flat tire by a highway in Portage, Ind., about 100 miles away.
Authorities in Kalamazoo and Indiana were searching for her, and, so far, the case was being treated as a missing person.
There were no suspects or signs of foul play, authorities said.
News of Sapp's protection order has raised questions about whether he was the one Patrick was addressing in a bizarre series of YouTube videos that surfaced last month.
The clips, filmed before the disappearance, showed Patrick appearing to send tender messages to an absent boyfriend and serenading the camera with love songs.
In one video, titled "Surprise! Final Video," she shows off a breakfast table set for two.
Pointing to a plate of veggie bacon, tomatoes and an omelet, she says, "If you were here, this would be your plate."
Her parents have said she was not dating anyone, and they have no idea who she was talking too.
But her ex-husband, Ismael Calderon, said earlier this week he suspected Patrick suffered from mental illness.
The two were married and lived in California from 2006 to 2011, but their relationship began to unravel after Patrick became delusional, paranoid and began hearing voices, Calderon said.
Patrick's parents have said she had no history of mental illness.
Calderon also went on to say, "She went to Michigan on purpose and I don't believe it had anything to do with, 'Oh, Michigan has a really great psychiatric residency program.'"
"What I heard is that there was somebody that she maybe felt that God wanted her to be with."
He added, "Every day that she's still missing, it's a danger. This is a red alert."
In a statement on Thursday, Patrick's parents said they believed "wholeheartedly" that their daughter "had encountered some harm or danger."
"Teleka is missing and we want whoever has her or has harmed her in any way to come forward," the statement to the station said.
"Teleka is our eldest child. One of three bright stars in our lives, and we won't be whole again."
As strange is this may sound. Although she is missing regardless of the circumstances, I hope that her disappearance is not self imposed. For both her sake and her families sake.
PR
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