A Church-going California woman is the culprit behind a disturbing incident where porcelain dolls were left on several doorsteps- many of them resembling the children who lived there.
Earlier this week, eight families of the Talega neighborhood in Orange County reported finding porcelain dolls waiting for them on their porches, ABC News reported.
One of the dolls was dressed in a pink dress with a bow and bunny slippers. Another came in a blue dress with long, curly hair.
Police were stumped as to where the anonymous presents came from- not all of the families know each other. On top of that, several of the dolls somehow looked like the girls, around age 10, they were left for, ABC News reported.
"I'm actually thinking the worst, like someone creepy watching our children and I'm actually pretty scared about it," resident Mary Robin Baziak told NBC Los Angeles on Thursday. "(Someone) found a China doll on her stoop that looked like her daughter."
Orange County police discovered Thursday night that the dolls were left by a woman who attends a local community church with some of the families involved, the county's sheriff's department told NBC News.
The woman, whose name and age was not released, said she was getting rid of her doll collection and left them as gift for some of the girls in the neighborhood. It is not clear why she did not leave a note indicating where they came from.
"Investigators have concluded that her motivation was out of goodwill and that she intended it as a kind gesture," the Orange County Sheriff's Department told KTLA-TV.
Though the woman's intentions were kind, her delivery method left several residents spooked. The families involved decline to comment about the incident.
"You don't hear or see anything like that," one mother told KTLA-TV. "Only in the movies...We're in a bubble here in Orange County."
© 2025 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.