COLUMBUS — The case of Erica Baker, who was 9 when she was abducted in Kettering, Ohio, in 1999, is getting new exposure at a women's professional golf tournament here this weekend.

        Cards featuring Erica and another abducted child are being distributed to about 50,000 people expected to attend the Wendy's Championship for Children Golf Tournament Friday through Sunday.

        The cards, which may be used to collect LPGA players' autographs, include photos of Erica and Ptah Diamond, an Eloy, Ariz., boy who has been missing since May 2001 and is believed to be in Ohio.

        “We are encouraging every tournament visitor to look at the children's pictures on the card and call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST,” says a statement from ADVO Inc., a direct-mail company that printed the cards.

        The cards also include safety tips for parents to help prevent children from being abducted — particularly relevant, given several recent child abduction cases that made national headlines:

        On Thursday, two teen-age girls in California were abducted at gunpoint but were rescued and their abductor was killed by police gunfire.

        Last month, 5-year-old Samantha Runnion was kidnapped from outside her Orange County, Calif., home and was then slain.

        In June, Elizabeth Smart, 14, of Salt Lake City, Utah, was abducted from her bedroom at gunpoint. Neither she nor the suspect has been found.

        In February, 7-year-old Danielle van Dam was taken from her suburban San Diego home and murdered. A suspect is on trial.

        ADVO, which regularly sends out “Have you seen me?” messages featuring missing children on direct-mail advertisements, featured Erica's photo on cards sent to 85 million households across the U.S. in June and July. The cards generated dozens of new tips in the 3 -year-old unsolved case.

        On Feb. 7, 1999, Erica vanished while walking her dog near her home in Kettering, a suburb south of Dayton. The dog returned, trailing its leash. No sign of Erica has been found since.

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