East Lansing mom sold 'Pants Baby' at a moving sale. Now she's determined to get it back.

Eric Lacy | Lansing State Journal

LANSING -- Pants Baby is a 4-inch doll with a pink face and torso. He earned his nickname from Nichole Biber's children because he has no arms. The doll's legs are covered with a pair of white pants.

Biber, 43, sold Pants Baby at the family's May 27 moving sale on Regent Street in Lansing.

Her 8-year-old daughter is still distraught. Now, Biber is offering rewards to the person who returns it.

“I wasn’t thinking straight," said Biber, when asked Monday why she sold it. Biber said her 17-year-old daughter is also "devastated."

Once Biber understood the doll's sentimental value to her daughters, she took action.

She posted flyers at four locations in Lansing's Eastside Neighborhood seeking its whereabouts.

The search hasn't produced any leads, but it won't end until the flyers disintegrate, Biber said.

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Biber said Monday she doesn't have a picture of the actual toy to share. She purchased it about eight years ago at a Lansing-area Volunteers of America thrift store.

"It’s hard to lose a toy when you’re little and have a connection to it," Biber said.

Biber said she posted two flyers about the missing doll at Strange Matter Coffee and others at Toarmina's Pizza and The Avenue Cafe.

"I just hope we can help," Cara Nader, Strange Matter Coffee's owner, wrote in a text message. "SMC seems to be a connection point for a lot of east-side folks, so maybe we can help widen her net with our social media reach."

On Sunday, the business posted a photo of one of the flyers on its Twitter page with "#findpantsbaby #lansing #bestposter."

Anyone who returns the doll, Biber said, won't receive a cash reward, but "a nice book about cats" and "some small toys" that Biber said her children aren't so emotionally attached to.

Biber recalls selling the doll, a striped dress, skirt, a few toys and a couple books for $11 at the May 27 moving sale on Regent Street, which is between East Michigan Avenue and Elizabeth Street. It would have been at about noon.

In the flyers, Biber described the woman who bought the doll as an "artistic young woman" with short bangs and blonde hair.

Anyone with information about the doll is encouraged to email Biber at nicholebiber@gmail.com.

Eric Lacy is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at 517-377-1206 or elacy@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.