WOODSTOCK -- Police seized and are holding the computer of the mother of missing eight-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford, she confirmed yesterday, but her ex-husband's family seems to have kept theirs.

But neither the seizure nor police surveillance of her house bothers her, said Tara McDonald, who focused not on the stories swirling around her, but on getting Tori home.

"My computer was seized . . . My mom's computer has been seized, any computer the kids have had access to has been seized."

Police told her they took the computers to see if anyone had sent strange messages to Tori or her brother Daryn, 10, either through e-mail or children's websites such as Webkinz and Build-a-Bear, she said.

"That's what they were looking into -- anything that didn't make sense," she said.

Asked if any of his family members had their computers taken, Tori's father and McDonald's ex-husband, Rodney Stafford, said, "No, not that I know of."

As the pair spoke, an officer with Oxford Community police videotaped their comments, as he has for weeks.

McDonald said the daily police presence, including the stream of police cars that drive through her neighbourhood and park on the street, doesn't bother her.

"I don't really think about it. I just come and go in my regular routine and I don't pay attention."

Tori was last seen April 8 leaving Oliver Stephens elementary school on Fyfe Ave., where she's in Grade 3. She was seen on videotape, shot from a surveillance camera at a nearby high school, walking north up Fyfe with an unknown woman.

Her parents expressed surprise yesterday at how their little girl, known for being "pokey," made it off the school grounds so fast with a stranger no one noticed.

The videotape from the high school shows Tori and the unidentified woman walking north on Fyfe at 3:32 p.m., about two minutes after the girl left school.

"That seems very strange," McDonald said. When they lived two doors from the school, her daughter didn't get home until about 3:45 p.m. she said. "She's pokey. She takes her time putting her coat on. She talks to all her friends. I found it very, very odd that at 3:32 she was fully dressed, had her bag and was up the hill."

Stafford said he can't believe parents, bus drivers, classmates and others watched Tori leave with a perfect stranger without noticing something amiss.

"Somebody has had to see something. Now, I'd just like somebody to start talking and we can bring out daughter home."

For the first time since she began holding daily news conferences, McDonald missed one Tuesday.

Yesterday, she gave short answers weighed with exhaustion.

"Up until 10 minutes ago, I wasn't planning on coming out here today. I'm drained," she said.

With Mother's Day looming, McDonald said she's becoming frustrated. This will be the first Mother's Day spent without both her children, she said. "I would really hope to have my child home for Mother's Day," she said.