Missing Girl: Lindsey J. Baum--WA--06/27/2009

[LoriDavis]

http://www.nwcn.com/news/washington/Missing-girls-family-victimized-in-Olympia-78998312.html

Missing McCleary girl's family victimized in Olympia
 
by DREW MIKKELSEN / KING 5 News
Posted on December 10, 2009 at 4:30 PM

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Relatives of Lindsey Baum, the McCleary 10-year-old girl who vanished in June, called Olympia police last month to report a stranger in their backyard.

The homeowner said the man was crouching beneath the bedroom window of Baum's two female cousins, who are 9 and 12 years old.

Olympia Police said any connection between the two cases is coincidental, but Grays Harbor County investigators have been in touch with Olympia Detectives about the Nov. 13 incident.

Investigators in the Baum case have not identified any suspects in the girl's disappearance.

"It's scary," said Derric, the father of the girls who did not want his last name published. Derric said he and his wife were already nervous about their kids' safety after what happened to his niece.

"It even makes you more cautious about your own children," said Derric.

Olympia police have released a sketch of the suspect from the case in the backyard break-in. Detectives said the man may be responsible for two attempted luring cases in Olympia in November.

On Nov. 10, about eight blocks from the house where the man was seen, a man approached a 10-year-old girl and asked if she needed a ride. She ran home and police were contacted.

On November 24, about two miles from the home, a 9-year-old girl said a stranger asked her if she could help him load groceries into her car. She said no and ran away.

In both incidents, the man was reportedly driving a silver car.

Detectives said the girls did not think the man in the sketch released by police was the man that approached them, but police said it's possible he could be responsible for all three incidents.

When Derric confronted the man in his backyard , he asked what the man was doing. Derric said the man told him he was a building inspector. Derric said when he asked the man for his I.D., the man walked quickly to his car, and drove off. Derric told police the man was driving a silver Mazda.

[LoriDavis]

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2485698/kristi_cornwell_sketches_prompt_new.html

Kristi Cornwell: Sketches Prompt New Leads in Missing Georgia Woman's Case
December 13, 2009 by saul relative   

Friday marked the fourth month since Kristi Cornwell went missing on Jones Creek Road in Blairsville, Georgia, while on the phone to her boyfriend in Atlanta. Since her disappearance, authorities have been stymied by a seeming lack of evidence. However, the
Georgia Bureau of United States of America Investigation (GBI) may have at last uncovered a possible lead that just may result in finding Kristi Cornwell.

The former parole officer and current Dalton State student disappeared around 9 p.m. on the evening of August 11, out for a walk. The last thing her boyfriend heard was her worries about an approaching vehicle, then a shouted, "Don't take me!" Investigators later found items associated with Cornwell scattered along the road that may have been the site of a possible abduction. Her cell phone was found a couple days later a few miles away alongside another road.

But GBI officials maintain that they have received thousands of leads and tips since Kristi Cornwell went missing. But the past week may have given them the biggest break they've received in the case. A composite sketch of a man -- along with the sketch of a vehicle -- that may be linked to an attempted abduction in Ranger, North Carolina, has generated more than two dozen leads in the Cornwell case. Although authorities are quick to note that there may be no connection between the two abductions, they cannot rule out the possibility. There are reported similarities in both cases and the location of the Ranger, North Carolina, attempted abduction, which also took place on a rural road, is only 25 miles from where Kristi Cornwell disappeared.

Kristi Cornwell's case is just one of many that continue throughout the country. Searches were held last weekend for Lindsey Baum, 10, missing since June from McCleary, Washington, and a fundraiser, "Cash" for Lindsey (where a Johnny Cash tribute artist performed), was held the last weekend of November to raise money to offset costs of the now six-month-old investigation.

[La Vina]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/northwest/story/1005774.html

Search for missing McCleary girl intensifies

12/24/09
The Associated Press

The Grays Harbor County sheriff's office says deputies started serving search warrants Friday in the McCleary area in the search for a missing 11-year-old girl.

Sgt. Steve Shumate told KXRO more warrants would be served through the weekend in an operation involving the FBI and the King County sheriff's office.

Shumate says investigators have been following leads and conducting interviews that identified areas that may contain information about the disappearance of Lindsey Baum. She disappeared the night of June 26 while walking home from a friend's house

[LoriDavis]

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Weekend-vigil-scheduled-for-missing-girl-82402087.html

Weekend vigil scheduled for missing girl

by DREW MIKKELSEN / KING 5 News

Posted on January 22, 2010 at 8:20 PM

******

OLYMPIA, Wash. Volunteers are holding a candlelight vigil for Lindsey Baum Saturday night at Olympia's Heritage Park.

The ten-year-old was last seen walking home from a friend's house in McCleary last June.

Police has asked the public for help, but no one has come forward with anything that might lead them to her.

The vigil begins at 6 p.m. Organizers expect it to last one hour. Attendees are encouraged to bring candles.

[Jenn]

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/82529227.html

Missing McCleary girl's supporters: 'Just bring her back'

By Matt Markovich



Story Published: Jan 23, 2010 at 6:49 PM PST Story Updated: Jan 24, 2010 at 10:39 AM PST

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Seven months after 10-year-old Lindsey Baum disappeared in the small town of McCleary, her supporters staged a candlelight vigil for her Saturday in the state Capitol.

They're hoping to get the Legislature interested in helping out in the search for the little girl.

Lindsey vanished June 26 while walking home from a friend's house around dusk.

Now her mother and an ardent group of volunteers have brought their plea for help to Olympia's Heritage Park, just in the shadow of the state Capitol building.

The candlelight vigil is an attempt to keep the search for Lindsey alive, to offer renewed faith that she will be found - and to keep the missing girl in the news so she won't become a cold case.

Lindsey was 10 years old when she vanished; now she'd be 11.

Investigators have received more than 1,200 tips - but no substantial leads. Volunteer searches have turned up nothing but frustration.

In November, Lindsey's face graced the cover of People magazine, along with a California girl who is missing. If that generated a substantial lead, investigators are keeping it to themselves.

Lindsey's mother is now hoping that a government-sponsored increase in the reward fund will stimulate someone to talk.

"California is going bankrupt, and Arnold Schwarzenegger donated $40,000 to Amber Dubois' reward fund - so her reward fund is up to $100,000, and Lindsey's is at $10,000," says Melissa Baum.

"And you know - somebody out there knows something, and if their morals and their hearts won't make them come forward - maybe money will."

Keeping the faith is what the vigil is all about - staying focused, staying determined not to letting the search for Lindsey become an afterthought - is the pledge all of Lindsey's friends have made.

"The person who took Lindsey - please bring her back. Just bring her back," says her friend, Julie Colbert. "If you can't bring her back, then call somebody and tell us where to find her and we'll go get her."

Schwarzenegger's offer for Amber Dubois was $40,000 in state funds - the remaining $60,000 was raised by the California girl's family.

Law enforcement has traditionally said that high rewards have caused people to talk in the past.

[Jenn]

http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=276640

Updated Jan 27, 2010 - 5:19 pm

Police refocus on missing girl's case

By JEFF POHJOLA

Investigators are re-doubling their efforts and throwing thousands of dollars at the public in hopes of finding a missing McLeary girl.

On Wednesday Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott said his office the will be looking at every piece of evidence again to see if there's anything they missed in the case of Lindsey Baum who has been missing since June of 2009.

Scott said the FBI conducted a third-party review of the investigation which will lead to an "increase in activity" in regards to the case.

In addition to going back over the case, the reward for information leading to the whereabouts of Baum has been doubled to $20,000.

The 11-year-old hasn't been seen since June 26 when she left a friend's house to walk home.

[Jenn]

http://www.theolympian.com/breakingnews/story/1117267.html

Reward doubled for missing McCleary girl

Published January 27, 2010

MCCLEARY - Grays Harbor County Sheriff's officials and the FBI announced today that they have doubled a reward for information that helps them solve the disappearance of Lindsey Baum, who was 10 when she went missing as she walked home from a friend's here on June 26.

Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott said the FBI has upped the reward from $10,000 to $20,000. Scott added that investigators wanted to announce to residents that they are going to be ramping up the police presence in McCleary in the coming weeks as they reinvestigate and recanvass the area.

Scott said some of the police work might seem redundant to residents, as they see "an increase in police activity in and around McCleary."

"We want everyone to know that this hasn't gone away and we haven't given up our efforts," Scott added.

Anyone with information that can assist investigators can call the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office at 360-249-3711, extension 543, Scott said.

[LoriDavis]

http://www.komonews.com/news/84777457.html
8-year-old boy finds human remains near Cowlitz River

An 8-year-old boy came upon human remains while playing in a brushy area near the Cowlitz River on Thursday afternoon. Now investigators are trying to determine who the person is and how the remains got there.
By KOMO Staff
Story Published: Feb 19, 2010 at 8:36 AM PST
Story Updated: Feb 19, 2010 at 6:27 PM PST

TOLEDO, Wash. - An 8-year-old boy came upon human remains while playing in a brushy area near the Cowlitz River on Thursday afternoon.

Now investigators are trying to determine who the person is and how the remains got there.

The grisly discovery was made around 3:30 p.m. Thursday in the 100 block of Cougar Lane, Lewis County sheriff's deputies said.

There are several missing women and children in southwest Washington, and many people are asking if these remains could be connected to any of those cases - particularly the missing McCleary girl, Lindsey Baum.

But so far, authorities don't see a connection between these remains and Baum or any of those cases.

"This does not appear to be Lindsey Baum. No, this is not a child," says Stacy Brown of the Lewis County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators say the bones are likely those of a man - but at this time, no one is certain.

The boy who found the remains ran home and told his grandmother, Bethann Boettner, about his discovery. She walked back and had a look for herself.

"Well, I dropped a tear because it is creepy. It is not something you find every day," Boettner told KOMO News.

She called 911. And on Friday, five detectives, six Explorer scouts and seven dogs searched the area behind the Boettner home.

There are 100 acres here, and animals had disturbed the remains, police said.

A preliminary investigation has found that the bones appeared to have been in the area for one to two years.

A car was found abandoned in the area during that time. But police are being cautious.

"We are not speculating on who this person may be until we can get a forensic pathologist to look at the bones, analyze them and try to ID the person," Brown said.

Police completed their search at mid-afternoon.

As for the 8-year-old who found the bones - he's fine.

"His attitude is really good," says Boettner. "Today, in fact, he said, 'Grandma, if it wasn't for what I found we wouldn't have all this excitement going on.'"

It may be several days before the bones are identified. And right now, police say they aren't speculating on the cause of death or whether this was a homicide.

[Jenn]

http://www.kirotv.com/news/22639498/detail.html

Mom Searching For Missing McCleary Daughter Ordered To Pay Back Unemployment

Posted: 6:25 pm PST February 22, 2010Updated: 6:52 pm PST February 22, 2010

RAINIER, Wash. -- Her daughter's been missing since June and now the mother of Lindsey Baum has been ordered to repay unemployment benefits the state said she never should have received.

Melissa Baum took three months unpaid leave from her job as a call center operator and then filed for unemployment when her employer said she could not return to work part-time.

Baum left her job so she could assist in the search for her daughter, Lindsey, who has been missing from McCleary since June 26.

“We discussed it when I did my initial interview for unemployment. They all knew what was going on, they approved me, I started getting unemployment,” Baum said.

The checks came for five weeks then just before Christmas the state said she was ineligible and asked her to send a $1,000 back.

“I paid into unemployment, I earned the unemployment and now they're saying I can't have it,” Baum said.

Baum and her 13-year-old son just moved to the town of Rainier to live with relatives. She said she can no longer afford the rent for the house in McCleary where she knows her missing daughter is trying to get home to.

“It's very hard, extremely, and I put it off as long as I possibly could. I don't want to do it, but I don't have a choice,” Baum said.

She said she also doesn’t have the $1,000 the state of Washington is demanding her to pay back from unemployment benefits.

“It's just one more battle that I just don't have the time or energy to fight.” Baum said.

Due to federal privacy rules, the state could not make a comment on Baum’s case. They said the federal rules require Baum to pay back the benefits that she wrongly received.

Anyone with information about Lindsey’s disappearance is asked to call the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office at 1-866-915-8299 or send an e-mail to soadmin@co.grays-harbor.wa.us.

[Jenn]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011205039_apwamissingmcclearygirl.html

FBI makes another sweep at missing WA girl's home

The Associated Press

MCCLEARY, Wash. — Taking advantage of a last opportunity before a missing girl's mother moves, FBI agents have returned to Lindsey Baum's home in McCleary, Wash., to conduct a new search. Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott says forensic experts are taking samples of carpeting, furniture, hair strands, car materials and anything else that might help them.

Scott said Friday the 10-year-old girl's home has been searched at least three times before. But an outside review of the investigation suggested another sweep of the home be made by crime scene specialists and an FBI team was available.

Scott says there is no new evidence but the girl's mother, Melissa Baum, is moving out of McCleary soon. He says there are no suspects.

The undersheriff says the girl's room has been preserved untouched since the evening of June 26, when she vanished while walking home from a friend's residence.

[Jenn]

http://www.kirotv.com/news/22687279/detail.html

FBI Searches Home Of Missing McCleary Girl Before Family Moves

Posted: 3:23 pm PST February 26, 2010Updated: 5:49 pm PST February 26, 2010

MCCLEARY, Wash. -- The FBI is searching the home of a missing McCleary girl one last time before her family moves out.

Lindsey Baum’s family is moving to Rainier and Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott said it’s the last chance to obtain samples of the old house before someone new moves in.

Baum was last seen June 26 when she disappeared while walking home from a friend's house. Two people spotted the then 10-year-old along the way, but she never made it home and investigators have found no evidence that could explain her disappearance

Scott said Friday's search was planned and is part of the FBI's review of the county's investigation.

Investigators are taking samples of carpet and other items inside the home to put into an evidence library in case they are ever needed for comparison. They are also doing a final search of Lindsey’s room which hasn’t been touched since she vanished, Scott said.

Samples are also being collected from Melissa Baum’s car, Lindsey’s mother, for possible future use.

Scott said the search and collecting samples are routine and that there are no new tips or information in the case.

Lindsey's family has two Web sites with information: http://lindseybaum.com/ and http://findlindseybaum.com/.

Lindsey is 4 feet 9 inches tall, 80 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a light blue hooded pullover shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information about Lindsey’s disappearance is asked to call the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office at 1-866-915-8299 or send an e-mail to soadmin@co.grays-harbor.wa.us.

[LoriDavis]

http://www.theolympian.com/2010/04/30/1223499/missing-girls-investigation-stepped.html

Missing girl's investigation stepped up
Lindsey Baum: Reward now $25,000
JEREMY PAWLOSKI; Staff writer | • Published April 30, 2010

MCCLEARY - As the first anniversary of Lindsey Baum's disappearance approaches, the Grays Harbor Sheriff's Office is stepping up its investigative efforts, Undersheriff Rick Scott announced during a news conference at the McCleary City Hall on Thursday.

Lindsey was 10 years old when she disappeared on June 26. She has not been found, and investigators think she is the victim of foul play.

At every turn, police have been stymied by a lack of evidence or clues, despite numerous massive searches of the area in and around McCleary.

“We’re going to be here as long as it takes,” Scott said during Thursday’s news conference. “We’re still as tenacious in our investigation as we were from day one.”

The refocused efforts will start Monday, Scott said, and will include re-interviewing people who live in the area of Maple Street, where Lindsey disappeared, and researching areas in and around McCleary in an effort to find her.

Scott said the point of the intensive investigation in McCleary is to get a sharper snapshot of exactly what was going on around town when Lindsey disappeared.

Lindsey was walking home from a friend’s on Maple Street shortly before 9:15 p.m. June 26 when she disappeared. The last time someone saw Lindsey on her approximately half-mile walk to her mom’s old home on Mommsen Road was at about 9:15 that evening, when a resident saw her walking on Maple Street between Fifth and Sixth streets, police have said.

On Thursday, Scott also announced that the FBI has added $5,000 to the reward money being offered for information that leads to Lindsey’s whereabouts, or the arrest and charges filed for the person or persons responsible for her disappearance.

The total reward money now being offered is $25,000.

Another new tool being used by investigators are five large trailer trucks posted with large photos of Lindsey, along with a phone number, 1-800-THE-LOST, that’s used by the Washington State Patrol’s Homeward Bound program in an effort to find missing children. The trucks were donated by Gordon Trucking Inc. of Pacific, Wash., said Luci Stewart, manager of WSP’s Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit.

Stewart explained that the trucks will be placed at strategic locations where motorists on local roads can see them. They also can be placed anywhere in the country where the investigation into Lindsey’s disappearance is being conducted, in an effort to get more tips.

Lindsey’s mother, Melissa Baum, also was present during Thursday’s news conference. She pleaded with McCleary residents to cooperate with the coming investigative effort, and to rack their brains for anything that might help them find Lindsey.

“Somebody out there knows something,” Melissa Baum said.

Melissa Baum said that she and her supporters are planning a community event in Olympia’s Heritage Park, tentatively scheduled for June 26, the first anniversary of Lindsey’s disappearance.

Anyone with information about Lindsey Baum’s disappearance can call in tips at 1-866-915-8299, or send tips to Post Office Box 305, McCleary WA, 98557.

[Jenn]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011773110_apwamissingmcclearygirl.html


New video clue in search for missing McCleary girl

Video from a convenience store has shown police three people they'd like to talk to about the disappearance of an 11-year-old girl last June in McCleary.

The Associated PressTuesday, May 4, 2010 at 5:53 AM

McCLEARY, Wash. — Video from a convenience store has shown police three people they'd like to talk to about the disappearance of an 11-year-old girl last June in McCleary.

Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott says the McCleary Shell Station video shows a man and a boy walking into the store apparently from a pickup truck. It also shows a second man who also is not identified as a local resident.

Scott told KXRO they are not suspects in the disappearance of Lindsey Baum, but investigators want to know if they saw anything suspicious the night she went missing while walking home from a friend's home.

[Jenn]

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Two-men-sought-in-search-for-missing-McCleary-girl-92704724.html

Two men sought in search for missing McCleary girl



Grays Harbor County investigators want to speak with two men seen on surveillance video the night Lindsey Baum vanished in McCleary last June.

by DREW MIKKELSEN / KING 5 News
Posted on May 3, 2010 at 2:04 PM Updated yesterday at 4:38 PM

McCLEARY, Wash. - Grays Harbor County investigators want to speak with two men seen on surveillance video the night a girl vanished in McCleary last June.

The men are not considered suspects in the disappearance of ten-year-old Lindsey Baum.

Police say they were seen entering a convenience store at a Shell station near the spot where Baum was last seen walking home from a friend's house June 26, 2009.

Investigators believe one of the men was driving a white Honda Ridgeline pickup truck.

Grays Harbor Undersheriff Rick Scott said investigators consider the men potential witnesses.

"Perhaps something they saw that's important to us was meaningless to them," said Scott.

Tracking down people like the two men is the main focus of the renewed effort in McCleary to figure out what happened to Lindsey Baum.

"Until we recreate that moment in time we're not going to know exactly who was out and about and which person… it could be this gentleman here who has that one piece of information that's going to solve this mystery," said Scott.

Investigators are well aware that the two men, if they can be found, may not help the case one bit, but they want to be sure. And while the video is 10 months old, it's relatively new to them. They're blaming the delay on technical problems and a language barrier with the owner of the Shell station.
 

[Jenn]

http://www.examiner.com/x-46795-Missing-Persons-Examiner~y2010m5d11-Police-stepping-up-search-for-missing-Lindsey-Baum

Police stepping up search for missing Lindsey Baum

May 11, 12:16 AM Missing Persons Examiner Jerrie Dean

On June 26, 2009, 10-year-old Lindsey Baum left a friend's house to walk home.  She only had 3 blocks to walk, but she disappeared before she ever made it home.

Lindsey's disappearance has been hard on her small hometown of McLeary, Washington with a population of only 1,500 people.  Many have searched and many have been questioned, but Lindsey is still missing.

The FBI's Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team has talked to two-thirds of the towns residents and have used state-of-the-art equipment to try to located Lindsey. They have brought in profilers to analyze the behavior of persons of interest and Lindsey's personality for clues.

"There is between 100 and 200 cases a year where it is a stranger abduction. These are very, very serious crimes that the FBI places a high priority on. There's no greater crisis in a community, and I can't imagine a greater crisis for either a parent or a community, than to have a child go missing," said Kevin Perkins, assistant director of the FBI's criminal investigation division.

"Somebody saw something and somebody suspects something. Somebody knows something and they're not coming forward. I think that's my greatest frustration through this all is, I know there's somebody out there and for whatever reason, they're not sharing whatever information that they have. Whether they honestly don't believe that it's important or that it will make a difference," said Melissa Baum, Lindsey's mother.

Grays Harbor County police have released three surveillance videos from the gas station/convenience store of the night that Lindsey disappeared.

No one to date has risen to the level that we would label them a suspect,." said Rick Scott of Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Dept.

Lindsey is 4'9" tall, 80 pounds and was 10 years old when she went missing. She has brown hair and brown eye.

The reward for information leading to Lindsey's return is $25,000.

You can contact the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s office at 866-915-8299 or send an e-mail to: soadmin@co.grays-harbor.wa.us.