Authorities continue search for vanished locals
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Karen Hinton knows too well how agonizing it can be to wait for a break like the one in Mistys case. Her teenage niece Kayla Croft-Payne was last seen in a Toutle trailer park in April 2010. Hinton, a Portland resident, has been doing whatever she can to keep the search for Kayla alive ever since.
Before her disappearance, Kayla had fallen into a community of drug-users that spanned roughly from Tacoma to Longview. Because many of the people who could know what happened to Kayla have chaotic, drug-addled lives, the case has often been hindered by rumors, false leads, and a lack of information, Hinton said. Some people who associated with Kayla have speculated that she was killed. Others say she overdosed. But occasionally, people have hinted that she is being held against her will.
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Hinton keeps going over the rumors again and again and tries to keep Kaylas face in the minds of anyone who might be able to help. She said the investigation was re-energized recently, when the Lewis County Sheriffs Office assigned Detective Danny Riordan to the case.
I dont think Kayla disappeared because she wanted to. I think something happened to Kayla, said Riordan, who speaks with clear conviction about his desire to find Kayla.
Recently, Riordan has made a careful effort to systematically eliminate what he describes as red herrings false leads.
His efforts have included using a warrant to search records on a website that connects aspiring models with photographers, and searching a Winlock property where a tipper said they might find her body. Investigators did not find any evidence that Kayla had been there, but it helped the case by narrowing down the list of recurring rumors, Riordan said.
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