MN MN - LeeAnna Warner, 5, Chisholm, 14 June 2003

[monkalup]

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/849032.html

Missing girl's grandmother recalls family's anguish
Lois Warner, 55, is the grandmother of LeeAnna Warner, who was 5 when she disappeared in June 2003 near her home in Chisholm, Minn.
Richard Meryhew, Star Tribune
Last update: December 02, 2006 – 9:21 PM


Lois Warner, 55, is the grandmother of LeeAnna Warner, who was 5 when she disappeared in June 2003 near her home in Chisholm, Minn.
Despite an exhaustive search of LeeAnna's neighborhood in the hours and days afterward and several follow-up searches over the years, investigators have yet to find out what happened to the girl.

In the aftermath of the Nov. 22 disappearance of brothers Tristan White, 4, and Avery Stately, 2, on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, Lois Warner talked about her feelings and her family's experience after LeeAnna vanished.

Q. What was your initial reaction when you heard about the missing boys?

A. Oh, no! ... And I guess fear for this family, watching them on TV and knowing what they are going through -- knowing the fear and panic they are going through and the lack of sleep. ... And hoping that it goes easier for them than it went for us. ... I can't imagine the grief that family is going through.

Q. What was the hardest part of the search for a missing child?

A. When the big search is over and you don't have any answers and you have that letdown and everybody goes home. And you look at each other and say 'Oh, my God, now what?' It's a very lost, helpless feeling.

Q. What advice would you give to the family of Tristan and Avery as they continue to search for the boys?

A. Work with the media. Don't hide from them because you are scared, like we did. ... And work with authorities and remember that they are doing their job the best they can and that they are human beings and that they too are grieving with you and want to give you answers. ... And get used to people you don't know loving you, and accept their help and caring. It's hard when you are so overwhelmed with grief that all you want to do is be alone. [But] you can't afford that emotionally and spiritually.

Q. What have you learned in your experience with LeeAnna's case that has helped you survive the darkest days?

A. Don't allow your thinking processes to get out of control because it does no good to envision the worst. There are certain areas where I won't let my brain go. ... Stay strong, stay focused, be courageous and know that you are not alone.

Q. As time passes, does it get any easier for you to deal with what happened?

A. No, it doesn't. ...You just have to have a very strong faith. And if you don't have faith, you have problems. You don't have anything tangible to hang onto. We have channeled it well and we have a strong faith. And we have a great support network.


Richard Meryhew • 612-673-4425 • richm@startribune.com

 

[pedinurse]

Bump.

I really thought that this was a case that could have been solved. Come on, she didn't just fall off the face of the planet! I wonder if we can combine this thread with the other thread that discusses the Barbies and the odd behavior. I'm bumping it too...
I went to findbeaner.org to see if anything new was up and something about a wedding is on there? Maybe they lost the website rights?

 

[pedinurse]

Bump.

 

[Kymistry35]

Chisholm, a MN Iron Range town, WAS a city caught up in a time of innocence. It could have probably fit with the 1950's - a place where nearly everyone knew everyone else, and everyone trusted their neighbor. Leanna's parents, in allowing Leanna to venture out alone, did what every other parent did because Chisholm was considered a safe place. Knowing what they now know, I'm sure the parents would have taken a different approach.

Leanna's disappearance has shown us all that there is no safe place, no more innocent towns, no more trusting your neighbor.

I hope that I did not come off as to harsh. I do not place the blame on the parents. I also live in a supposedly "safe" town where I see children 5 or 6 walking to school and out riding the bikes and I will never understand how parents can allow it. There are 50 registered sex offenders within 5 miles of me and I wonder if the parents are aware of this. I do not feel like my kids are safe if they are out of my sight.

 

[Bobbisangel]

I am certain that the photograph you're referring to is from video footage of Leeanna and in the actual video itself, Beaner doesn't appear to be either sad, empty or depressed. She's a little sweetie, and I hope you have a chance to see it sometime.

I'm talking about the two pictures on the "Find Missing Children" website. The link is on the first page of this forum about Leanne. Maybe she just wasn't feeling good that day but her eyes in that photo look very empty and sad.

 

[Bobbisangel]

The parents of Leanna Warner say their daughter was behaving strangely in the weeks leading up to her disappearance in 2003.

Leanna Warner's parents, Chris and Kaelin Warner, told the syndicated TV show "Maury,'' hosted by Maury Povich, that their daughter appeared one day with a case filled with Barbie dolls and their clothes, but would only say she'd gotten them from "a little old lady."

Their daughter, nicknamed "Beaner,'' also packed a suitcase a week before she vanished, saying she wanted to go live at her "new family's house,'' the mother said, according to excerpts released by the show, which was scheduled to air Wednesday.

And they say that two weeks before she disappeared, they found Leanna sleeping in the closet.

"She said there were monsters outside her window,'' Chris Warner told the Duluth News Tribune. "I actually went out and looked, because you never know if there's a footprint out there. The second time, I said: 'They won't get you.' That was a real eye-opener. Our flags kind of went up at that time.''

Leanna was 5 years old when she was last seen June 14, 2003, after walking over to a friend's house to play.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/735071.html

I wonder what this was all about? This little 5 yr old comes up with a box of barbies and clothes for them but won't say where they came from? Then she packs a suitcase to go live with her new family? Sounds like a couple were working on this little girl. I think I would have been taking her by the hand and saying "show me who gave you the barbies" and take me to your new family." It just sounds like a couple...family...were really working on this little girl so that she would go with them when they were ready to take her.

Then she is sleeping in her closet. Maybe at some point these people did something that caused her to change her mind about them and she was scared of them. I wonder if a couple took her and she is still alive and living with them. Stranger things have happened. If she is alive I wish that she would be found like Shawn Hornbeck was.

 

[lostwithoutyou]

Today, June 14, 2007, marks the fourth anniversary of Leanna's disappearance. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. If you have any information regarding the disappearence of Leanna "Beaner" Warner, please call the Chisholm Police Department at 218-749-6010 or your local police station.♥

I hope you are safe, Beaner, and that you will be home safe with your family next June 14th. ♥

 

[cheko1]

I think of little Beaner often. I always hoped they'd find her.

 

[fran]

I think of little Beaner often. I always hoped they'd find her.

This case is baffeling and it just seems as if it could be solved. With a LOT of footwork and interviewing, beginning in a cirlce around her house and widening to within range of where they think Beaner may have walked to play. With so many registered sex offenders in the area, Beaner getting the Barbie stuff, someone outside her window, her sleeping in her closet, talking about her 'other family,' it just seems solveable.

Someone knows something and IMHO, she could be locked away in a room within walking distance of their home. Seriously, we've seen this happen before, or similar.

JMHO
fran

 

[pedinurse]

I have really wondered about this case. Thanks for reminding us of the anniversery.

 

[Trino]

This must be a difficult time for the parents. It would be great if either the Star Trib or the Pioneer Press would do an article to remind everyone.

 

[dufresnecw]

It seems that we humans are hardwired with some strange psychological trait which translated into action equals something along the lines of, "Oh, don't be silly, that can never happen to ME, to US..."

I found it utterly confounding that so many people stayed in New Orleans during Katrina, and I became enraged when I realized how many people were in attics, WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER and none of the attics had an axe.

When I started ranting and raving that City Code for NOLA should have insisted by strict law that EVERY single attic be equipped with an axe and a minimum week's supply of water --- well, my mate simply hushed me up and repeated again & again & again, "NOBODY believes it will happen to 'them,' absolutely NOBODY."

quote]


ok.. totally OT.. but I live right out of NO and grant it, everyone around here knows that the city is below sea level and built like a bowl which would mean that it would retain water. but the problem is that the levees were not built to code. Because they weren't, they broke.. that's when all the water flooded the city.

 

[Mom who cares]

Happy Holidays, little angel, forever in my heart, I hope you are safe and happy. I pray for you everyday and wish nothing but the best for your family. Take care, baby, stay strong.

 

[ScooterD]

"BUMP" for little Leanna (Beaner). I'm just 10 miles from where she lived and think of her whenever I'm out and about.
Please! Can't we get some answers!!!!!!

 

[tuppence]

a bump so that maybe some of those people who are new due to the Caylee case take a look at this girls picture and information!

Missing Since: June 14, 2003 from Chrisholm, Minnesota
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: January 21, 1998
Age: 5 years old
Height and Weight: 3'0 - 3'2, 48 - 50 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, dark brown eyes. LeeAnna has a mole or wart just above her left ankle, and a dimple on the back of her left shoulder. Her nicknames are Beaner and Little Beaner. Her hair was cut in a shoulder-length bob at the time of her June 2003 disappearance, and her ears are pierced. Her name may be spelled as "Leeanna," "Leanna," or "Leanne," or she may be referred to as LeeAnna Marie Warner.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A sleeveless dark blue denim dress (some agencies call it a shirt) with a belt and no shoes or socks.

Details of Disappearance

LeeAnna was last seen walking home from a friend's house, which was a block and a half from her own residence. She had gone to play with the friend at 4:30 p.m., but no one was home at her friend's residence. She was last seen walking on southwest Second or Third Street, westbound, between 5:00 and 5:15 p.m.


LeeAnna's mother, Tiffany Kaelin Whittaker, more commonly known as Kaelin Warner, began looking for her at 5:30 p.m., enlisting neighborhood children to help. When the search turned up no sign of LeeAnna's whereabouts, Kaelin called the police between 8:40 and 9:00 p.m. An extensive search by authorities, which lasted several days and included helicopters and bloodhounds, failed to locate LeeAnna or any sign of where she might be. LeeAnna lives near the Iron Mountain Range and, had she gotten lost in the mountains, probably could not have survived the conditions more than about 72 hours. While there is no evidence that she was kidnapped, authorities have been leaning towards that view, feeling they would have found her quickly had she merely wandered off. Tracker dogs traced her scent to the roadside edge but lost it after that.


An unidentified man in his mid-thirties was seen on foot in the neighborhood at about the time of LeeAnna's disappearance. He was approximately 5'10 tall and 155 pounds, with a dark-colored tattoo of a star or sun on his right arm. A maroon and blue two-door Cadillac driven by an African-American man in his twenties or thirties with a bald or shaven head, and an older model rusty brown pickup truck driven by a Caucasian man with black curly hair were also seen in the area. Neither the vehicles or their drivers have been identified. It is unknown whether any of them had to do with LeeAnna's apparent abduction.


Matthew James Curtis, 24, was arrested in Chrisholm in August 2003 for possession of child *advertiser censored* charges which were unrelated to LeeAnna's case. He was interrogated several times about a possible connection to LeeAnna, however, due to the nature of his alleged crime. Curtis was found dead September 2003, the day before he was supposed to appear in court on the child *advertiser censored* charge. Police say he suffocated himself with a plastic bag and his body was found in a gravel pit eight or nine miles outside of Chrisholm. The investigation into his death has been closed and ruled a suicide. There has been speculation that Curtis did not commit suicide and was in fact murdered in a possible revenge or gangland-style killing, and his remains were then staged to make it look like he took his own life. There is no evidence to support this theory, however.


Authorities initially suspected that Curtis was involved in LeeAnna's disappearance, and they processed his pickup truck for DNA samples. They could not find any evidence that the child had ever been in the vehicle, and it was decided that Curtis was not connected to LeeAnna's apparent abduction.


Police suspect foul play in LeeAnna's disappearance. LeeAnna's parents were not asked to take lie detector tests and are not suspects in their daughter's apparent abduction. They have both been previously divorced and LeeAnna's father, Christopher, had domestic problems with his ex-wife; they both sought mutual restraining orders and he alleged that she had threatened Kaelin and LeeAnna. These difficulties occured several years before LeeAnna's disappearance, however, and are not thought to be related to it. The Warners moved to Chrisholm just a few months prior to LeeAnna's disappearance.


After LeeAnna vanished, her footprints were found near Longyear Lake, a shallow lake near where she was last seen. Investigators pumped some of the water out of the lake in late October 2003 to search for evidence relating to her case, but they found nothing important and had to stop pumping because the lake was freezing over. They began a new search of Chrisholm in the summer of 2004, looking for the child's remains, but to no result. No further searches are scheduled for the forseeable future. LeeAnna's parents believe she is still alive and was possibly abducted for the purposes of black-market adoption.


LeeAnna enjoys playing with dolls and riding her bicycle, and is described as an outgoing, precocious, and fearless child. She has been known to wander, and her survival instincts are said to be quite advanced for her age. Her case remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Chisholm Police Department

218-749-6010

Charley Project

NCMEC​

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[Mom who cares]

So sad to see that this case has moved to the Missing but not forgotten forum, a sad reminder of just how long this little peanut has been missing. Bless you, Beaner, wherever you are and Merry Christmas little one!

 

[WhyaDuck?]

Leanna (also LeeAnna or Leanne on some sources) on AMW (2008):

http://www.amw.com/missing_children/case.cfm?id=25696

 

[wonderment]

Just a little bump.
Question: is it possible that the person(s) involved in the possible homicide of the guy who was charged with Child *advertiser censored* had something to do with the people who took her? Maybe i'm a little tired and fried around the edges here, but what if he was involved some how, he got into a little hot water and some co-conspirators made sure he couldn't say what he knew about Leanna's disappearance?? Just wondering. Maybe this hypothesis has been posted. It's hard to read through 12 pages of postings and my search function doesn't seem to cooperate tonight.

 

[Mom who cares]

Another little bump as we approach the 7th anniversary of Leeanna's abduction date.

 

[miimaa]

Just a little bump.
Question: is it possible that the person(s) involved in the possible homicide of the guy who was charged with Child *advertiser censored* had something to do with the people who took her? Maybe i'm a little tired and fried around the edges here, but what if he was involved some how, he got into a little hot water and some co-conspirators made sure he couldn't say what he knew about Leanna's disappearance?? Just wondering. Maybe this hypothesis has been posted. It's hard to read through 12 pages of postings and my search function doesn't seem to cooperate tonight.

What homicide? I think that guy killed himself... I don't know about any homicide and I live here.