UPDATE: Massive search continues for missing McCleary girl
MCCLEARY: No leads days after 10-year-old vanished
Published June 30, 2009
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Police in this community of about 1,500 had no leads Monday on what happened to 10-year-old Lindsey Baum after she left her friend’s house on Maple Street by herself Friday evening to walk about a half-mile to her home on Mommsen Road.
The mother of Lindsey’s 10-year-old best friend said Lindsey’s disappearance hasn’t really sunk in for her daughter.
“I don’t think she quite understands the seriousness of it,” said Kara Kempen on Monday in front of her home.
The last person to see Lindsey was a resident driving through town who saw her walking on Maple Street between Fifth and Sixth streets around 9:15 p.m. – about the halfway point between the two homes, Scott said. People said light was waning but the sun hadn’t gone down.
Lindsey was wearing a gray or blue hooded pullover shirt and blue jeans. Investigators have reviewed surveillance video from the downtown Shell Station that Lindsey would have walked by on the way to Mommsen Road, but it turned up nothing, Scott said. Detectives are waiting for additional video surveillance from local businesses.
LOOKING BACK
Lindsey left her cell phone at home before leaving to play with friends Friday, said Grays Harbor Undersheriff Rick Scott. Lindsey’s older brother had left the Maple Street residence before his sister after the two had a dispute over the bike Lindsey had borrowed from him that day – a common occurrence between frequently squabbling siblings, Scott added.
Kempen said her daughter Michaela had spent Friday with Lindsey and a group of other girls, swimming at a friend’s pool before they returned to the home on Maple Street. Kempen said her daughter and Lindsey were “almost inseparable” and loved to spend time together talking about “10-year-old girl stuff, boys and music, school occasionally.”
Linda Cunningham, owner of McCleary Video, said she remembers Lindsey coming into her store with a group of friends to rent movies around 8:15 Friday night. “They were all laughing and joking and having a good time.”
WHAT’S NEXT
Sgt. Jim Dunn of the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said Monday afternoon that there are still bodies of water that the dive team has not checked, including swamps southwest of town.
Scott said investigators can’t rule out the possibility that Baum was abducted, or that she may have simply run off. He said investigators are desperately trying to find information that can narrow their search. “We don’t have a most-likely scenario at this point,” he said.
SEARCH SO FAR
Scott said investigators are still following up by interviewing not only sex offenders who live in town, but transient sex offenders and offenders who have connections to McCleary. So far none of those interviews has yielded any concrete leads, he said.
Investigators have taken Lindsey’s computer into evidence, Scott added. Police have checked her MySpace page and the phone numbers she dialed and received on her cell phone without finding any new leads, he said.
A search of Lindsey’s MySpace page showed only the typical postings of a 10-year-old girl, things that showed her affinity for the movie “Twilight,” Scott said.
Scott said detectives have contacted Lindsey’s father in Tennesee, and there are no custodial issues between him and Lindsey’s mother, Melissa Baum. There is no reason to believe he had anything to do with Lindsey’s disappearance, Scott said.
Police did not issue an Amber Alert for Lindsey after her mother reported her missing at 10:50 p.m. Friday, Scott said. Scott said an Amber Alert wasn’t issued because police had – and still have – no evidence that she was abducted.
The search for Lindsey continues today, Scott said. “We’ve been working everybody until the early evenings to the point of exhaustion,” Scott added.
Scott said “there hasn’t been a case like this for years anywhere in the county.”
Photos: Massive search continues for missing McCleary girl
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/v-standalone/story/896613.html
Article:
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/896613.html
:angel:
Red by me.
She was seen at 8:15 pm with a group of girls in a video store, renting movies. I guess they decided to not watch the movies they rented?
Her brother left their home before her, but not before a dispute over her using his bike. What time of day was that, because
K. Kempen says she spent Friday, one would assume the day, not the afternoon, or evening, since it says "Friday" with her daughter and a group of girls.
So what time did she leave home to spend the day with her friends?
Why did they rent movies that they weren't going to watch?
When did she allegedly borrow the bike that day, and get back home, to argue with her brother about her taking it?
Why did her mother wait until 10:50 to call 911?
Last seen at 9:15 pm.
Was she expected to be home before dark?
Did she have to check in, or keep her mom informed of her whereabouts, at all, ever?
When was the last time her mom saw or heard from her?
That's all the questions I have for now.
as always, moo.
ETA; um, yeah, no Amber Alert b/c no evidence of an abduction?
um, let's see, no one has seen her, and she hasn't been heard from, and she hasn't been found.
Dogs couldn't get a scent of her, anywhere?
I think there is every evidence of an abduction.
It's the most logical scenario, even if it was not a stranger. She didn't just walk off into the sunset folks. good grief, gmab. Let's have some common sense here, LE.
