LINDSEY J BAUM - 10 yo (2009) - McCleary WA

MCCLEARY, Wash. -- The massive ground search for the missing
10-year-old girl was scaled back on Wednesday as investigators turned
the focus of their work from searching to following up on tips they've
received.

On Wednesday a second person came forward to report
having seen Lindsey Baum on Friday night as she walked home along Maple
Street from a friend's house.

Experts with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children say if the girl was abducted, it
most likely wasn't by a stranger who was hiding in the bushes.

"From what knowledge we have and the information that I have that it's
someone that she possibly knows, somebody that is in the area," said
Henry Schmidt with the organization.

The FBI now wants neighbors to think about anyone who may have been in the area Friday
night. They also want to hear about anyone suddenly engaging in strange
behavior, such as not showing up for work, selling their car for no
reason or changing their appearance.

"We're certainly not looking for a witch hunt or anything of that sort, but the bottom line
is we have a missing girl. And so anyone who is in this area is going
to be someone we want to talk to," said Ron Twersky, FBI assistant
special agent in charge.

The missing girl's mother, who wanted avoid becoming the center of the investigation, voluntarily took a
polygraph test. The father of the girl's best friend, Scott Williams,
also volunteered to take the test.

"At their requests polygraphs were given to them. They passed those polygraphs. We're
comfortable with the information they've shared with us and comfortable
with the timeline they've explained," said Grays Harbor County
Undersheriff Rick Scott.

Lindsey Baum is 4 foot-9, 80 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, last seen wearing a light blue hooded
pullover shirt and blue jeans.

MCCLEARY - The town of McCleary in Grays Harbor County isn't giving up
hope, but law enforcement officials have suspended their search and
rescue efforts for 10-year-old Lindsey Baum.

While the investigation continues, crews have stopped combing the area
for the girl. Search dogs, ATVs, helicopters and planes will no longer
be utilized.

Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott told Q13 FOX News that
crews have thoroughly searched the area around McCleary. Now, this case
is shifting into more of an investigation, with 30 officers trying to
develop new leads.

Authorities say, by now, it's very unlikely that Baum has run away from home and it's possible that someone has kidnapped her.

Scott spoke about his department has uncovered so far, and what it means about the future of the investigation.

"It suggests that she's been removed from this immediate environment,"
Scott said. "But we don't have the evidence to support that theory, so
we have to continue to be as comprehensive as we were from day one."

Baum vanished Friday night while walking home from her friend's house.

On Wednesday, volunteers continued to hand-out flyers to people driving
through town, while search crews went door to door looking for clues
with their dogs and several police agencies including the FBI checked
on sex offenders and followed-up on tips from the community.

Ronald Twersky, the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of FBI Seattle
says, "Obviously we're concerned with the time that's passed, but we're
looking at this to locate Lindsey and that's the approach we have going
forward."

Twersky says they have more than a dozen agents working on the case in
rotating shifts, including agents with their child abduction response
team. They're talking to neighbors, relatives and anyone who was in the
area when Lindsey disappeared.

Investigators say if you saw anything unusual Friday night in McCleary,
or have noticed a change in someone's behavior, contact the police.

Meanwhile, parents in the area are keeping a close eye on their kids.

McCleary parent Charlie Packard says Lindsey's disappearance is scary
for parents. He's lived here his whole life and has never heard of
anything like this happening before.

Packard has two young sons and is keeping them at his side. One of
their 7-year-old friends says she's staying safe by not running around
the neighborhood anymore. She's also keeping an eye on her friends.

Search crews and dogs continued to comb the
streets of McCleary and nearby woods Wednesday looking for 10-year-old
Lindsey Baum, but authorities have started to shift toward an abduction
investigation as the hunt entered its sixth day.

“We are starting to look at this as more of a criminal investigation,” Grays
Harbor Undersheriff Rick Scott said. “The possibility that someone has
facilitated her disappearance is becoming greater as the hours tick on.”

Baum disappeared late Friday while walking home from a friend’s house. No
evidence of her whereabouts has turned up despite confirmed sightings
of her just blocks from home shortly after 9 p.m.

Scott said the large search effort from the weekend has been scaled down from dozens
spread throughout the surrounding areas to a group of about 20
specialized searchers targeting specific areas.

“We’ve found no evidence of her being here,” he said. “We’ve found no evidence of her disappearance.”

Local authorities, with support from the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
have stepped up inquiries into people that may have known Baum or lived
nearby.

Ron Twersky, assistant special agent in charge from the
Seattle FBI field office, said people should report strange behavior or
“just anything that doesn’t seem right.”

“The bottom line is we have a missing girl,” Twersky told reporters Wednesday, emphasizing
investigators are examining all leads.

Scott said people should watch for any
unusual social behavior, ranging from increased alcohol use and smoking
to anyone who suddenly wants to leave the area or sell their car.
McCleary residents should report any suspicions to authorities.

“They may have an association with someone who knows something,” he said, “so
if they suspect that, please be the person who has the courage to come
forward.”

Scott said that from the beginning, investigators have
explored the possibility of family members or friends being involved.
Baum’s mother and the stepfather of the young girl Baum had been
visiting just before she disappeared have both taken voluntary
polygraph tests to aid the investigation.

“They asked to be polygraphed so that we would be comfortable with what we were being
told and we could move on to other things,” Scott said. “They did not
want us to be wasting valuable time.”

Scott said he was “comfortable” with their answers.

Throughout the search, investigators have spoken with Baum’s father, who lives in
Tennessee, Scott said. The father has now booked a flight to Washington
for this weekend.

Scott said authorities have run into several
dead ends with almost no signs of the 4-foot-9, brown-haired girl, who
was last spotted wearing a blue pullover shirt and blue jeans.

“I don’t know anything more than I knew Saturday afternoon,” he said, “but I’m not willing to admit that I know anything less.”

Scott said bloodhounds traced the route Lindsey took early on from the
friend’s house to her own home, but didn’t find any scent. And in
places where Lindsey once played — parks and by the creek — Lindsey’s
scent has been vanishing.

The loss of scent could be a combination of factors — the heat on the sidewalk could have dissipated it for instance, he said.

Scott said a second person came forward Tuesday with a confirmed sighting of
Baum from Friday night in the same area along Maple Street near Fifth
Street.

Twersky said the FBI has more than a dozen agents in
McCleary assisting with the investigation, including specialists from
the regional Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team. Behavioral
profilers have also offered input on any potential kidnappers.

“Because this is a missing child, we’ll take any advice we can,” he said.

Twersky refused to speculate on any statistics or chances of locating the girl.
He again asked people to report any suspicious behavior, but warned
against starting a “witch hunt.”

Few new details were available
this morning. Sheriff Mike Whelan and Scott spoke on the “Live at Nine”
radio show on KXRO early today in further attempts to get information
out to surrounding communities.

“It’s more likely at this point that she’s been abducted than anything else,” Whelan said on the show.
“There are so many variables, so many things that might have happened
to this child. We really, at this point, don’t know if she went
willingly or unwillingly.”

After five days of searching under a hot sun, the group of volunteers and officers was noticeably smaller
Wednesday afternoon as they continued to rally at the command center
outside McCleary City Hall.

Search dogs rested in the shade. Smaller teams came and went. No planes flew overhead.

Scott said the search would have to continue to expand beyond the city
limits, targeting logging roads or other remote areas farther afield.
But he vowed it would go on as long as necessary.

“We’re going to bring Lindsey home,” he said. “We will find her. If I have to knock
on every door in Grays Harbor County to do that, I will.”

MCCLEARY -

Nearly a week after her disappearance, there's still no sign of missing 10-year old Lindsey Baum.

Detectives say they're now taking a closer look at her computer and how she may have used the Internet before she vanished.

No one has seen Lindsey since last Friday night when she left a friend's house in McCleary to walk home.

Today local residents handed out more flyers with Lindsey's picture.

One local family who hasn't given up is selling cupcakes to raise money for Lindsey's family.

Loretta McCarty says she's doing it because she loves Lindsey and wanted to do something to help.

"Anything that'll help," said McCarty. "Anything."

Others in the close-knit community of McCleary continued passing out flyers with Lindsey's picture to passing motorists.

Duane Norris says he'll stay on the streets handing out the flyers until Lindsey is found or until someone tells him to stop.

"I don't know if more tips are coming in or not," Norris said. "But you know, all it takes is the right one."

"We're going to continue to have cops on the street through the
weekend," says Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott, "through
the holiday, interviewing people and doing what we have to do."

Scott says even though a physical search has been called off in
McCleary, an intense investigation will continue into the girl's
disappearance.

"We're taking police officers and putting them on the street to follow up on the stack of tips we've received," said Scott.

Authorities expect Lindsey's father to arrive in town Thursday night or
Friday. He's in the military service, stationed in Tennessee. Police
hope he may be able to share new information with them to help them
solve the disappearance.

We're looking at what's being said on the Internet. Looking at some of
the communication that's being done in the community. The people that
live here, the friends, the family, the neighbors, are the people that
know this community better than you, than I, than any of the officers
working it," said Scott. "So it's talking to them and hopefully
prompting someone's memory and dragging out that seemingly meaningless
piece of information that they have that's going to unravel this
mystery."

McCLEARY — Kara
Kampen said she thought nothing of it when Lindsey Baum walked out of
her house at about 9:15 p.m. last Friday. Little McCleary was such a
homey place, such a safe place, that the idea that anything could
happen to her was completely ridiculous.

But Lindsey, 10, never made it back from Kampen’s home on Maple Street. Somewhere along the four blocks home, she vanished.

And with her, so went the small town’s sense of security.

“I don’t let my kids walk around outside anymore in the evening,” Kampen said. Only in the daytime, and never alone.

Kampen said this as she sold cupcakes across the street from Beerbower Park, raising money to help the Baum family.

“I couldn’t not do something,” she said. “They need the help. It’s hard to
go to work when the police are telling you to stay at home all day.”

Kampen said she draws strength from Melissa Baum, Lindsey’s mother.

“She’s so hopeful, it’s an inspiration to me,” Kampen said. “Because of her, I
truly believe Lindsey is alive, and just waiting to be found.”
Kampen moved to town in January from Arizona, and practically from the moment
her daughter Michaela met Lindsey, they were fast friends. Brassy,
sassy girls with big senses of humor, the two were practically
“attached at the hip,” Kampen said.

In Arizona, no one let their kids outdoors, Kampen said. There was too much bad news. It was one of
the reasons she moved to McCleary, for its wholesome atmosphere. It was
a place where kids could be kids, she said.

“You just don’t see kids out here anymore, when it’s still bright,” Kampen said. “You see
some of the older ones, or a few on bikes, but it’s not at all like it
used to be.

“It definitely doesn’t have the same feeling,” she said of the small town, population 1,500.

While McClearyites are grieving over the loss of Lindsey Baum, they still
hold out hope that she will return. But the sense of ease and trust
that pervaded the small town is now shot, neighbors say.

“Children used to walk around town all the time,” said Julie Colbert, a lifelong
McCleary resident out handing fliers to passing drivers in a bright
yellow shirt with Lindsey Baum’s image on it.

Colbert pointed to Beerbower Park. On a brilliant, sunny day, with its field and
playground, the few who were there were all adults.

“Look at the park, it’s empty! It was never empty like that before,” Colbert said,
on the verge of tears. “It would be full. So would the sidewalks, with
kids all getting together.”

What makes Baum’s disappearance even worse for McCleary residents is the speculation that she was abducted by someone she knew. No one heard her cry out, nor is there any
physical evidence, like a dropped shoe, to show that she struggled,
they say.

“I can’t believe something like this happened in a
small town like this,” said Tim Kuhn, who lives in McCleary and has
roots in the small town. “This has changed everything about the town.”

Kuhn said he hadn’t seen such a change in the town since the Bassett
murders. In August of 1995, Brian Bassett was convicted of murdering
his mother, father and little brother and sentenced to three life
terms. He was 16 at the time of the murders. A then-17-year-old friend
who participated in the killings, Nicholaus McDonald, was convicted on
two murder counts.

Those murders shook the community, Kuhn said, but did not rob it of its sense of neighborliness in nearly the same way.

Kampen said there are still the vestiges of the old community she knew. She
went to the candlelight vigil at Beerbower Park on Tuesday night.

“I was really, really surprised. I expected to just see some people in the field, and there were hundreds,” Kampen said.

Undersheriff Rick Scott of the Grays Harbor Sheriffs Office said not every last drop
of community spirit had dropped off. Local restaurants were sending
food to searchers, and the Beehive, a retirement community, had cooked
and delivered a big dinner to the McCleary Police Department. Plus, he
added, there were tons of volunteers helping to look for the little
girl.

“We appreciate the help a lot,” Scott said.

Finding Baum has been complicated by a complete lack of physical evidence, Scott said.

“It’s like she vanished into thin air,” he said. “Gone without a trace.”

Interviews with neighbors have turned up few leads, he added, and although Baum’s
computer has been sent in for forensic testing, there is no guarantee
that it will give detectives any information to help them find her.

Scott said law enforcement will step up its search to find her Friday night,
blanketing the small town to ask drivers, who may have been driving the
route Lindsey Baum walked as part of their weekly routine, if they saw
anything.

“We only get this opportunity once a week,” Scott said.

The Fourth of July holiday will force the Sheriff’s Office to spread out, though.

“We’ve got half the state at the beach,” Scott said.

In the meantime, the information vacuum has given rise to rumors, spread
both by word of mouth and the Internet, and Scott asked that anyone who
hears anything check their sources before spreading it around.

“It’s rough on the family to get some of the phone calls they’ve been getting,” Scott said.

Indeed, Kampen agreed that everyone who was with Lindsey the night she
disappeared has already been through enough that they don’t need false
information or criticism. Calling herself a glutton for punishment,
Kampen has been on the Internet, in the chat rooms, where she said she
has read plenty of jeremiads about her and her friends’ parenting
skills.

Anything other people say, Kampen said, she and Melissa Baum have already felt.

“You can’t imagine the guilt,” Kampen said.

Kampen said she has replayed that Friday evening in her head over and over. So
has her daughter, Michaela, 10, who spent the day swimming with
Lindsey. They walked together with Josh Baum, 13, to the Kampen house.
But halfway there, Michaela said they teased Josh, getting under his
skin enough so he turned around and couldn’t walk back with Lindsey.
That’s something he now regrets deeply, Kampen said.

“People are saying, ‘How could they let that girl walk by herself?’ ” Kampen said.
“It was still bright out. And this isn’t a dangerous place. This is
McCleary.”

Kampen sighed.

MCCLEARY, Wash. - Exactly one week after a 10-year-old girl vanished in
this small Western Washington mill town, detectives are out in force
trying to find leads to help solve her disappearance.

Lindsey Baum was last seen between 9 and 10 p.m. on Friday, June 26, as she
walked home from a friend's home who lives about four or five blocks
away.

An intense ground and aerial search carried out over the
following days failed to turn up any clues, and searchers scaled back
their efforts Thursday.

But now Lindsey's disappearance is being
publicized in a new way, as folks hand out fliers to people driving
through town in hopes of finding the missing girl.

One of those taking part in the latest effort is Duane Norris, who is doing what he
can to keep Lindsey's picture out there and to keep the search alive.

"The thing about it is, all it takes is one tip," he says.

Lindsey was last seen at the corner of 6th and Maple heading home from her friend's house at about 9:15 p.m last Friday.

Detectives will be out in force at that same day and time this week to see who's
around - and who may have been passing through town last Friday night.

They're willing to do anything to help kick loose a lead.

Fonda Voss is making sure visitors to nearby Straddleline ORV park are being
reminded about Lindsey's disappearance. It's a big travel destination
and one of the entrances to the Capitol Forest.

"The trails are very big. The Capitol Forest is 80,000 acres. Just keeping people aware
when they're out on the trail to just keep their eyes open. It's a big
area out there," she says.

At the request of the FBI, Clear Channel Communications also has agreed to put an alert about Lindsey up
on their brand new digital billboards through the Kent Valley.

On Friday, Lola Kling of Kent passed through McCleary.

"I am so happy about that," she said of the new digital bulletins. "I'm really hoping that we can find this little girl."

Detectives are asking anyone to report if they've seen anything suspicious, if
they've seen the little missing girl or anything out of the ordinary.
They want to bring Lindsey home on the one-week anniversary of her
disappearance.

A tipline has been set up at (866) 915-8299.

Meanwhile, FBI agents will be working through the holiday weekend, following up on dozens of tips that continue to come in.

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

MCCLEARY, Wash. -- Scott Baum is up against a heart-rending deadline.
He is getting ready to deploy to Iraq as he anxiously awaits word on
his 10-year-old daughter, who disappeared more than a week ago while
walking home from her friend's house. Baum, who lives in Tennessee, arrived in McCleary over the weekend with
his heart in a knot. The father said he had to get clearance from his
military superiors before making the trip.
On Monday the troubled father pleaded for his daughter's safe return.
"Why I'm here today is to appeal to everybody out there watching to
please bring my daughter home," Baum said on Monday. "I'm fixin' to
deploy to Iraq and tomorrow is her birthday. I would love nothing more
than to see my daughter before I have to go."
Baum hadn't seen his daughter, Lindsey Baum, in a year. He and
her mother divorced three years ago. He stayed in Tennessee and his
ex-wife moved to Washington with their daughter. Investigators do not suspect Scott Baum in the case.
"No, the only possibility that we were considering at any time was
perhaps that Lindsey, missing her father, had tried to go to him in
Tennessee," said Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott. The missing girl set out to walk the ten blocks to her home from a
friend's house, which is roughly a 10-minute walk, on the night of June
26. But something happened in that short distance, and she never
arrived home.
Witnesses reported having seen the girl that night as she walked home along Maple Street.
On Monday nearly 60 searchers - the largest number of ground
searchers to date - searched a nearby off-road vehicle park, as well as
the hills beyond them. And the search hasn't been easy. The Capitol Forest is 80,000 acres of
steep hillsides, miles of rugged terrain and countless roadways. A change in the weather on Monday gave the search teams a second wind.
The cooler temperatures also helped the dog teams pick up scents. As the dozens of searchers spread out, Lindsey Baum's family sat and waited, anxious for any word.
"So please, if you know anything, contact the hotlines.Contact any 911
centers," said Scott Baum. "But please bring me my daughter home before
I have to leave."

MCCLEARY -

The father of the missing McCleary girl Lindsey Baum is speaking out and asking for help.

Lindsey disappeared 10-days ago while walking home from a friend's house.

Her dad Scott Baum lives in Tennessee and is in the National Guard. He
flew out here to plead for help from the public to find his little girl
who turns 11-years-old tomorrow.

Scott Baum says, "Please bring my daughter home. I'm fixing to deploy
to Iraq and tomorrow is her birthday and I would love nothing more than
to see my daughter before I have to go."

Lindsey's mom Melissa says, "I just want my baby back. That's all I
want is for her to come home and I want her to be here for her 11th
birthday."

Melissa planned to take Lindsey to the new Harry Potter movie for her birthday and get her a digital camera.

Meanwhile, today dozens of searchers including dogs continued to look
for Lindsey. They focused on a nearby ORV park now that holiday
travelers have left. The park, which is a few miles east of McCleary,
also provides more parking for search & rescue vehicles.

McCLEARY -- Lindsey Baum's 11th birthday came and went, but the girl has yet to come home.
Police hoped to find the missing girl by her special day - Tuesday - but they have not found any sign of her.
With little to go on, investigators said dozens of people have been
taken off the search. Detectives are now waiting for a tip that will
send them in the right direction.
At the height of the search, 75 members of the search and rescue
team, as well as up to 35 officers and countless volunteers were
scouring Grays Harbor County for the girl, who disappeared while
walking home last month.
Their latest focus were the hills above an off-road vehicle park. Nothing was found.
Without solid tips, the county can't afford to keep the
investigation moving at the same pace. The search and rescue team has
been dismissed, and the number of officers have been reduced to 12.
But investigators say they're not giving up. They're waiting for the call that will break the case open.
"We're trying to keep her pictures and her face in the minds of as
many people as possible, hoping that someone will see her or know
something or it will jog their memory or provide the information we're
desperately seeking," said Undersheriff Rick Scott.
The undersheriff says tips are trickling in, and none has led to evidence explaining Lindsay Baum's disappearance.
Scott, who spoke with the Baum family on Wednesday, said family
members are convinced their little girl will be brought home safely.
On Monday the missing girl's father pleaded with the public to help find his little girl before he's deployed to Iraq.
"But please bring me my daughter home before I have to leave," he said.
Scott Baum is expected to fly out next week.
Anyone with information on Lindsey Baum's disappearance is urged to call (866) 915-8299 immediately.

With the town of McCleary shaken by the recent disappearance of
11-year-old Lindsey Baum, authorities hope to take advantage of this
weekend’s Bear Festival to spread information and solicit new tips,
according to The Daily World of Aberdeen. Grays Harbor
Undersheriff Rick Scott said the command center will pull out of town
to make room for the festival, but extra officers and deputies in
uniform will be present to talk to the public.“We just want to be here and do what we can to talk to folks,” Scott said.Baum
disappeared June 26 from a McCleary street blocks from her home. She
had been walking back from a friend’s house. Investigators have yet to
find any evidence explaining her disappearance.

MCCLEARY, Wash. - A little girl who vanished without a trace more than
two weeks ago missed her 11th birthday this week - still with no sign
of her.
The town where she lives celebrated its annual Bear Festival on Saturday - but it wasn't the same as in previous years.

Lindsey Baum is shown in a newly released photo.

Yes, there was a parade, and floats, and music - and flags waving. But
there were also volunteers passing out flyers of the missing girl's
photo."It's just getting harder and harder. I think every day that goes by,
everybody just gets a little more upset," said Kim Paull, Lindsey's
aunt.
John Munson of Olympia, who was there for the festival, agreed.
"It's just totally different, the atmosphere, it's just really something. It makes you want to cry," he said.
He and other visitors grabbed flyers from volunteers. "I'm gonna post them in Tumwater, Olympia and the Lacey area," he says.That's exactly what McCleary police, the FBI and the Grays Harbor
County Sheriff's Office want. Law enforcement personnel took advantage
of the influx of visitors to familiarize people with Lindsey's plight."To get the word out. More people here, more people see the flyer, more
people are aware of our situation here in McCleary," says the town's
police chief, George Crumb.
Law enforcement was very visible on Saturday, hoping townspeople will talk to them about anything unusual.Police also released new photos of Lindsey that were taken at a "Shop
with a Cop" event last winter. They show a girl having a good time,
with $100 to spend.
Her mother and this town still hold out hope, as exemplified on a sign at a local store that says simply "Hope & Pray.""I feel her in my heart. And I know the statistics, but I know she's
out there, and I know she's alive. And I want to her to know ... that
I'm never going to stop looking for you," says Lindsey's mother,
Melissa Baum.