She just had an argument with her brother, but most everyone notes that she wasn't storming off mad. She didn't have the accoutrements you'd think of when thinking of a runaway -- no money, no cell phone, no change of clothes.
Some friends set out with her, so she was accompanied for a while before they peeled off to go to their own homes for dinner, or homework, a bath or shower, whatever.
Two of those four blocks are reported to be somewhat industrial -- though we are talking *rural* small town. One block away is access to a major highway.
As any child would be, Lindsey was troubled by her parents' recent divorce. Her father lives in Tennessee. This detail is the one I have to shrug off -- in my family, similar circumstances played a role in my eldest brother's decision to run away. But he was a savvy teenager, a world traveler; Lindsey just turned 11 (a grand birthday celebration surely awaits her), and only knows McCleary.
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
McCleary Police Department (Washington) 1-360-533-8765
I learned about her over at Dr. SecretWave101's blog. He notes what many of us have seen in our own communities: How legwork and media savvy are manditory to keep the faces and stories of our stolen children front and center in the public's view.
Here is a snapshot of additional information about Lindsey Baum's disappearance, obtained at Scared Monkey's Missing Persons Site:
4-foot 9-inches tall
80 pounds
brown hair
brown eyes
Melissa Baum, the girl's mother, said Lindsey wasn’t angry [that] Friday night, and left without money, a change of clothes or her cellphone. Police have searched for the girl in the homes of her friends, in case she had been “hiding out.”
“She wouldn’t have run away,” Baum said, her voice hoarse. “If she had been hiding she would have come out by now. She can’t hide that long, she loves to talk.”
Lindsey Baum just celebrated her 11th birthday but she is still missing, and the investigation is taking a turn for the worst. Gray’s Harbor County cannot afford to continue the search... at the level of investigation it was at when Lindsey first went missing...Scott Baum, father of Lindsey who flew to Gray’s Harbour last week from Tennessee, where he lives, pleaded on Monday with the public to help bring his little girl home. Scott can only be in Gray’s Harbour for a short time to help in finding Lindsey; scheduled for deployment to Iraq next week, he may be facing the fight to gain peace in Iraq while he suffers no peace in his heart knowing his daughter is missing without a trace back home in the U.S.
The police believe Lindsey’s abduction is from someone she may have known over a stranger just passing by.
Police: Is Tumwater luring linked to McCleary case?
TUMWATER, Wash. - Police are investigating whether the attempted abduction of a girl in Tumwater on Wednesday is linked to last month's highly publicized disappearance of 11-year-old Lindsey Baum in McCleary.
Officials say three men tried to kidnap the 14-year-old girl in broad daylight on Wednesday as she was walking along a busy street, but the girl was able to escape by running away.
The close call left the girl very shaken, and now detectives are comparing the similarities between her experience and Lindsey Baum's unexplained disappearance June 26 in McCleary, about 22 miles away.
"We investigate because child lurings aren't as common as most crimes, and when you have two communities that are so close together and the circumstances where obviously it occurred in public areas. And the girls are approximately the same age," says Detective Jen Kolb of the Tumwater Police Department.
The Tumwater girl, whose name is being withheld, says she was walking along Capitol Boulevard to her mother's place of work when the three men jumped out of a black pickup.
They were yelling, "Hey, pretty lady, how are you?" then came after her, she says.
The girl started running, and the men chased after her. But soon after they gave up the chase, ran back to the pickup and drove off.
The experience left the girl scared, alone and distraught. So she ran to her mother's place of work and breathlessly told her what had happened.
"She was very scared, shaken - didn't know what to think or what to do," says her mother.
The girl now says she believes the men wanted to hurt her.
"In a way, yeah. ... Just the way they were talking to me and trying to come to me," she says.
Kolb said she finds the case "very disturbing" and is struck by the parallels to the disappearance of Lindsey Baum.
Investigators want anyone with information to call the Tumwater Police Department at (360) 754-4200.
-- 7/17/2009
No comments:
Post a Comment
The Haddock Corporation's newest dictate: Anonymous comments are no longer allowed. It is easy enough to register and just takes a moment. We look forward to hearing from you non-bots and non-spammers!