Lindsey Baum, Still Missing

I check for news of her every Friday.  There is no news.  I last posted about missing child Lindsey Baum in October, 2011.

That there is no definitive news does not mean that no work is being done on the case.  In mid-February, Grays Harbor County authorities turned up the heat on a man who has long been a "person of interest" in her disappearance.  His identity is well-known, and easily discoverable, if you are intent on knowing.  I am not giving his name because, in the course of some energetic online amateur sleuthing of Lindsey's case, there have been occasional episodes of maliciousness against people whom authorities have questioned, and even against people with no connection to the case at all (except "psychic" ones).

Someone once suggested a local Youth Minister as a suspect, because he tended to be surrounded by... youth -- and published not just his name and place of employment, but a map to his home.  Someone else, who continues to wield a weird influence, dreamed the initials of an area park ranger and then damned him with the discovery that he owned a... boat.  Do you see the weirdness that can ensue?

In any event, the current real focus is on one individual, whose home and business have both been searched, and who has been interviewed several times.  Caught in a lie, he seems to be the only suspect yet identified, though there still has been no forensic evidence produced beyond the video debunking his alibi.

In a search warrant, police note over 100 items were taken from the McCleary man who owns a jewelry store in the area. The items were taken from his car, home and business and include, according to KIROTV.com:


Apparent fingernail from passenger side of car
Ropes and straps
Numerous computers and computer storage devices
Pink sheet with unknown stains
Brown duffle bag with assumed human hair
Handwritten notes regarding missing child


Just last week, authorities released convenience store footage showing the person of interest. They note that he told police he was out of town when Lindsey vanished, however, the video of him at the store proves he was actually in the area at the time.

From YouTube comment section:

The Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Department has identified two women seen in a grocery store video from the night that Lindsey Baum disappeared.  County Undersheriff Rick Scott said his agency has been able to find the two sisters, who are local to McCleary, and will interview them soon. The video clip, from Mike’s Market in McCleary on June 26, 2009, was withheld at the request of the FBI until now.
kbkwnews [posted 1 month ago]

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Around 9:15 pm on June 26, 2009 Lindsey J. Baum, an 11-year old from the tiny town of McCleary, Washington, disappeared while walking from a friend's house to her home, only four short blocks away.

She's now 14.  Her birthday is coming up on July 7.

The physical changes a young girl experiences in that particular span of ages are sure to have greatly altered her appearance.

It feels foolish to continue noting that, on June 26, 2009, Lindsey was 4-foot 9-inches tall, weighed 80 pounds, her brown hair and brown eyes offset by a hooded pullover.

Still, there are things about the face that never change. Those eyes, that mouth, the smile. Face shape, feature spacing and scale. Age-invariant characteristics. Forensic artists (and the software they use) factor in the ways a person has changed in the past, even as short a past as Lindsey's, and how relatives have aged, as well as extrapolations based on large amounts of data from the wider population.

It is reported that Lindsey has a scar over her left eye, a dark brown birthmark on her right wrist and colored fillings in some of her teeth.

But she's doubtless no longer 4'9" and not likely to still weigh 80 pounds. Fourteen to fifteen year old girls average 63-64 inches in height and 105-115 pounds in weight. Of course, her numbers at age 10 were already higher in each category than the average.

That summer evening two years ago, Lindsey had just argued with her brother, but most everyone notes that she wasn't storming off mad. She didn't have the accoutrements you think required of a modern 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 lived in Tennessee. He was deployed to Iraq not long after she went missing.  Her mother and brother no longer live in McCleary.  Life for them has been hard and cruel.

The last time I checked, a reward of $30,000 is being offered by Crimestoppers and the National

Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 

There have been many searches, search warrants, several people of interest -- but no signs of Lindsey, and no real clues or advances in the case.  Still, we all still shake our heads and mutter that someone, somewhere, knows something.  What will it take for that someone to tell that something, and will it bring the child home?

If you have any information regarding Lindsey Baum,

please call the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office

at 866-915-8299 [Tip Hotline].

NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN

1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)

McCleary Police Department (Washington) 1-360-533-8765

Or simply call 911.