^LINDSEY J BAUM - 10 yo - McCleary WA

A candlelight vigil is being planned for September 26th 2009. This date
will mark 3 months that our innocent angel Lindsey Baum has been
missing. Please check back for more details on the time and location
that the vigil will be held.

Don't forget to mark this date on
your calendar. Please join us, show your support and lets help light
the way home for Lindsey Baum!!!
UPDATED!! Visit Our - FIND LINDSEY BAUM - BLOG for more information you can also access read the most recent posts regarding the search center here.

Investigators
will be out again Saturday searching for clues in the disappearance of
11-year-old Lindsey Baum – three months to the day she vanished while
walking home from a friend's house. Friday morning, Grays
Harbor Sheriff's Office investigators, along with FBI agents and
members of the King County Sheriff's Office, began serving search
warrants in and around the McCleary area. The warrants allow
investigators a chance to thoroughly search private properties. A Grays Harbor Sheriff's Office spokesperson said the search warrants
were a result of their "continuing investigation." Detectives said they
had "credible information" to conduct the searches.
"They [the
serving of the search warrants] started this morning and will continue
through the weekend," said Grays Harbor County Sgt. Steve Shumate. Investigators would not say where the locations were or if anyone was
specifically being investigated as a suspect in Baum's disappearance. Approximately 50 searchers will be working through the weekend. Detectives informed Lindsey's mother, Melissa Baum about the search, but didn't give her a lot of specifics.
"I'm glad
they're out there, but it's frustrating," said Melissa. "This has been
the longest and most frustrating three months of my life." Melissa is convinced her daughter is still alive has a message for whoever may have taken Lindsey. "Everybody has a soul and how can you live with yourself if you know
something that's keeping a little girl from her family," said Melissa. Melissa's Friday ended with emptiness with no fresh news about her daughter. "I don't let myself think about what's probably going on. I'll deal
with that when she's home. I just need to get her home," said Melissa.
Yet, despite her longing for news, Melissa admits she's
glad forensics officers reported nothing to her Friday. She knows the
type of news those investigators in sterile suits would bring could
only be devastating. Lindsey was walking home June 26
from Michaela Kampen's house when she disappeared. Michaela has started
a new school year surrounded by classmates' questions. "A
lot of kids at school talk to me about Lindsey, saying 'Weren't you
Lindsey's best friend?' and 'Do they have any leads on Lindsey?'" said
Michaela. The family is working with community members to organize a candlelight vigil 8 p.m. Saturday. "If she's home by then, it will be a celebration," said Melissa.

Sheriff's deputies and FBI agents reported no breakthroughs Saturday in
the second day of a search for clues into the mysterious disappearance
of an 11-year-old McCleary girl.

Officials executed search warrants Friday at two rural properties near the small town where
Lindsey Baum vanished June 26 while walking home from a friend's home.
The agents continued their work at both properties on Saturday.

But as Lindsey's mother, Melissa, and other local residents waited eagerly
for any news, there was no indication that the searches had turned up
any evidence that could help find Lindsey or explain her disappearance.

It's been exactly three months since Lindsey went missing - an entire season has passed.

Yet a dark cloud still hangs over the town of McCleary even on a beautiful, warm fall day.

Flyers and posters with her picture on it remain plastered all over town.
Marquee boards at the school still have a reminder that Lindsey is not
forgotten.

And about a mile and a half southwest of McCleary there is now a law enforcement checkpoint, where only residents can get by.

It is down this road that local and federal agents served a search warrant
at a home and a nearby property on Friday, beginning an exhaustive
investigation at both locations.

A team from the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Department, the King County Sheriff's Department and
the FBI has set up a mobile command post, as they comb through the
house, land and even cars for potential evidence.

Officials say tips by citizens - deemed "credible information" - led them to the 11-acre property nestled in the woods.

The owners are said to be cooperating with investigators. But no one's been
arrested, and there's currently no "person of interest."

The renewed police activity this weekend in relation to Lindsey's
disappearance has residents in this small town wondering if answers
will soon emerge.

"I have kids and grandkids myself," says David
Norris, a local resident. "I know it would just tear me up if I had to
wait. I think even though you hate to think of her being out there in
the ground someplace, it would still bring closure."

Lindsey was last seen between 9 and 10 p.m. June 26 when she left her friend's home
on Maple Street, where she had been visiting.

Lindsey was going to walk the four blocks to her home on Mommsen Road, which is roughly a
10-minute walk. But something happened in that short distance - Lindsey
never arrived home.

Next weekend another all-out search is scheduled in the area, with volunteers set to help out Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Investigators have yet to find the “smoking gun” that will lead them to 11-year-old Lindsey Baum, who has
been missing for three months as of Saturday.

The Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office served search warrants on two residences outside the
McCleary city limits Friday and began combing through junk cars and a
number of buildings.

The search on the properties in question intensified Saturday, bumping up the civilian search and rescue experts
and law enforcement personnel from 30 people on Friday to 50 people on
Saturday. Search dogs were also brought.

Chief Criminal Deputy Dave Pimentel said he conducted interviews with a number of people
Friday, but said no suspects or persons of interests have been named
and no arrests have been made.

“So far, we have not found that smoking gun, we have not found anything that would jump out at us, but
without forensic analysis done at the lab, we can’t really say whether
what we’ve found will help our cause or not.”

Three months ago Saturday, Baum disappeared just a few blocks away from her
home near downtown McCleary. Despite two confirmed sightings within
blocks of her house, no trace of her has been found.

Family, friends and community members planned to do a candlelight vigil
Saturday evening at a local church in memory of Baum and the
three-month anniversary of her disappearance.

Pimentel said he couldn’t reveal what led detectives to two isolated locations along
Foreman Road, just outside of McCleary. Deputies were restricting
access to the road and checking licenses to make sure only local
residents could get through a road block. The restrictions are in place
through Sunday.

Detectives combed an abandoned home and an adjoining shed or barn from morning
until night on Friday. The property is on about 11 acres of land,
Pimentel said. On Saturday, Pimentel said detectives brought in search
dogs and search and rescue experts to help comb the surrounding brush,
trees and grasslands.

At a second site, detectives set up a mobile command unit from the King County Sheriff’s Office near dozens
of junk cars and debris at a second residence along Foreman Road. The
property owners were told to leave the area.

Investigators have been wearing white protective gear during their search of the
buildings. Pimentel says that’s typical when gathering evidence,
although many people link the clothing to potential drug lab
investigations. Pimentel says there was no fear either location housed
a drug or meth lab.

Pimentel noted that although the search warrants are getting a lot of attention, the Sheriff’s Office has
“served dozens of search warrants” during the course of the three-month
investigation.

“This is just one tip we’ve received that we decided to follow up on out of thousands, literally, thousands of
tips,” Pimentel said. “The people we talked to yesterday were among the
hundreds and hundreds of people we’ve talked to, as well.”

Pimentel said the next step is sending the dozens of boxes and bags of evidence
on to the state’s crime lab for forensic analysis.

Melissa Baum, Lindsey’s mother, told KING-TV on Friday that she was glad there was no
fresh news coming to her from the forensic analysis team. She said
that she knows the type of news investigators in sterile suits would
bring could only be devastating.

“I don’t let myself think about what’s probably going on,” the mother told KING. “I’ll deal with
that when she’s home. I just need to get her home.”

McCleary Mayor Wallace Bentley remembers the night Lindsey disappeared like it
was yesterday. The little girl’s route home would have taken her right
past his house. In fact, a confirmed sighting of Lindsey has her
disappearing right outside his home on Maple Street, within view of his
windows.

“I’ve been bending my brain around what happened ever
since,” Bentley said. “I returned home from a retirement party for a
city employee. I was there. I know I saw kids on the street. But did I
see her? I don’t know. I wish I could say I did, but I just don’t know.”

Across the street, William Self, 79, says he was home, too. But he didn’t see
anything either. He says an FBI agent looked through his home and in
his backyard for Lindsey, like they did for practically every neighbor
up and down the six or seven blocks it would have taken Lindsey to go
from her friend’s house back home.

“Kids used to ride their bikes up and down this street all the time,” Self said. “But not so much anymore.”

Bentley noticed that, too.

“I think parents, and really everybody, is being more watchful,” the mayor
said. “I don’t think we’re suspicious, but more observant and careful.
... We’re always looking for news. We just want her to be found.”

Bentley, who has been mayor for three terms and is retiring from his elected
position at the end of the year, says McCleary is a place where
families have felt safe for years. He was a school teacher here before
he retired more than 10 years ago.

Self, who grew up in McCleary and worked at the nearby mill and also as a pastor, said he
used to leave his doors unlocked. Not anymore.

“You can’t risk it,” Self said, watching as neighbors stopped by during a garage sale
his family was doing Saturday. “It’s sad. I wish we could go back to
the way it was.”

Like Lindsey’s friends and loved ones, community members who never even knew her are on pins and needles
waiting to find out where she is.

Bridgett Smith was at McCleary Park Saturday, keeping a close eye on two of her young
children playing on playground equipment. She noted there was a fence
around the playground equipment and only one way in and out. She sat
there — just in case. She has five children, who range in age from 1
years old to 15. Her 15-year-old daughter Brianna Drab sat next to her.

“I don’t think my daughter understood why I was always cautious with her,
why I always wanted her to call whenever she got places before the
disappearance of Lindsey,” Smith said. “Now she does.”

Drab said she and friends were talking about Lindsey during the first few
days of school. She says friends and acquaintances are being monitored
more by their parents than they were before the disappearance.

Other neighborhood kids say Lindsey still dominates the conversation. Because
her disappearance was on the television news again, the youth will
likely be talking about it again on Monday, they said.

“There are a lot of creeps out there,” Drab said. “A lot of parents have become more protective.”

“She asked me once if she disappeared like Lindsey, would I ever stop
looking for her?” Smith said. “I told her I would never give up. Never.
... I can only imagine what’s happening to Lindsey’s mother. I just
hope she gets an answer someday. This is a parent’s worst nightmare.

“When it boils down to it, I go to bed every night without kissing my daughter goodnight and that’s all I want to do.”

After two days of intense searching at a home and property outside
McCleary, investigators said it appears they found no significant
evidence that will help find 11-year-old Lindsey Baum.The owner
of the property has
contacted a lawyer about suing the police and the media saying they had
no right to put the family through the search.Baum’s mother said
she is disappointed that her nothing was found relating to her daughter
who has been missing for three months."I was obviously really hoping something would come from the search," said Melissa Baum.
Law enforcement sources says among the evidence collected during
the search were condoms, pornographic magazines and a car was also
seized and will undergo further forensic testing.The homeowner
at the property said his family has been unfairly targeted in the
search, "They didn't find anything here because we didn't do anything
to that little girl." Relatives confirm a man at the residence
was the focus of the investigation and search. One of his relatives
said, "The only reason they were doing this search is he gave a wrong
answer to a question by a detective on the telephone."
Detectives insisted Monday that they were acting on credible evidence
when they got the search warrant for the property on Friday. Lindsey's mother said she understands the family's frustration, but her daughter's life is at stake."If they end up being completely innocent I'm sorry, but at the same time my daughter is missing," she said.Lindsey disappeared June 26 while walking home from a friend’s house.

Frustration is boiling over in this small Western Washington town where
a weekend search for Lindsay Baum failed to turn up a break in the
case. And a local family says their son, who has received death
threats, has unfairly become the town's scapegoat.

Three months have passed since Lindsay Baum disappeared. The search conducted
last weekend kindled new hope, but also sparked a sense of vigilante
justice.

For two days, sheriff's detectives and FBI agents
swarmed over the 11-acre property of an extended local family just
south of town. Deputies said the search did not turn up any key
evidence linking the place with the girl's disappearance.

"They didn't find a smoking gun. There's nothing to say they didn't find
clues," said Melissa Baum, the missing girl's mother. "I'm hoping they
did find or at least gather some information that may help us find her."

The search may not have turned up any key evidence, but the owners of the
searched property say they're still paying the price. They say the
search left a cloud over their reputation, and has even prompted death
threats against the family's 23-year-old son.

"I didn't even know who they were until Saturday," Melissa Baum said.

The young man was working at the Bee Hive Retirement
Center at the time of the 11-year-old girl's disappearance. The girl
was last seen in front of the center.

The man's family members and his next-door neighbor say he was at home when the girl vanished.

"That's terrible. That's how rumors start. That's how small towns are, though,"
said McCleary resident Mike Stoney. "You can get into a big area and
you probably wouldn't hear anything like you're hearing now. Small
towns are terrible for rumors."

Feeding the rumor mill are blog sites where local residents have engaged in non-stop chatter and
speculations about Lindsay Baum's disappearance.

"I'm sure there's a small percentage in this community that are frustrated, that
want this thing taken care of now and stop all of the melee, so to
speak. But I think for a lot of us in the area here, too, we're just
holding steadfast and hoping for the best," said Steve Saylor, another
McCleary resident.

The sheriff's office will unseal the search
warrants later this week, at which time the contents found during last
week's search will be made public.

As she marked three months since her daughter vanished,
Melissa Baum of McCleary got a disturbing letter from the
state.
She was informed her ex-husband would no longer be required
to pay child support for eleven year old Lindsey, because
her child hadn't been home for three months.
"I still have to maintain a house for her, I still have to
maintain a life for her. This is not a normal case. She is a
child that has been abducted, she's missing." Baum said on
Tuesday.

State child support spokesman Adolpho Capenstany says the
letter sent to Melissa Baum was a form letter that routinely
goes out after 90-days of a child being out of the home and
he admits it should not have been sent in this case. "It's
not a procedure that we would instigate in the manner it
was, and it's also insensitive to a very difficult situation
regarding a missing child." Capenstany said.

- A McCleary homeowner angry over a
search for evidence in a missing girl case has posted a list of items
police took from the home.Police acknowledged that the search
that began Friday found no evidence that will help find 11-year-old
Lindsey Baum, who disappeared June 26 while walking home from a
friend's house.
The homeowner posted the documents on a forum, detailing what police removed from the house and explaining where each item came from.The
documents show police took clothes, film, computer equipment, condoms
and a "bag with green vegetation" that the homeowner described as
"weed."The homeowner said that "they didn't find anything here because we didn't
do anything to that little girl."A relative of the man who was
the focus of the search said that "the only reason they were doing this
search is, he gave a wrong answer to a question by a detective on the
telephone."The homeowner has contacted a lawyer and is considering a lawsuit.

A McCleary
family claims they're unfairly targeted and harassed by police officers
connected to the case of missing Lindsey Baum. Friday, a
tearful mother and an angry father defended their son who was the
subject of a search warrant at their rural McCleary home, related to
the disappearance of 11-year-old Lindsey Baum. Court documents released Friday relate why detectives believed the son could be Baum's kidnapper. Witnesses told detectives that the man obsessed about Baum's
disappearance and expressed his belief that a girl had been
"dismembered."
Officers, however, found nothing to back that up. According to court papers, witnesses also reportedly told officers they
saw the man's car near where Baum disappeared on June 26 in McCleary. A month later, officers pulled over the same man for following the mother of the missing girl around town. While officers executed these search warrants last week, Melissa Baum
continued to hope for a break in the case. "There's hope. I know she's alive and she'll come home," she said. According to court documents, the man also gave detectives several
different stories about his whereabouts when Baum disappeared. The man's parents said their son got confused because
detectives interviewed him more than a month after Baum vanished.
Therefore, he apparently could not remember many specific details that
far back.
Court
documents show detectives seized property from the man's home last
weekend, including computers, paperwork, drug paraphernalia and a sex
toy. Detectives say they now have no suspect or
person-of-interest, but they do have a lot of leads and a girl who
seemingly vanished without a trace. The affidavit for the
search warrant also says that the man was a former suspect in the
attempted rape of a child when he was 14, but he was not given a formal
decision in the case.