Photo: Facebook
She went missing in 2009.
By Sarah Gangraw — Written on May 11, 2018
Lindsey Baum vanished without a trace at the age of 10 while walking home from her friend’s house just 10 blocks away from her own.
Now, her case is an active homicide investigation.
Remains found by hunters last September have been identified as the body of the missing Washington girl, according to the Grays Harbor County sheriff’s office.
“We’ve brought Lindsey home,” Grays Harbor County Sheriff Rick Scott said when he announced the DNA confirmation.
Baum disappeared around 9:30 p.m. on June 26, 2009. The recovered remains were sent for DNA testing months ago but were only recently analyzed because they were not linked to any open investigations.
The sheriff said authorities are searching for the “monster” who kidnapped and killed the young girl, the Seattle Times reports.
"For the last nine years we've not been able to definitively say what this was, beyond this was a missing child," Scott said. "...Now, the reality is we need to find a homicide suspect.”
Scott withheld specifics about the case but promised he would update the public as the investigation progressed.
“To protect the integrity of what’s now a kidnapping and homicide investigation, we’re going to keep our remarks rather general,” he said. “For now, suffice it to say that myself, my fellow sheriffs, the FBI and all of the local law enforcement agencies who have been involved in this investigation will remain involved until we bring in the monster that’s responsible for this and hold them accountable.”
Scott revealed that no suspects have been identified yet, though a few were looked into and cleared during the nine years Lindsey was missing.
In August 2016, three men who allegedly possessed child pornography and images of children being sexually abused were investigated as potential suspects, according to CBS News.
Charles Emery, 82, Thomas Emery, 80, and Edwin Emery, 78, lived in Northern Seattle and owned another home in Shelton, just 30 miles from Lindsey’s home.
"They would have had an opportunity to be in the McCleary area at the time of Lindsey's disappearance," Scott told CBS affiliate KIRO-TV at the time. "They certainly would have been the type of people that would have victimized a girl her age."
No connection between the three men and Lindsey’s disappearance was ever established, though a flyer of the missing girl was found in one of the homes.
"They had prayed we would find her alive and bring her home," Scott said. "That was not the outcome that the family wanted to hear."
The girl’s family was “understandably devastated” but were finally able to know what happened to Baum.
“I was sad that it was ending like this,” Scott said. “But I was glad that we were able to bring some element of closure to what had happened to her.”
Anyone with information regarding Lindsey is urged to call the sheriff’s office at 360-964-1799, or emailed to baumtips@co.grays-harbor.wa.us
“There’s someone out there who knows who did this and how this happened,” Scott said. “There’s people out there that have information that would be the nugget we need to explode this investigation and culminate in an arrest. We need those people to have the courage to come forward and share that information.”
Baum’s case was widely publicized and was featured on the cover of PEOPLE Magazine at the time of her disappearance.
Now, the case is back in headlines with a grim outcome.
“A monster is still out there; praying for Lindsey’s family, with hope that they may find some peace through their grief and closure,” Grays Harbor County Commissioner Vickie Raines wrote on Facebook. “It is a very sad day, certainly not the outcome we’ve been hoping for.”