Mother and Son Vanish

Update: I am very sad to report the discovery of the body of Shantina's beautiful son. Three weeks ago his small body was found washed a shore 18 miles from where their car was found. Shantina remains missing, but it is believed she may have washed out into the Pacific Ocean. Is she still out there?

Shantina Smiley 29 years old and her 8 year old son are missing from Thurston County, Washington. The details of their disappearance are chilling, bizarre, confusing and frustrating.

How could so many things go wrong so quickly?

On Saturday evening Shantina left her home with her son in her fiances' minivan to head on a 200 mile drive to visit with her stepfather, who she had not seen since her mother's death a few years ago. Her fiance was to meet them later after a Cub Scout leader meeting he had to attend. He was going to be an hour behind her riding his motorcycle.

The first thing that began the downward spiral of bad luck for Shantina was that she began her car drive and then realized she left her cell phone at home. It has been reported that her fiance Robb says, he called Shantina and asked her to take his cellphone charger with her because his phone battery was dying, she did, but then later called him to ask him to bring her cellphone with him. He informed Shantina that he was already in route and could not go back to get her phone.

It is unfortunate that Shantina was missing her cellphone and that her fiance was about to lose all of his battery power.

Shantina left her home at about 5:00pm, by 6:50pm, she realized her cellphone was gone and stopped to use a pay phone to call her fiance, she indicated to him that she left her cellphone home and that she was lost somewhere in the town of Olympia, but that she will find her way. She also complained of traffic and her son being hungry.

By 7:54pm she had not yet reached her destination and is captured on video surveillance entering a store by the name of Handy Pantry, she is smiling in the video and does not seem upset. Shantina is seen asking for directions and going over a map with the cashier, and yet when offered the map, Shantina does not take it.

She purchases some items and leaves the store.

9:08 pm - Shantina and her son enter a diner miles away from the Handy Pantry, it seems she is still lost. She orders some food for her son and pays for the food. While they are waiting, the little boy tells a waitress that his mother hit her head. Then in a bizarre move, Shantina leaves the diner without the food she paid for. Video surveillance shows Shantina tripping and falling outside of the diner, then getting up and driving away with her son.

9:54 pm - Shantina is again captured by a video surveillance camera at another location, this time a gas station in Gull Harbor. It is believed she stopped to use the pay phone there, but discovered it was out of service.

10:00 pm - Shantina heads south of Gull Harbor and pulls into the private driveway of a home, she asks to please use their phone. She tells them she is lost and needs to make a call. They allow her entry and say they feed her son a slice of pizza because he told them he was hungry. Shantina calls her grandparents, tells them she was in an accident but is okay, she tells them she is lost and will be late. It is believed the accident she is speaking of is the fall she took outside of the diner, but authorities can't be sure. Her son tells the people at the home that his mother hurt her knee.

Shantina is again given simple instructions by the family who owned the home on how to get back on the highway. She drives away from the home and turns in the opposite direction of where she was told to go.

Shantina and her son never make it to their destination. By 10:00 am the next morning her car is found abandoned on a beach miles North from her last location. The rear of the car seems to have been backed up into the water and jammed. The back hatch of the van was open as was the side door. There was no sign of the mother and son, no sign of a struggle. Shantina's wallet was in the van with her cash and credit cards. Her purse is gone, but nothing else out of the ordinary. The troubling thing about this area is the path leading to the open beach. Authorities say the dirt path it is extremely narrow, difficult to find and is not a road you can easily turn onto in an error while looking for an interstate. How could Shantina have mistakenly gone down this road and into the water by mistake?

The water has been searched and continues to be searched. It is important to note that the tide was low that evening at about 1.7 feet, but by morning the tide had risen to about 14 feet! Which means if Shantina and her son were asleep in the car, the water would have risen to about the top of the seats in the minivan and then receded again.

Was this an accident?

There is a lot of speculation on the web about Shantina being a recovering alcoholic who recently fell of the wagon due to stress. Was the fall outside of the diner due to her being drunk?

Why did her son tell the waitress his mother hurt her head? Had they been in an accident before the diner stop? It has been reported that the van did have a dent in the bumper, did Shantina get into a minor accident, hurt her head and become disoriented?

The family who let her into their home seem to think she was scared and upset because she was lost, but they did not believe she was in any danger.

Can someone who is drunk really find a narrow dirt road to drive on and honestly mistakenly drive their car backwards into the water?

Authorities say there were many homes along the water with porch lights on that would have been visible to Shantina should she have wandered onto the beach.

They say the road that leads to the beach was difficult to maneuver and find in the daylight and therefore cannot imagine she could have found herself lost there in the pitch darkness of the night before.

What happened to Shantina and her son?

Could she have stopped and asked the wrong person for directions? Could this be merely a case of bad choices, bad luck and a crime of opportunity? Could she have walked herself and her son into the hands of a waiting predator?

Or was Shantina intoxicated and driving in circles in her confusion, just to end up in the water with her son unable to find her way out of the water in the cold and darkness?

Or is Shantina purposely missing, did she stage this entire thing due to stress and an emotional break? Is she safely out there? Or did she hurt herself and her son?

Do we know everything? Is there more to this story? Something does not fit for me.

I really hope Shantina and her precious boy are found alive. I am spooked by this story because I am very bad with directions and I imagine myself in Shantina's shoes, afraid, alone, driving in circles, no cellphone and in a place I have never been.

If you have any information on this case, please call 360 493 2222.

The Invisible Man - Col. Russell Williams

My husband at times becomes amused at my suspicion of people. This morning I told him I keep the curtains closed when I am home alone because I noticed some construction workers walking by our first floor apartment, about 5 feet from my sliding door terrace. He laughed and said I was being ridiculous. I told him I did not want to become the victim of a crime of opportunity.

I don’t live in fear because I read and write about crime stories, I just know that evil is present all around me and I try to take steps to keep myself safe.

A murderer can be invisible. He or she could be a normal everyday blue collar worker, or white collar businessman, a doctor, a husband, a police officer or Colonel in the Canadian forces, highly recognized and respected.

For instance someone like Col. Russell Williams a 46 years old husband, neighbor and a commander in charge of logistic relief efforts in Haiti and Afghanistan for Canada. A man who met the queen and prime minister and maybe was on his way to meet our President Obama, this man is accused of leaving his sleeping wife at night and preying on women in his own neighborhood and neighboring towns, two of which he is accused of sexually assaulting and another two he is accused of murdering. All of these women lived alone and it seems the Col. new for a fact they were home alone when he entered their dark bedrooms.

Were these his only crimes? Is he a serial killer or is he one that began with petty peeping tom crimes and graduated to murder?

On the night of September 17^th allegedly Col. Russell Williams broke into a young woman’s house, bound her with duct tape, covering her head with a pillow case and took pictures of her, then sexually assaulted her, however he did not kill her, instead he went home to his wife and reported for work the next morning. Soon after this sexual assault, a string of home invasions and women's underwear burglaries began to occur in the small town of Tweed, 48 of these were eventually linked back to Col. Williams. It is very difficult to believe that a man who was responsible for managing 3500 people on a military base was secretly breaking into the homes of women and stealing their underwear since 2006.

On September 30^th another woman in a neighboring town was sexually assaulted. Still police had no clue to the Colonel’s involvement or the connections between the petty underwear thefts and the two assaults. This is because although the Colonel held a powerful position at the military base, he was invisible to his neighbors and the town. No one gave him much thought; he had no friends and spent most of his time alone or with his wife. He left his home before dawn and arrived home at night after most people were already asleep, at times not returning home at all.

In November of 2009 Corporal Marie-France Comeau, a 37-year-old military flight attendant based at CFB Trenton was found dead inside her home. She was once stationed at Camp Mirage in the Middle East where Colonel Williams was also stationed and was her commanding officer. Marie then moved on to be a flight attendant for the Prime Minister for the last 6 months of her life. Many describe Marie as friendly and caring with many friends and highly respected. It is alleged that Col. Russell Williams broke into Marie’s home in the middle of the night and sexually assaulted her and then ultimately killed her. It is believed by investigators that Russell did not mean to kill Marie, but somehow asphyxiated her while assaulting her, resulting in her death and a new found thrill of killing.

The theory being thrown around is that the Colonel’s crime of favor was breaking into homes and stealing women’s underwear and that this crime escalated into the assaults and then finally to murder.

Jessica Lloyd 27 years old disappeared on January 29^th from her home in the town of Belleville. Jessica had just sent a text message to a friend letting them know she had arrived safely and was inside of her home. It is believed that Colonel Williams was watching Jessica and invaded her home, assaulting her and removing her from the home.

The Tire Track

The crack in the case and the path that brought investigators to the Colonel’s door step was a simple decision to canvass residents who lived along Highway 37, which connects Tweed and Belleville. The murderer had left distinctive tire tracks in the snow outside of Jessica’s home. Investigators set up a road block along Highway 37 and the Colonel drove right into their net, the officer with a keen eye immediately noticed the tires on the car driven by the Colonel and began asking him questions. Col. Russell Williams became evasive and gave vague answers to simple questions. The investigator followed his gut and requested Col Williams come in for further questioning.

After some serious interrogations, it is believed that Col. Russell Williams guided authorities to Jessica’s body on a secluded road near his home.

The Evidence:

Reading Col. Russell Williams' biography, he lists one of his hobbies as taking pictures. In the two earlier assaults the women were bound with duct tape, their heads covered with a pillow case, stripped of their clothing and tied to a chair and their picture was taken.

Seems Russell was a sentimental predator and kept keepsakes of his victims cataloged at home in a secret place. I am pretty sure this includes some items associated with his favorite hobby, photography. Investigators have also managed to match a footprint from a crime scene back to the Colonel.

I have counted at least 10 different living locations for Col. Williams during the 90’s and up until now. He could have victims in all of these locations including a stint in the Middle East. I am hoping investigators do not allow him to convince them that this was merely a bizarre escalation to murder. He could very well be a serial killer with victims dating back to the 90’s.

Rest in Peace Jessica Llyod and Corporal Marie- France Comeau.

Let this be a lesson that evil can be invisible.

Jason Young: The Accused Murderer

It has been 3 years since the brutal murder of Michelle Young and her unborn son Rylan on the night of November 3, 2006.

Jason Young's life since that night has been filled with bad luck and has not been what I imagine he planned it would be after killing his wife and unborn baby. I bet he thought he would be free to frequent gay bars and continue to sleep with Michelle's college friends while at the very same time spend the insurance money he had placed on Michelle and was waiting to collect.

Instead he has spent the last few years almost in hiding. He lost custody of his now 5 year old daughter to his in laws and was found responsible for Michelle's death in civil case where he was ordered to pay Michelle's family millions of dollars.

It is so gratifying to read that Jason has finally been arrested and charge with the murder of Michelle Young.

On Monday, December 14th it took one of two investigators just 20 minutes to convince a grand jury to charge Jason Young with the premeditated murder of his wife. This tells me that investigators spent three years building a solid case against this monster and it will finally be worth the wait.

No bond has yet been set which confirms that he will spend Christmas behind bars where he belongs.

Three years ago Michelle was found bludgeoned to death on her bedroom floor by her sister who was urged by Jason Young to go over to the home. It was always clear to me he did so in order to have Michelle's body discovered and to get his then 2 year old daughter rescued from an empty house and bloody crime scene.

The unbelievable notion that this man killed his pregnant wife so violently while his little daughter was at home is simply cruel and warrants the death penalty. He then left his baby girl in the house with his beaten lifeless wife on the floor.

Jason claimed he was traveling on a business trip and left his home while Michelle had company, instead he drove to a hotel a few hours away and checked in, changed his clothes and drove back to his home, where he entered, possibly surprising Michelle and then beating her. At some point his daughter entered the bloody room leaving her footprints in several areas.

It is suspected Jason cleaned his daughter's feet off, changed her clothes and gave her a heavy dose of Tylenol hoping she would sleep through the night (she was found the very next day with clean clothes and feet). He then fled the home and began his drive to his parent's house.

The very next morning Jason Young called his sister in law and left her several messages to go over to his home to retrieve a fax detailing a gift for Michelle that he wanted to keep a surprise. Michelle's sister did not understand his urgency and took her time getting there, and when she did she found her sister murdered and her niece alone.

Jason Young refused to cooperate with police from the very beginning.

I look forward to seeing the other evidence against Jason and seeing him finally pay the piper.

Read Previous Blog Post on this story:

Jason Young Unraveling of a Murder

The Murder of Michelle Young

Casey Anthony’s Defense Team is Desperate

It seems Casey Anthony’s defense team has finally jumped the shark and named the real killer of beautiful Caylee Anthony as Roy Kronk, the meter reader responsible for finding Caylee.

I guess I saw this coming, I honestly knew that there was just no way they were going to continue and go to trial with the fictitious Nanny as the suspect. Their suspect is Roy Kronk? I never thought they would go that far.

Casey’s lawyers filed a motion in court yesterday to ask permission to dig deeper into Roy’s past and pick it a part by bringing to light any of his past aggressions in order to use him as a tool to raise reasonable doubt for the jury.

The defense claims they have information that Roy may have had inappropriate contact with children and that one of his ex’s claims she was held against her will for two weeks bound with duct tape. Note: Caylee Marie’s little skeleton was found in the woods just feet from her mother’s home with duct tape attached to her skull.

Roy Kronk who worked in the area watched the investigation into the disappearance of young Caylee with the rest of the world, he was concerned and one day during his route saw a bag in the woods he found suspicious. He alerted the police, but it seems the officer who responded to the call didn’t really want to look and thought it was nothing but garbage, but Roy wasn’t as easily convinced and he contact police two more times about the bag, finally forcing them to actually go digging for this bag. Sure enough it was indeed Caylee. The officer that responded to Roy’s calls was later fired for lying about his encounter with Kronk and making it all seem like it wasn’t a big deal. Roy gave his name several times, unafraid to be linked to the case, he wanted Caylee found and in the end he succeeded.

It is a real coincidence to me that the same officer called out to look for the bag in the woods was the officer who early in the investigation was seen taking a theft report from George Anthony regarding some stolen property at his home. It continues to be suspicious that others connected to the Anthony’s were seen very close to the area Roy Kronk described to the officer poking around and looking for something themselves.

I have always believed the Anthony’s were told Caylee’s body was in those woods in that area and were trying to beat Law Enforcement in finding her. I recall several times when Tim Miller was trying to search for Caylee, the Anthony’s would show up and cause a disturbance and tried desperately to stop the searches and interfere. I think they are really angry with Roy Kronk’s persistence in getting that bag fully investigated.

Roy Kronk is responsible for hammering the final nail in Casey Anthony’s coffin. He found the body before her people could.

The Anthony’s and Casey’s defense lawyers had secretly hired a private detective to investigate Roy Kronk’s past, I can only imagine the instructions he received, and I think it went something like this:

“Find any dirt you can on this guy, his family, anything you can get on him that we can use against him to make him look like the real killer.”

Am I worried? No. Why?

Because Casey Anthony did not report her daughter missing and never would have reported her missing, if her mother didn’t end up catching her red handed with no Caylee hanging out with her new man.

Because Casey Anthony was the last person seen with Caylee Anthony and Casey Anthony will have to explain how a perfectly alive Caylee disappeared and why she Casey did not immediately seek help in finding her, but instead went on lying to family and friends about Caylee being just fine and dandy with her loving Nanny.

How will they reconcile the lies she told about a Nanny kidnapping Caylee? How will they get Caylee from Casey’s arms into Kronk’s arms and then into the woods?

I dear friend of mine told me the burden of proof lies in the hands of the prosecution and that defense will not have to prove a thing, their job was to throw theories around and hope the Jury thinks one of those theories is reasonable enough not to charge the defendant.

I think when the jury hears Casey Anthony’s voice calmly telling investigators that she spoke to her daughter just an hour ago on July 15^th and that she seemed fine, meanwhile her daughter’s body was already a skeleton in the woods near her house, Roy Kronk’s name will not even be a factor.

57 Registered Sex Offenders in a 3 mile radius of Missing Somer Thompson.

UPDATE: The child found in the Georgia Landfill was indeed little Somer. The search for her killer continues.

Yes, 57 registered sex offenders living in a three-mile radius and then an additional 37 when expanding to a 5 mile radius of where little 7 year old Somer Renee Thompson disappeared on her way home from school on Monday in Orange Park, FL.

Can I ask why there isn’t a law to limit the amount of sex offenders living in a specific county or community? What keeps these offenders from overpowering a neighborhood and living dangerously close to schools, libraries and parks where kids often frequent? Can’t we keep the most dangerous and serious offenders from acquiring a driver’s license, library card and other items that can make their hunt for kids easier. I honestly do not believe in rehabilitation for sex offenders and I fully understand that an 18 year old boy can have sex with a 16 or 17 year old girl and become a sex offender and have to register, but I am not talking about him. I am talking about the ones who hurt little children the ones who commit aggravated assaults, the ones who groom the kids and abuse them for years, the monsters who shatter lives, who take them off the streets, the most dangerous repetitive predators.

Somer was walking home from school with her twin brother and her 10 year old sister as she does every day, but on this day she fought with her brother and ran up ahead of the group, she passed one crossing guard, but between that one and the next, Somer vanished.

Leaving school at 2:50pm they had to walk a mile before arriving home and with 57 registered sex offenders and an additional 37 that could easily make the drive there, how does a school not offer a bus service to all children? Of course to add to the danger of this mile walk is the neighboring woods that could have easily served as a hiding place for a potential predator.

I remember my own son, who attended school 14 blocks away from our home, I tried to sign him up for bus service and was told he had to live 16 blocks from the school, so he missed it by 2 blocks and because of this as a working mother I was forced to figure out how to get him home safely. On some days he had no choice but to walk alone at 11 years old and I held my breath at work for those 10 minutes, bought him a cell phone and tried to arrange for him to walk with other students as far as he could, but in my heart I felt like I was putting him at risk. This is not a way to live, but it is the reality of our world. There are evil, sick people out there and children should not walk home alone, period.

Shouldn’t a school be aware of the amount of offenders surrounding them and then take precautions jointly with parents to ensure the safety of the children during the exchange of hands?

The investigation: Currently, police are searching a landfill in Georgia where the garbage from Clay County is dumped, they are saying it is only procedural, however, I know that it takes lots of time and money and is extremely dangerous to search landfills. Law Enforcement would not be doing this just because they want to cross it off some list.

I hope and pray that Somer ran into the woods to hide from her brother because she was mad at him. I hope and I pray.

There is a $25,000 reward. The amazing Texas EquuSearch is now on the scene and hopefully Tim Miller can bring this baby home. He is my hero.

If you have any information, please contact Clay County Tip Line: 877-227-6911 or cart@claysheriff.com.

Christopher and Channon: Is the death penalty enough?

There are crimes of passion, crimes of revenge, crimes of rape, crimes for money and greed, but the crimes for no reason other than evil are the most horrifying.  There is no real motive, no feeling, no logical explanation other than evil monsters doing evil things.

Often times screen writers try very hard to write the scariest horror movie, they try to put the audience in the movie using all the creative juices they can muster up to scare you by inventing tortures scenes, but nothing can be scarier than real and true crime.  The idea that this could happen anywhere to anyone and actually did happen to two normal and promising young people is more frightening than any movie.

I first heard about this crime in an email forward, the details so sick that I immediately thought it was fake and researched it on snopes (website to debunk email scams and fakes).  To my horror the email I received was very true and very real.

Channon Christian, 21 and Christopher Newsom, 23, went out for dinner on January 6, 2007 at a local restaurant in Knoxville, Tennessee, they were scheduled to attend a friend’s party that very night, but sadly never made it.  After Channon did not arrive for work the next day, her friends and family began to worry.  They contacted police and were told to wait a while, that perhaps the young couple left of their own free will, but while they waited and called local hospitals, the unthinkable was happening.

Channon and Christopher were carjacked for Channon’s Toyota 4runner early on January 7^th at gunpoint by George Geovonni “Detroit” Thomas, 27, Lamaricus Devall “Slim” Davidson. 25, Letalvis “Rome” Cobbins, 24 and Vanessa Coleman, 18.  Almost as quickly as they were carjacked, the very car that was stolen was dumped and a new plan was in place, the young couple were taken to Lemaricus Devall "Slim" Davidson's rental home at which point the crime of carjacking turned into something far more devastating and non-media friendly.

Christopher was tied up and beaten, he was then repeatedly raped in front of his girlfriend, he was then drenched in gasoline and dragged from the home to a nearby railroad where he was shot several times and then set on fire.

The four maniacs then returned to do far more damage to Channon who at the time was I can imagine was still reeling from seeing her boyfriend beaten and raped and then dragged from the house screaming.  For her it would be far worse as she was hog tied and raped anally, orally and vaginally.  She was severely beaten, she was sexually assaulted with objects that left the medical examiner sick with the knowledge of how far and to what extent this torture was taken.  Cleaning liquid was forced down her throat and poured over her genitals.  This did not happen in a matter of hours, this was happening over and over again over a couple of days while countless people searched for her.

With the help of the telephone company Channon's family found her car which was dumped really close to where she was being held.  Evidence in the car took two days to process, this includes a fingerprint from one of the suspects, this fingerprint could have led authorities directly to Channon's location, but again police did not yet suspect foul play, that is until someone found Christopher's charred body by the railroad tracks.

The fingerprint was processed, a search warrant was issued and authorities went into the home where Channon was being held, except, they were too late, Channon was placed in several large garbage bags, her face was wrapped in one of these bags and she was placed in a large trash can in the kitchen of this horror house.  Channon died not of her injuries, which were extensive, but from lack of oxygen.  Her body told the tale of torture and unbelievable evil, the savages left her broken, but they left her full evidence, their DNA.

Many people knew this was happening in the inner circle of friends these monsters had, many people tried to hide them, protect them, destroy evidence, but in the end they were caught, their faces revealed.

It has been extremely difficult to get information on this case as it got very little media attention and my guess is that is because the details are gruesome and unbelievable.  No one wants to read about how a young beautiful couple were tortured and murdered for fun.  There are also many blogs screaming about racism on both sides, how this was or was not a hate crime.  All five suspects are black and both victims were white.  I think as far as the specifics of the crime it is fair to say this crime blew past any hate crime line and is in another category all together. 

The trial has begun for Lemaricus Devall "Slim" Davidson - I pray that death will be enough justice.

 

• George Geovonni "Detroit" Thomas, 27, faces a total of 46 charges. Thomas was indicted on 16 counts of felony murder growing out of the rape, robbery, kidnapping, and theft of Christian and Newsom, 2 counts of premeditated murder, 2 counts of especially aggravated robbery, 4 counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, 20 counts of aggravated rape, and 2 counts of theft.

• Lemaricus Devall "Slim" Davidson, 25, (b. June 13, 1981) faces the same 46 charges as Thomas. Davidson had also completed serving a five-year sentence in Tennessee on a previous felony conviction for carjacking and aggravated robbery on August 5, 2006.

• Letalvis "Rome" Cobbins, 24, (b. December 20, 1982) also faces the same 46 charges as Thomas. In 2003, Cobbins was convicted of third-degree attempted robbery in New York state. He and Davidson are brothers. 

• Vanessa Coleman, 18, was arrested by police in Lebanon, Kentucky. She faces 40 Tennessee state charges. Coleman was indicted on 12 counts of felony murder growing out of the rape, robbery, kidnapping, and theft of Christian and Newsom, 1 count of premeditated murder (of Christian only), 1 count of especially aggravated robbery (of Newsom only), 4 counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, 20 counts of aggravated rape, and 2 counts of theft.

• Eric "E" Boyd, age 24, was arrested in connection with the carjacking.

 

Where is Lindsey Baum? Time is the enemy.

It is a scary statistic that almost half of the children abducted by a stranger are killed and of those who are not killed, 4% are never returned home.  Almost all of these children are murdered in the first 48 hours.  Time is a crucial enemy in these cases.

On Friday, June 26^th 2009, 10 year old Lindsey Baum was walking home from her friend’s house in McCleary, Wash., a half a mile or 10 minute walk to her home at about 9:30 pm when she suddenly vanished without a trace.   She had initially gone over to her friend’s house with her 12 year old brother and her friend who lived at the home to ask permission for her friend to return to the Baum house for a sleep over.  On their walk over, Lindsey and her brother got into an argument about his bicycle.  An adult and neighbor witnessed the fight and in order to end it, sent Lindsey's brother back home, allowing the two 10 year old girls to continue their walk.  Once at the friend's house Lindsey was told that her friend was not allowed to walk back with her and sleep over her house.  The parents of that child then instructed Lindsey to head home before it got too dark.  A neighbor returning from work, saw Lindsey on her way back home at about 9:30 pm, but by 10:00 pm, Lindsey's mother began to worry.

Lindsey's mother then called her daughter’s cell phone only to hear it ringing in the home.

She called Lindsey's friend's home only to find out her daughter had left over a half hour before. Lindsey's mother went searching for her daughter and by 10:50 pm the police were called in.

Law enforcement moved in quickly and investigated the registered sex offenders in the neighborhood and reviewed surveillance footage from businesses along her route home.   It was like she simply just vanished. It has been over a week and no sign of Lindsey Baum.

It has come to my attention that this 10 year old girl also had a myspace page and listed herself as 99 years old, interested in dating, serious relationships and friendships.  Some of her posts are disturbing in that in May she says she has been having bad dreams and that she is afraid something bad is going to happen.  Her parents were currently going through a divorce and she writes that she is glad her brother is locked up in juvee.  Her posts are also made at 4am and 6am, it is disturbing that she is online so late at 10 years old.

From her myspace:

Banner - disturbed
Getting a lot of nightmares lately
Bad feeling
something bads gonna happen

Lindsey had been swimming with friends earlier in the day and was also seen at a local video store.  I keep coming back to the small window between the time the neighbor saw her at about 9:30 pm and when her mother traced her steps at 10:00 pm.  For this to be a stranger abduction means that the perpetrator would have had to come across Lindsey by chance between 9:30 and 10:00 pm and taken her without anyone seeing it happen or having it picked up on any surveillance in the area.  Or even more terrible, could this person have been following her all day? Maybe saw her at the pool? Video store?  Was this a neighbor who called her into their home under false pretenses?

Law enforcement has checked in almost every home and car.  Are they onto the same theory?  That she may still be in the neighborhood, held against her will?

I really hope this child is found soon, but time is not on her side should this be a stranger abduction.  

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
McCleary Police Department (Washington) 1-360-533-8765