The remains of a 10-year-old girl who went missing nearly a decade ago have been discovered hundreds of miles from her home.
Lindsey Baum disappeared while walking back to her house in the small town of McCleary, Washington on June 26, 2009.
The case gained nationwide publicity and Lindsey’s face even appeared on the cover of People Magazine the following year.
But now it has come to a tragic end after Lindsey’s remains were discovered by hunters in what has been described as a remote location in eastern Washington.
The remains of 10-year-old girl Lindsey Braum, who went missing nearly a decade ago, have been discovered hundreds of miles from her home in McCleary, Washington
Lindsey disappeared while walking back to her house in the small town on June 26, 2009
The remains were found in September 2017, but they were only identified by a DNA match last week after being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.
‘We’ve brought Lindsey home,’ Grays Harbor Sheriff Rick Scott said during a press conference on Thursday. ‘We’ve recovered her.’
‘For the last nine years we’ve not been able to definitively say what this was, beyond this was a missing child,’ he added.
‘Now the reality is, we need to find a homicide suspect.’
Scott said Lindsey’s family was ‘understandably devastated’ by the outcome.
‘They had prayed we would find her alive and bring her home,’ he said. ‘That was not the outcome that the family wanted to hear.’
Scott pledged to find the ‘monster’ who killed Lindsey and urged anyone with information to come forward.
The case gained nationwide publicity and Lindsey’s face even appeared on the cover of People Magazine the following year
But now it has come to a tragic end after Lindsey’s remains were discovered by hunters in what has been described as a remote location in eastern Washington
‘There is someone out there who knows who did this, and how this happened,’ he said.
Lindsey had moved to McCleary with her mother and older brother Josh from Tennessee after her parents divorced
The sheriff shared little specific information about the remains, but said the location where they were found could provide clues for the case, according to KOMO.
No suspect has ever been arrested in the case, despite numerous leads and tips.
Lindsey had moved to McCleary from Tennessee with her mother and older brother Josh after her parents divorced.
‘McClearly felt like a nice, quiet, safe town,’ Melissa told Dateline last year. ‘The kids were making friends and doing well.’
‘Everything seemed to be smoothing over for us finally.’
On the fateful day of June 26, Lindsey had spent the morning at a friend’s pool and then walked to another friend’s house in hopes they would have a sleepover.
The friend’s mother said it would have to be another night, so Lindsey ventured on the 10-minute walk home by herself – never to be seen again.
On the fateful day of June 26, Lindsey went to a friend’s house in hopes they would have a sleepover. When her friend’s mother said no, she began the 10-minute walk home alone
Authorities have looked into more than 40 people as potential persons of interest, but have never named a suspect in Lindsey’s disappearance
As Lindsey’s disappearance became national news, her mother was spending hours on end driving in her car, hoping for any sight of her little girl.
Authorities have looked into more than 40 people as potential persons of interest, but have never named a suspect.
Lindsey’s mother Melissa (pictured) would spend hours in the days after she vanished driving through the city in hopes of finding her daughter
More than 20 search warrants have been executed, and nearly 40 polygraph tests have been given.
In 2010 authorities searched the home of a 47-year-old man who police said had provided ‘inconsistent statements’ to investigators.
The following year, police searched the home, business, and storage unit of a man whose business is on the route Lindsey would have taken on her walk home.
In 2014 investigators questioned a man who had already been charged with sexually abusing another child.
Most recently, police investigated three elderly brothers who were arrested in a shocking child porn case.
Charles Emery, 82, and his brothers Thomas, 80, and Edwin, 78, were taken into custody after a stash of child porn was discovered in their home.
Melissa (pictured here meeting kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart in 2013) said she ‘just kind of died inside’ after her daughter vanished
Charles stayed part-time in an isolated farmhouse in Shelton, Washington, just half an hour from Lindsey’s home.
Authorities found pictures of girls being raped and murdered, as well as used children’s underwear, used condoms, dozens of penny loafer shoes and soda bottles laced with vodka in the Shelton home.
A hand-written manifesto detailing ‘ritualistic and satanic sacrifices’ of young girls was also discovered, along with descriptions of how the girls should always wear penny loafers before their murders.
Police also discovered a flyer about Lindsey in the home, but authorities ultimately were not able to find a connection between the brothers and her case.
FBI and Grays Harbor Sheriff’s investigators execute a search warrant on a McCleary residence in connection to Lindsey’s disappearance
Volunteers search for Lindsey with a team of dogs days after she disappeared in June 2009
‘Despite everything we’ve done and continue to do, there is no piece of evidence of what happened to her,’ Scott said in 2017.
‘That’s frustrating for us – and unimaginable for her family.’
Melissa said she ‘just kind of died inside’ after her daughter vanished.
‘It was as if I was in a coma, just numb,’ she told Dateline. ‘It destroyed us, especially Joshua. He didn’t just lose his sister, he lost the mom he knew.’
‘As a mother I could, and would, never stop searching,’ she added. ‘If I don’t, who will?’
Tips regarding Lindsey Baum’s kidnapping and murder can be made at 1-360-964-1799 or by email at baumtips@co.grays-harbor.wa.us