Deputies still looking for tips in 2009 unsolved kidnapping, murder of 10-year-old Lindsey Baum

Deputies are still seeking tips 14 years after a 10-year-old Grays Harbor County girl was kidnapped and found dead years later. A reward of up to $40,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction. 

Lindsey Baum was last seen leaving a friend's house in the evening of June 26, 2009 in McCleary, Washington. Her friend's home was about a 10 minute walk to her own. 

Her partial remains were found in September 2017, just west of Ellensburg. McCleary is about 168 miles east of Ellensburg-- approximately a three-hour drive. 

Lindsey Baum

Hunters in a remote area of Kittitas County discovered her fractured skull. The following year, the FBI notified the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office that the DNA was a match to Lindsey.

"We need answers. It’s destroyed my entire family. They stole an entire life from us. They stole my daughter. They stole my future.," Lindsey's mother, Melissa, told FOX 13 in 2020. 

In March of this year, more than 160 professionals and volunteers spent a weekend searching a wooded area for more evidence on her disappearance. 

According to the Grays Harbor Sheriff's Office, a tip in the investigation of the case led to a search near West Fish Hatchery Road in Mason County on March 25 and 26.  It's unknown if anything was found. It's also unclear why that area was targeted.

If you have any information on her disappearance or murder, contact the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office at 360-964-1799 or at baumtips@graysharbor.us

"She was a real person, she existed, and she deserves to rest in peace," Melissa said. 

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