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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Massive search follows ID of girl’s remains found in Kittitas County

With their dogs Roxy and Mini leading the way, a team from the German Shepherd Search Dogs of Pierce County emerge from thick brush overlooking the town of McCleary, Wash., as part of a multi-agency search June 29, 2009, for missing 10-year-old Lindsey Baum. Officials say Baum's remains have been found in eastern Washington. Grays Harbor County Sheriff Rick Scott said Thursday, May 10, 2018, at a news conference that her remains were found by hunters in September 2017 in a remote area. (Steve Bloom / The Olympian)
By Craig Troianello Yakima Herald-Republic

ELLENSBURG – A large-scale search involving personnel from Washington, Idaho and as far as Montana was underway Saturday in Kittitas County in connection with the discovery last fall of the skeletal remains of a 10-year-old girl missing since 2009.

Last week authorities in Grays Harbor County announced that a DNA analysis confirmed the remains were those of Lindsey Baum and had been discovered in Eastern Washington, but they declined to provide a more specific location.

The Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office announced the child’s remains were found last fall in Kittitas County.

“An initial area search was done after the remains were found in the fall of 2017, just prior to the first snowfall. Last week found that the last of the snow in the search area had melted, thus allowing for an additional search to be done,” according to a Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office news release issued late Saturday.

Saturday’s search took place about 20 miles west of Ellensburg in an area described as steep and heavily timbered, with large cliffs and deep ravines.

Nearly two dozen K-9 teams, investigators and search and rescue teams from 10 agencies from across the state and as far as Polson, Mont., were involved in Saturday’s search.

“It’s humbling to see the level of support for this case. These search teams and investigators are among the best there are and they understand the relevance to the investigation, the family and the community. To watch them work, you would never guess they come from over 10 different agencies,” Kittitas County undersheriff Clay Myers said.

The Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office and the FBI continue to lead the investigation into the child’s disappearance.

Lindsey Baum disappeared the evening of June 26, 2009, while walking home from a friend’s house in McCleary, a small community about 20 miles west of Olympia.

For almost nine years, the girl’s parents circulated flyers featuring their 10-year-old daughter’s smiling face.

Last week, Grays Harbor County Sheriff Rick Scott declined to say where the child’s remains had been found, but said authorities there had turned the remains over to the FBI for DNA analysis months ago. The analysis wasn’t completed until recently.

The discovery was called a major milestone in a kidnapping and homicide investigation that saw authorities searching for answers for years, tracking down more than two dozen possible persons of interest, none of whom panned out as a suspect.