Thirteen years after the disappearance of Lindsey Baum, a heartbroken mother is still waiting for justice to be served in the murder of her 10-year-old daughter, a crime that shocked the entire close-knit community of McCleary in the state of Washington.
For over a decade now, the murder and kidnapping of Lindsey have weighed heavily on the heart of her mom, Melissa Baum, who carries what's left of her child's ashes in a pendant on a necklace. No one knows who killed the young girl to this day, even after a massive investigation and search by law enforcement officers, including those from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Melissa told KOMO News that she wants to know where the rest of her daughter is, which is priority number one for her. She added that all she got back of her was a piece of her skull that she pointed to during the interview, "This is it, right here. This is my daughter."
Part of Lindsey's remains found eight years after her disappearance
June 26, 2009, marks the worst day of the mother's life. It was on that fateful day when young Lindsey was snatched from the streets of McCleary when she was walking back home from her friend's house, which was just a few blocks away.
The little girl never made it back home that day, and her photos are now forever frozen in time. Melissa became emotional with that fact, saying she rarely stops and looks directly at the pictures because it is still hard. She added that looking at her daughter's face always gets her.
A missing child investigation became a murder mystery eight years after her disappearance in 2017, when two hunters discovered a small piece of Lindsey's remains deep in the woods outside Ellensburg in Kittitas County. The rest of the child's body has never been found, though, according to CBS News.
Melissa said her daughter deserves to rest in peace. She described her as a beautiful bright 10-year-old little girl, and there was no reason for anybody to take her other than for sick, vile things.
Detectives had combed through the woods since the discovery in 2017, going through thousands of tips, fliers, and pages of work to solve the murder mystery. One of those officers is Darrin Wallace, the chief of investigations for Grays Harbor County. He said Lindsey's case has always kept him up at night, describing it as a monster.
Paul Bieker, a person of interest in Lindsey's death
Deputies said there are several persons of interest in connection with Lindsey's murder, including Paul Bieker. The 51-year-old was recently convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl in McCleary six years before Lindsey disappeared, according to KIRO 7.
Investigators learned that Bieker lived in 2003 in McCleary near where the teenager lived. Detectives were able to get his DNA from a discarded item, and they were able to determine that he was a match for the 2003 sexual assault.
Detectives say it is rare to have eerie similarities in both cases and in the same tiny town, making Bieker a prime suspect for Lindsey's death.
