Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Cold Case: Missing Lindsey Baum

Episode Date: February 10, 2017

10-year-old Lindsey Baum disappeared without a trace while walking home from a neighborhood pool party in Washington State community in 2009. Nancy Grace talks with her mom, Melissa Baum, about the latest developments in her case and why she still believes her daughter is alive. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. don't realize something that you saw or heard. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. No one to date has risen to the level that we would label them a suspect. And I am just begging for somebody that may know something or strongly suspect something. Hello everybody, thank you for being with us. I'm Nancy Grace, and you are listening to Crime Stories with Nancy Grace and CrimeOnline.com. Today, we are taking a look with the hopes of reigniting the search for a beautiful young girl. Her name, many of you will know, Lindsay Baum. And joining me right now is a special guest. Her mother is joining us, Melissa Baum.

Melissa, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me, Nancy. I appreciate your interest. You know, Melissa, it's never easy to talk about losing someone you love. I mean, today, I was working with my father's will, and I cried the whole time. And I know Lindsay disappeared a while back, but that people don't understand. That does not change your feelings about Lindsay you will love her forever and always look for answers doesn't get easier it doesn't why is that I think a lot of people expect oh well well I've and this was a very close family member um we had this conversation a few months ago and she's like well you know it's been seven years You just need to suck it up and move on.

I'm like, he actually said the word suck it up and move on. Yes, that's exactly what she said. My thought is mine doesn't end. Like when my mom died, part of me has never gotten over that. My mom's been gone. It'll be 20 years Mother's Day. I've never gotten over that. I still miss my mother every day.

My mother was the greatest woman in the world she was my mentor and and I loved her but it's a different it's a different different kind of love it's a different kind of love yeah and I hate to use the word closure but you know I know that my mother passed away my mother you know she with Lindsay it's different because I don't know where my daughter is I don't know what's happening to her I don't know where my daughter is I don't know what's happening to her I don't know what happened to her I don't know who took her I want to go back to that night it was June 26 2009 9 15 p.m now tell me if I've got this right because things are reported sometimes a little differently than they really happen there's a certain nuance that's missing it's my understanding lindsey went to a pool party or to

a neighbor's to go to their pool and she was coming home decided to come back and not spend the night at 9 15 p.m she left the friend's house and they were just a few blocks away from you, right? Yes. How far away was the home? And we're not talking New York City blocks. We're talking, I lived on, it was the same street. Two different names, but it was the exact same street. I was at the First Avenue.

Oh, Momsen. Lake Intersection was where I lived. And I'm talking, the town only had 1400 people in it so this is a tiny town but and and her friend lived on in between sixth and seventh now so you're telling me maple turned into momson yes on the main street that comes down the hill where it was divided at the shell station momson turned right you'd be on momson if you wait a minute whoa whoa whoa whoa you just told me something I didn't know. Did you say a shell station, like a gas station?

She walked past a gas station? Well, we don't even know that she made it to the gas station. The gas station was only, like, close to my house. I lived kind of kitty corner behind it. But they never were able to see her on the video because the video has only covered the doors. And so we don't even know. We don't think she made it to the show. Let me understand something with me is Lindsay Baum's mother. Lindsay goes missing June 26, 2009, just 10 years old.

That's the age of my children. Just 10 years old. She goes missing. I want to thank someone for being with us today. It is Simply Safe. Simply Safe home protection and alarm system. You know, thousands of people across America every day want a security system, but they think they cannot afford it. I have a security system, got a security system for my mom. This is called SimpliSafe, and I love it. As a matter of fact, a lady in our neighborhood, Miss Shirley, her husband passed away recently.

He was a World War II vet like my father. She's all alone, and she's been very concerned because somebody will come and ring her doorbell at like 3 o'clock in the morning. Well, she got a SimpliSafe. It's $14.99 a month. And this is one of my mom's best friends. I feel so much better knowing she has it. The thing about it is you can afford it. Doesn't have any contracts. It's 24-7, 365 protection. There are security professionals watching, and they react instantly and send the police. And you can get 10% off by going to simplisafe.com slash Nancy. simplisafe.com slash Nancy. Now, you're telling me if she had walked normally from the neighbor's home to your home

she would have passed a shell station you know that that gives me a whole line of questioning now if the shell station hadn't have been there i could have seen straight all the way down to kara's house but the way the shell station said it blocked my view. Otherwise, I could have seen all the way down the road because it was literally straight down. How many blocks was it? Okay, so I know she left the friend's home because the family says she left. And even more importantly, an objective observer drives by and sees her about halfway from the friend's house to your house. So we know she made it that far on a 10-minute walk.

She's literally five minutes from home. What happened? Less than five minutes. The whole walk wouldn't take her more than five minutes. Was she supposed to spend the night at that party? No, her friend, they had gone to her. They weren't at the same house where the pool party was the pool party was actually even closer the pool party was right across the street from the shell

station she went to her other friends that was with her that was gonna spend the night so they had gone to her friends to get clothes or whatever and you know to make sure that she could spend the night well it ended up she wasn't able to spend the night her parents something had come up but they had to do the next day and she's like no not tonight so lindsey left to come home when she left my house because she'd come home from the pool party and showered and changed and then that her and her friend michaela my son josh and michaela's brother, Kyler. There was like a group of six or seven kids that left my yard heading to Michaela's house. But they all split off. And it ended up just being Josh and Lindsey and Michaela and her brother, Kyler, continued on towards their house. My son ended up turning around and coming home about two houses before they got to Michaela's

house and he came home before so he was at home by the time she got to Michaela's when Lindsay left she didn't she didn't call she didn't have her phone which she never left the house without her cell phone she'd only had it a few months and she never left a room without her cell phone but before she left, it was dead. So I guess she plugged it into charge, planning on being right back and didn't take it. And for whatever reason, didn't ask to use their phone to call me and say, hey, mom, Michaela can't spend the night. I'm by myself. She knew not to be by herself.

Even for five minutes? I don't know what happened. It's like everything fell into place for the perfect storm. She didn't take the dog with her. We had a 110-pound German Shepherd that went everywhere with Lindsay. But she didn't take Cadence that night. Let me ask you another question about that pool party. Were all the attendees her age?

Were there any adults there were there any teen cousins or brothers there no it was just a group of kids from the school they were all there might have been a year or two's difference in between them but it was right in the middle of town so it wasn't like anybody could see them. Are you sure no other adults were there? And what I'm asking is were there any other adult males there? No. Other than the little girl's father, and I'm not even positive he was there at the time that all the kids were there. One of the persons of interest that they had interviewed lived right behind them.

And somebody had reported somehow one of the things that they had interviewed him about was that he had been watching the kids in the pool party because he lived behind them so he could see them playing. Are you talking about Hartman? No, but he also lived right behind there. No, Tim Hartman could have also seen them in the pool. But this guy's name was, I'm trying to think of his name. I can see his face. I had never even heard of him or met him. But he was living with some relatives, just a couple houses down and behind where the pool party was.

Why was he living with relatives? Melissa, why was he living with relatives? I don't know that I ever knew why. Did he become a person of interest? Yes, they did interview him. They searched the property. I believe he moved out of town after that. I bet he did. I bet he did move out of town.

See, that is a whole new wrinkle. Now, just because there was nothing found in the search, why did they remove him from suspicion? Well, I don't't think they ever they haven't officially removed him from suspicion just like they haven't officially removed hartman and and the other the first person of interest which was one who followed me for about 45 minutes just a week or two after lindsey disappeared he was following me around town as i was on the phone with 9-1-1 saying there's somebody following, he was following me around town. As I was on the phone with 911 saying there's somebody following me. He's following me. He's riding my tail. He's following me everywhere. It took 45 minutes for a cop from another town to respond. And meanwhile,

I'm just driving around in circles. Who is he? I had no idea who he was. Why was he following you? To this day, I don't know. I didn't even know that's who it was until the day they were searching the property. And they brought his car into the police station and we recognized his car. I didn't know who he was. I didn't know where he lived. I didn't know anything about them. The only reason I knew that that was because I saw his car and I knew they were out searching property out off Machshahalis but I didn't know who it was but then when I saw the car I'm like my my friend

Michaela's mom Kara and I who was with me that night we looked at each other like oh my god that's the guy that was following us so I don't I don't know they did search they took a lot of stuff out other than him following you that day is there any other reason he was named a person of interest? There were. And again, I don't know all of the details. At one, like I said, you can kind of, it's in the search warrant. They're available. And I know it was posted on a lot of sites back then.

But there was, it was comments that were made. His girlfriend had reported him after they broke up, which he ended up getting back together with and they now have a child together. But she had reported that he had told her that he had, had taken Lindsay and dismembered her and put her in his grandmother's old well. Again, they didn't share all the details of everything with me, but there were his location. and dismembered her and put her in his grandmother's old well. Again, they didn't share all the details of everything with me, but there were his location. He wasn't where he said he was. His phone was off that night. There was a lot of reasons they looked at him.

And with me, it was always, well, why else would he be following me? You know, he tried to tell the police he didn't know who I was. Well, I had a Lindsay flyer hanging in my window, and i know dang good and well he knew who i was i want to go back to melissa the night that she went missing from the beginning when she came home to change after the pool party what happened she came in took a shower um i was in there in the living room doing something on the computer i don't remember josh was there and her friend Michaela and all the other kids waited outside while Lindsay ran in and took a quick shower and changed. And when she came out, I was laughing at her. I'm like, Lindsay, it's 90 degrees out.

Why are you wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt? And she's like, because this is my fashion. You know, she wouldn't wear shorts. She wore jeans with the holes cut out of the knees. And I'm like, okay, whatever. It was evening time anyway. So it wasn't that big of a deal. And she went outside and then she came back in and she's like, mom, there's a man outside, his dog's missing. And I said, Lindsay, you know, never to go near anybody, you know, that, that tells you that. And she goes, duh, mom, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not stupid. And she said, but his dog is missing, which law enforcement did verify because the guy had hung flyers all over town

and he'd been asking all over town for his dog. But it's just weird. You know, a few days before that, she had thought that somebody was following her, but we were never able to get a description enough of them to know, you know, what. So that night after she comes home and takes a shower from after the pool party she comes out in her jeans and then what happens um we talked for

a little bit and then she said she wanted to go with Michaela to see if she could spend the night again because she had spent the previous night with us and I said well it's going to be dark soon so if you guys are going to do that you go straight there and come straight back I want you home and she's like okay and then before she left I said Lindsay I mean it if you see that man again don't go near his car as if you don't and she's like mom duh I told you I'm not stupid and she walked out the door about a half an hour went by and she still wasn't back. So I called Kara. And by the time I reached her, she's like, no, Lindsay was here for like just a couple of minutes. And then she left. Like she, she's gone. And that was it. She, she didn't make it home. She didn't,

of course, before I called law enforcement, because, you know, Lindsay, she was almost 11. It was 11 days before her 11th birthday. She had been really trying to establish independence and prove that she was mature. So I thought, okay, well, maybe, maybe she went to Christina's on her way home to see if Christina could spend the night. I wasn't sure at that point, because that's just not something, especially in a town like McCleary, your first thought is not, oh my God, somebody took my child. So I get on the phone and I, you know, I call Christina's house and I'm, I'm, you know, calling around and no, they hadn't seen her. And I keep calling her phone. And I, at some point, I don't know if it was just where I was in the house. I finally, I heard her phone ringing in the bedroom. So I went into her bedroom

and see her phone plugged in. So I take her phone and I go through it and I call all of her friends asking have you seen Lindsay have you seen Lindsay well meanwhile I'm walking around looking and Michaela's parents got in their car and started driving around town looking for her this went on a good it wasn't until dark when it actually got dark that I finally I called 9-1-1 and and I didn't even call 911. I called the police dispatch number because at that point I, I, I, I couldn't help but think, you know, she's, she went some, you know, she, she stopped somewhere. She's going to show up. I don't want to cause this big ruckus and then her show up. But by the time it got dark and she wasn't

home, I knew there was a problem because she wouldn't be out after dark. It wasn't even just that it was my rule that she had to be in the house before dark. She didn't like to be outside in the dark. So that's when I knew something wasn't right. And it took about a half an hour for the police officer to get there to my house. And, you know, he knew my kids and he agreed. He's like, well,osh and lindsey fighting were you and lindsey fighting do you think she's just hiding out at somewhere trying to

punish you i'm like no we weren't she everything was fine i mean her and josh got into an argument over his bike but i mean what else is new you know they always argue and he's like well you don't think she ran away no she didn't run away and where would she go there was no bus the buses had already stopped running it was a small town so the bus only came through a few times a day. She didn't have any money with her. She didn't even have her phone with her. I mean, it was just, she didn't take cadence. Everything fell. It was like the perfect storm. Like everything just came together to go wrong that night. And what haunts me is things that Lindsay had said previous the night before when Michaela was spending the night that had been the day that Michael Jackson died.

And Lindsay and Michaela, you know, they were kind of upset. That was pretty much the first famous person they knew of that, you know, had died. And we were talking about Michael Jackson. And Lindsay looks at me and she goes, Mom, I just have this bad feeling something's, or I just have this feeling something bad's going to happen. And I said, something bad's gonna happen and i said something bad what do you like like what and she goes i don't know i just have this feeling something really bad's gonna happen and that was the end of the conversation and the next day she was gone i have reviewed the video from that shellmart gas station in mccleary it was recorded the shell mart we were talking about earlier it was recorded

around 9 30 june 26 right about the time lindsey goes missing and the footage shows an adult white male dressed in a brown shirt and he's got on black shorts with a mariner's cap and he's got on black shorts with a Mariner's cap. And he's got a young boy with him walking around inside the convenience store part. And if you keep looking, you can see he's riding, it looks to be brand new, a white Honda Ridgeback truck, a Ridgeline truck. And in it, it looks like there is one of those sturdy boxes that people sometimes carry. What have police told you about that, if anything? Well, they were never able to, because of the way the cameras were, they were never able to definitely confirm that it was that man and boy driving the Honda Ridgeline.

But he is the only person that they've never actually made contact with. And that white Honda Ridgeline is the only vehicle that they have never located. He did have a boy with him and it looked like a young boy, maybe nine or 10. Yeah. And I was really interested in a town that small. Why no one knew who that was? Well, because a couple of reasons. For one, it's summer and McCleary is a little town on the way to the beaches. So if you want to go to Ocean Shores or Pacific Beach or Westport or any of those, that's pretty much the only way you have to go by McCleary. there is also quite a few campgrounds in that area and there's a big off-road vehicle park where they at the time they had jeep races well they still do

let me ask you if those areas do you know if those areas were searched those campground areas yes they were what do you know of the search, Melissa? What kind of search took place? Oh, it was tremendous. I mean, they did a massive search. And then, you know, volunteers continued to search. We had a search center there in town for eight months where we had searches every weekend that were just volunteer civilian searches. But law enforcement have searched countless times. They brought in the prison crew from, I want to call it Stafford Creek, but it's not Stafford Creek. It's one of the other local prisons. to do ground clearing and stuff like that on multiple occasions. Whenever they had big searches, they'd bring them in, as well as law enforcement. They had use of some high-tech equipment from the FBI, as well as, obviously, Seattle PD.

And it was a huge, massive search. Melissa, have you felt, in the since lindsey disappeared have you ever felt that she has tried to contact you um i don't know i feel like if she could she would but i i don't really feel that she there there's been, like on some of the YouTube videos, there was, you know, different comments that made me wonder, oh, could that be Lindsay, you know, trying to hint to something or, but again, there's nothing. Do you believe that Lindsay is still alive? Yes. I do. And I know that people may think that I'm naive or wishful thinking, and that very well may be true.

I know the statistics. Believe me, I know the statistics. But I also am her mother. And I just believe in my soul that she's still alive. I always have. I've never felt otherwise. I just, I don't know. I think honestly it could be anything, but I can't help but think of it as something like a J.C. Dugard or Elizabeth Smart scenario. I don't know. I don't wish one way or the other.

Human trafficking horrifies me. What is your working theory right now as to what happened to Lindsay? My own personal one? Well, I believe it was either somebody she knew or believed she could trust because she would not have gotten in it lindsey was a very intelligent 10 year old like above average intelligence and anybody that knew her will tell you that she was very sharp very quick-witted very smart um she would not have gotten into a vehicle with somebody she didn't know the only way she would have gotten into a vehicle is if it was somebody

she knew or thought she could trust. Like, you know, say the local policeman was saying, hey, Lindsay, it's going to be dark. Let me give you a ride home. Or one of her friend's fathers, you know, but they've all been looked at. I have no idea. I'm just clueless because I just, I have no idea. You know, they've never found any hint of her. There's been a rumor circulating for the last few years and now it's just the Westport myth and it's always the same story. It changes only in people and vehicles that a group of people were driving through town and they were high or they were drunk and they hit her and then they cut her up and put her in a crab pot out at Westport off one of the fishing boats. That story

has come around multiple times, like more times than I could count. Every time it was a different group of men, a different kind of vehicle, different this, different that. The FBI assured me that they had traced that story back to a drug dealer who had been arrested and who had made those claims trying to get his competition in trouble. I was assured by the FBI that they sat down face to face. He admitted to them making up the story and that they, you know, informed him of, you know, did you not think of what it would do to her family hearing this? But again, the story keeps coming up. There's always some different version of the story. Why when that skull was found last year, that was such a big deal. Do you dream about lindsey not so much anymore um i don't really dream much anymore if i do i don't remember them i rarely ever remember dreaming at all i used to dream about her all the time i well i had

nightmares for two or three years at least what were they i don't even they'd just be there was never the same one just be random nightmares um just of her missing you know just different scenarios but every dream i ever had of her that that was the majority of my dreams was of her coming home never in my dreams was she found not alive. Every dream I've ever had of her was us being reunited, her being found. The night she disappeared, I was standing in my driveway. Law enforcement was out. And at that point, they were having me stay close. And I had my cell phone and I had Lindsay's cell phone and my house phone. And I'm standing at the end of my driveway, looking down the street thinking, oh my God, somebody really took my child. And I just heard this voice somewhere

inside me say, Elizabeth Smart came home, Lindsay will too. And I can't explain it. I can't explain, I'm not saying that was God speaking to me. I don't know who it was. It was just, I heard this, whether it be in my mind or wherever, I heard this whether it be in my mind or wherever I heard this voice saying Elizabeth Smart came home Lindsay will too and from that moment I've I've never believed that she wouldn't come home do you remember the feeling I mean I would I believe that I would feel as if it weren't real that it really couldn't possibly be true that my child was really missing what were you thinking when all of this was happening honestly that night I kept thinking that she was just going to show back up and that I was going to get mad like I was going to be so

mad at her I'm like what am I going to do am I going to ground her am I going to whip her like I was at first but then when it really hit me standing there at the end of my driveway that somebody took her, I, I don't know. I don't, I can't describe how I felt. I felt like I couldn't breathe. It felt like all of the air was being sucked out of my lungs. And I still feel that. Okay. If you've ever lost your child or lost sight of your child in a grocery store or a shopping mall, that panic feeling you get, that's become a normal occurrence. You forget how to breathe. And that sounds funny, but literally, I will find myself, especially thinking about Lindsay, like I realize I've been holding my breath. Did you ever wake up or did you ever wake up in the mornings and you think it didn't happen and then you realize it did happen, it's real?

Yeah. Yeah, I realized it when I'd walk out my bedroom door and see the police tape overheard of it. I used to do that. I would wake up in the morning and think everything was fine. Then it would hit me, everything that had happened, that the crime really did happen. And then it's like you relive it over and over and over again

every morning when you wake up. It's like it happens again. Yeah. And that continues. That really doesn't go away it may not be every single morning but there i never lay down at night without wondering or thinking i i all day long lindsey probably comes into my mind a thousand times a day what triggers it anything can trigger it anything it can be something as simple as um a little girl wearing her hair the

way lindsey wore hers or just being in the store i can hear a kid calling mom that might sound like lindsey or i can see kids walking down the street and think i wonder what lindsey looks like now or i mean anything can trigger it that that's That's the thing. I never know. I keep thinking, okay, I know my triggers now. I can watch for them. But the next thing I know, something pops up. If you're familiar with Walmart's Code Adam, I've been there for. And they just one time in particular, I actually had to leave the store. I just kind of had a meltdown because I was standing there when the woman came to report that her child was missing. And she was so like panicked and hysterical. And of course, we found him. He was a little it was a little like a I think he was four. He was found.

But it was that sheer panic on her face he was four um he was found but it was that sheer panic on her face it just I I felt it for her and it was like reliving it all over again and I'm thinking God I know how she feels I just my heart you know bled for her for that moment if you could speak to Lindsay now if she could hear your voice what would you tell her? That I love her and I want her home. I will never give up on her. I will always be waiting for her. There's nothing that should ever make her fear coming home or nothing that she should be afraid of. If whoever has her is telling her they will hurt her or her family, she just needs to get home. She needs to get away and come home.

We love her and we're waiting for her. And just hang on. Just hang on. Amanda Berry makes me think of Lindsay asey a lot when i heard her 911 call i just remember saying to my friend that's lindsey lindsey would do that with us today our sponsor simply safe we've gotten this for a lady in our neighborhood miss shirley who has been our lifelong friend is the age of my mom as a recent widow she did not have an alarm system and she's had some scary incidents just recently and there have been some break-ins in our neighborhood

and i think about her being there alone without an alarm my mom has an alarm we have an alarm but we got simply safe from miss shirley and even i'm sleeping better, much less, you know, her. You get 10% off, everybody. SimpliSafe.com slash Nancy. You just can't be safe enough. That's what I think. Guys, joining me, Melissa Baum, Lindsay's mother. Lindsay went missing at just 10 years of age. She was about to turn 11.

It was a summer evening. It was still light outside. It had not even turned dark. In a town of less than 1,500 people, early summer 2009, five minutes from home, she never made it. If you know anything about the disappearance of Lindsey Baum, or you think you may know something, please contact authorities at 360-249-3711. Thank you, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.