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On the eight-month anniversary of Lindsey’s disappearance, FBI investigators and crime-scene analysts made one last sweep through the house for evidence and DNA samples, Grays Harbor County undersheriff Rick Scott said.
Investigators blocked off Mommsen Road in front of the home and loaded evidence into a trailer. Some wore white jumpsuits with boots, gloves and hoods to avoid corrupting any evidence.
Lindsey went missing June 26, days before her 11th birthday, while walking a short distance home from a friend’s house in McCleary. Despite thousands of tips, searches by hundreds of volunteers and a full-time team of investigators looking into the case, authorities have found no evidence explaining her disappearance.
After several months of searching, detectives requested a third-party review of the investigation by child- abduction experts with the FBI.
Investigators have searched the house thoroughly multiple times, Scott said, but making one last search of the house for “control samples” of DNA and other evidence was part of the review.
“It was one of the many things that was recommended we do,” he said.
Scott said Lindsey’s mother, Melissa, is set to move in with relatives in Thurston County. Melissa Baum told KIRO 7 News that she had not been able to return to work part time since Lindsey’s disappearance and had lost her unemployment benefits.
Investigators asked Melissa Baum to hold off on packing some things until they could make a final search, Scott said. They also asked her to let them search her car.
Scott said investigators also are preparing to act on other recommendations they received from the review. Neighboring law enforcement agencies will send officers to help with the new “push” for information.
He added that no one in their “worst nightmare” thought they still would be searching for answers eight months after Lindsey disappeared.
“It adds to the frustration, but it also adds to the desire” to crack the case, Scott said.
