Land Where Missing Girl’s Remains Found Still Closed as Evidence Search Continues

A rugged, two-square mile area west of Ellensburg is expected to remain closed Monday as a search for evidence into a McCleary girl’s homicide continues.

The U.S. Forest Service reports that the area along Forest Service Road 3100 between Barber Springs Road and Buck Meadows was expected to remain closed Monday and possibly longer.

About 200 volunteers and law enforcement officials, along with 22 police dog teams, were in the area this weekend looking for possible evidence related to 10-year-old Lindsey Baum, who was last seen almost nine years ago when she left a friend’s home in McCleary, according to the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office.

The area is described as heavily timbered steep terrain with large cliffs and deep ravines, according to a Kittitas County sheriff’s news release.

Skeletal remains were found in the area 20 miles west of Ellensburg last fall, and DNA testing identified them as Lindsey’s, according to Grays Harbor Sheriff Rick Scott. Gray’s Harbor sheriff’s detectives and the FBI are the lead investigators on the case.