Found in the Woods: The Unsolved Murder of 10-Year-Old Lindsey Baum

Lindsey Baum had just moved from Tennessee to the rural town of McCleary in Washington state. Photo courtesy of the Baum family.

It was June 2009, in rural McCleary, Washington, on a warm summer night. The unimaginable happened just a couple weeks before Lindsey Baum’s 11th birthday. The beautiful brown-eyed girl with light brown hair vanished while walking home alone.

A Safe Place

McCleary, Washington, is a small town with a population of only 1,600 and located in Grays Harbor County. In 2009, Melissa Baum was newly divorced and looking for a fresh start in a beautiful new place. She found her vision in McCleary and moved from Tennessee to the town with her two children, Lindsey, and Joshua. It seemed like a wonderful, quiet place to raise two children.

McCleary is in Grays Harbor County on Washington’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Photo courtesy of VRBO.

Founded in 1898, McCleary was a logging town and just 25 minutes from I-5 at Olympia. The city is governed by the Mayor and five Council members, and all utilities, including electricity, is provided by the City. It seemed like an ideal place for the Baum family to make a new start.

The small town of McCleary was a place where parents felt comfortable letting their children play outside, a place where children felt safe walking to their friend’s homes. Parents did…