Missing McCleary girl's supporters: 'Just bring her back'
They're hoping to get the Legislature interested in helping out in the search for the little girl.
Lindsey vanished June 26 while walking home from a friend's house around dusk.
Now her mother and an ardent group of volunteers have brought their plea for help to Olympia's Heritage Park, just in the shadow of the state Capitol building.
The candlelight vigil is an attempt to keep the search for Lindsey alive, to offer renewed faith that she will be found - and to keep the missing girl in the news so she won't become a cold case.
Lindsey was 10 years old when she vanished; now she'd be 11.
 Lindsey Baum |
In November, Lindsey's face graced the cover of People magazine, along with a California girl who is missing. If that generated a substantial lead, investigators are keeping it to themselves.
Lindsey's mother is now hoping that a government-sponsored increase in the reward fund will stimulate someone to talk.
"California is going bankrupt, and Arnold Schwarzenegger donated $40,000 to Amber Dubois' reward fund - so her reward fund is up to $100,000, and Lindsey's is at $10,000," says Melissa Baum.
"And you know - somebody out there knows something, and if their morals and their hearts won't make them come forward - maybe money will."
Keeping the faith is what the vigil is all about - staying focused, staying determined not to letting the search for Lindsey become an afterthought - is the pledge all of Lindsey's friends have made.
"The person who took Lindsey - please bring her back. Just bring her back," says her friend, Julie Colbert. "If you can't bring her back, then call somebody and tell us where to find her and we'll go get her."
Schwarzenegger's offer for Amber Dubois was $40,000 in state funds - the remaining $60,000 was raised by the California girl's family.
Law enforcement has traditionally said that high rewards have caused people to talk in the past.