Cold and Missing: LeeAnna Warner

WEBVTT

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The views and opinions expressed in Cold and

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Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All

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parties mentioned are considered innocent until

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proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing

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also contains adult themes and languages. Listener

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discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin

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-Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski.

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And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover

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cold cases and missing person cases. Hello everyone

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and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your

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host Allie and it will just be me coming to you

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this week. Eli is taking another week off just

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to take care of himself and thank you all so

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much for sticking with us. I know we took last

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week off completely. One of our dogs broke out

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in hives. He's okay. Everything's okay. A little

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Benadryl and a quick trip to the vet was all

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that was needed but we just had to change course

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a little bit last week and just make some more

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space to take care of the dog as I'm sure any

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pet parent out there would understand. But thank

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you so much as always for your understanding

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and your kind words. But I wanted to get back

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to you this week and give you another episode.

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We are on a missing person case and we are on

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episode 130. So let's go ahead and get into it.

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So just as a quick content warning at the top,

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this case does involve a young person, and there

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are some brief mentions of death by suicide and

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sexual assault. Today, we are talking about the

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missing person case of LeeAnna Warner, and this

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takes place in June of 2003 in Chisholm, Minnesota.

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But first, a little bit about LeeAnna. LeeAnna

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is five years old in 2003 and is described as

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a chatterbox. Her nickname is Beaner, given to

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her at birth by her mother that said she looked

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like a tiny bean pod. She and her family lived

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in the smaller town of Chisholm, Minnesota, which

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is about 250 miles north of the Twin Cities.

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LeeAnna loved frilly dresses and the family pets.

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She had four older siblings and was known as

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a light in the house, always talkative, always

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having fun, the baby to everybody. And now, a

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timeline of events. Saturday, June 14, 2003.

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Our timeline picks up as LeeAnna is headed home

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in the family car. She had fallen asleep in the

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car, and her mom, Kaylin, lets her sleep while

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she empties the car out. When she started to

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stir, she immediately wanted to go to her friend's

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house that lived nearby. She said she wanted

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to go say goodbye. Her friend lived just down

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the street. She had walked there on her own many

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times before, was only about a block away. Her

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mother told her that it was fine, but she needed

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to be back in a half hour at 5 p .m. So at 4

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.30, LEeAnna headed off. She was wearing a sleeveless

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denim dress and was barefoot. She was also wearing

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a flower earring with a red garnet in her right

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ear. Two neighbors saw LeeAnna knock on the friend's

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door. Unbeknownst to LeeAnna, her friend's family

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had left to go to Walmart, and there was nobody

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home. The neighbors who saw LeeAnna knocking kept

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going about their day. They assumed the little

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girl was going to be let in in a moment. No one

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came to the door. It's assumed at this point

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that LeeAnna turned around to head back home,

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but she never made it back. LeeAnna is never seen

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again. As 5 o 'clock rolls around, Kaelin, LeeAnna’s

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mother, noticed that she hadn't gotten home yet.

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She sends one of her older sisters to get her

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and bring her home. LeeAnna’s sister heads over

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to the neighbor's house and knocks. No one answers.

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The sister then turns around and heads back home

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to report this to her mother. Immediately, her

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mom and older sisters head back out into the

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neighborhood to look for LeeAnna. At 6 .21 p .m.,

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so LeeAnna was last seen about 4 .45 to 5 p .m.,

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Chris, LeeAnna’s father, gets a call. He works

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as a volunteer ambulance worker and heads out

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on the emergency. He left without knowing his

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daughter was missing. He's out on the call until

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7 .45 p .m. When he gets home, he's alerted that

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LeeAnna is missing and joins the search. At this

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point, neighbors and friends are all out looking

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throughout the neighborhood. They're checking

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other families' homes. Everybody is out looking

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for her. At 8 .48, this would be about four hours

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after LeeAnna was last seen. Her parents call

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911 to report her missing. Police arrive on the

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scene quickly. Cops are there by 9 p .m. and

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join the search and start organizing. By 10 .15,

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bloodhounds and search and rescue teams join

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the search for LeeAnna as well. The search goes

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throughout the night. They have a big operation.

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There are lots of volunteers helping. Police,

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search and rescue, dogs are all going. Early

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on, investigators have to make a choice. Do they

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treat this like an abduction and spend resources

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pursuing that? Or should they spend their resources

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searching the area in case she wandered off and

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got lost or hurt? Police decide to spend the

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resources searching for the little girl in the

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area, thinking it most likely that she wandered

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off and got lost. Investigators specifically

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focus on a four -square -mile radius around where

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LeeAnna was last seen. In that four miles also

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included a lake. Police continue to search throughout

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the night and into the next day, Sunday, June

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15th. At 4 a .m., the state police launch a helicopter

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to help aid in the search. The next 48 hours

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is a frantic search with police, firefighters,

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volunteers, helicopters, divers, bloodhounds,

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and tracking experts. It's a massive search.

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Police and family are just hoping that LeeAnna

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wandered off and got lost and that they'll be

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able to return the little girl home. Her mother

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says, quote, It's like she disappeared into thin

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air or someone zapped her somewhere with a laser.

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Or that she was just abducted by aliens. Just

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vanished. Gone. End quote. Nothing of the little

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girl is found in the search. No clues, no leads.

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Police looking back at this search say, quote,

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it was a Herculean effort to search that area.

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We're pretty confident, though I suppose we can't

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say beyond all reasonable certainty, but we're

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pretty confident that she wasn't in that four

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-mile radius. The days turn into weeks and the

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weeks into months. At the 50 -day mark, police

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announced that they now believe LeeAnna was the

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victim of a stranger abduction, completely pivoting

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what they had been communicating to the neighborhood,

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to the public, and also how they were investigating

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LeeAnna’s disappearance. Her father tells the

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media, quote, We knew it in our hearts, but it's

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not an easy word to hear. Police came to the

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conclusion of a stranger abduction after sorting

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through over 300 leads and a thorough search

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and research of the area around the home. The

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State Bureau of Investigation joined the case

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to help. One agent with over 30 years of experience

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said that he'd never seen a case with so little

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to go on. Investigators start by eliminating

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everyone in LeeAnna’s life, starting with family

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and friends closest to her and working outward.

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Police do not believe that LeeAnna’s family had

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anything to do with it, and they're eliminated

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quickly in the investigation. Police also pulled

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names from all the gas stations, hotels, and

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campgrounds in the area for the weekend that

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LeeAnna went missing. There had been a concert

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and a charity motorcycle ride that same weekend.

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According to police, nothing came from these

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searches. Everyone is looking for LeeAnna. For

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months, they're looking for her. Friends of hers

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and other kids in the neighborhood converted

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an old shed to the official Find Beaner Kids

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Clubhouse. Her parents remain hopeful. Her dad,

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Chris, says, quote, As a parent, you'd feel it

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in your heart if she'd passed on. We haven't

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felt that yet. We'll continue to hold the hope

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until they can show us otherwise. End quote.

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In September of 2003, so LeeAnna has been missing

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for three months. A man who had been questioned

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several times in LeeAnna’s disappearance is found

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dead by suicide. Police had searched his home

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in relation to LeeAnna. He lived just a few doors

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down from her in the neighborhood. During the

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search of his home, police had found child pornography.

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Police will later say that this man had nothing

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to do with LeeAnna’s disappearance specifically.

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There was never any evidence that LeeAnna was

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at his home. Later that same month, September

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of 2003, Bruce Christensen pleads guilty to making

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terroristic threats against Kaylin Warner, LeeAnna’s

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mom. Kaylin had asked Christensen to talk to

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police about LeeAnna’s disappearance. Christensen

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told Kaylin that he would sue for defamation

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and threaten to shoot her. He will eventually

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go on to murder other people in jail. The reward

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for information is upped to $25 ,000 later in

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September as well. LeeAnna’s grandfather, Butch

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Warner, says, quote, In June of 2004, At the

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one -year anniversary of LeeAnna’s disappearance,

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and police still have no idea what happened to

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her. No clues, no leads, no theories even outside

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of a stranger abduction. But police have nothing

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to go on. Investigators have ran down more than

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1 ,500 leads and nothing turned up. The family

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hired a private investigator to help them in

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their search. The PI plans to research the area

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around the home to see if he's able to find anything

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that was overlooked. Nothing new is discovered

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in those searches either. In June of 2008, so

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it's been five years since LeeAnna vanished, and

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police still have no leads in the case. Police

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ask people to come forward with any information

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that they may have. Quote, they might think that

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we've already heard it, but they've never talked

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to us. And that's one of the hopes I have. is

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that somebody who knows something will come forth

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and give us that little piece of the puzzle that

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will put this whole thing together and bring

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a resolution to the case. It appears that this

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public plea helps police. They begin to look

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at sex offender Joseph E. Duncan. Duncan had

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posted online about LeeAnna’s case. Duncan wanted

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to try to figure out who kidnapped her so that

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way the finger wouldn't be pointed at him. He

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posted online, quote, This is for my own safety.

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I figure it's just a matter of time before I

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am falsely accused of some crime or another."

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Duncan would later be sentenced to death row

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in Idaho for the kidnappings and murders of members

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of the Groney family. When he killed the Groney

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family and kidnapped Shasta Groney, he was on

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the run from child molestation charges in Minnesota.

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Investigators look into Duncan's life to see

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if they're able to place him in or around Chisholm,

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Minnesota during the time of LeeAnna’s disappearance,

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but I couldn't find any updates if they were

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ever able to link him to that area at the time

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of her disappearance. The case goes cold for

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years. It comes up again in the media at anniversaries

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and when they talk about other Minnesota missing

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children cases. In 2022, so it's been 19 years

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since LeeAnna vanished. Her mother says, quote,

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every few years we have to do the new and updated

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photographs of what she would look like now,

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and that's a struggle for me. Still to this day,

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I look for a five -year -old. I can't get that

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out of my head, even though I know she'd be 24.

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If I saw her today or could speak with her, I'd

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tell her how much I love her and that she'll

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always be my little angel. I would do anything

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in the world to find her and to make up for the

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last 19 years we've missed. LeeAnna’s mother will

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pass away later in 2022 from lung cancer. LeeAnna’s

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older sisters have taken up the fight to keep

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her case in the media and to keep searching for

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her in order to bring her home and to provide

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answers. But that is truly all the details we

00:13:20.789 --> 00:13:24.480
have on LeeAnna’s case. So if you know anything

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about the disappearance of LeeAnna Warner in June

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of 2003 or her whereabouts today, please call

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the National Center for Missing and Exploited

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Children at 1 -800 -843 -5678. So that is the

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missing person case of LeeAnna Warner. With this

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case, when I came across it, I was really looking

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at Minnesota, just the state of Minnesota kind

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of came to me when I was thinking about where

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to kind of look for the next case. And when I

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typed her name in and just, you know, kind of

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did a quick internet search just to see, you

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know, where the case is today. Sometimes there's

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cases, you know, where there has been an arrest,

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but maybe the person is still missing. So I always

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like to kind of check where the case is as of

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today in 2025. I was really surprised when I

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Googled LeeAnna’s name because a Wikipedia article

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popped up for her. And typically, you know, we

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don't cover a lot of cases that do have Wikipedia

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articles. Some do. Some are well -known like

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that. And this one is one that to me was not

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well -known. Maybe it's well -known to our listeners,

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but I wasn't as familiar with LeeAnna’s case.

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And, you know, reading through just the Wikipedia

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article really quickly and then... diving deep

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into the newspaper articles and the reporting

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at the time. This is a case that is very difficult

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and heartbreaking due to the complete lack of

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information. There's just really nothing to go

00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:04.919
on in this case. And I think that just brings

00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:07.460
us right into kind of talking about questions

00:15:07.460 --> 00:15:12.320
that I would have for this case. All we really

00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:16.750
know About LeeAnna’s disappearance is that she

00:15:16.750 --> 00:15:19.570
walked barefooted to a friend's house just to

00:15:19.570 --> 00:15:23.610
kind of quickly say goodbye. Her mom's quoted

00:15:23.610 --> 00:15:25.950
as saying she wanted to say goodbye to her friend.

00:15:26.070 --> 00:15:28.370
So I would assume that maybe they were playing

00:15:28.370 --> 00:15:30.429
earlier in the day and maybe she wanted to say

00:15:30.429 --> 00:15:34.110
goodbye or maybe good night. See you tomorrow.

00:15:34.190 --> 00:15:36.929
It was Saturday. So maybe she wanted to just

00:15:36.929 --> 00:15:39.370
say, like, I'll see you tomorrow. We'll play

00:15:39.370 --> 00:15:41.250
tomorrow. We'll keep doing what we're doing.

00:15:43.589 --> 00:15:47.870
But LeeAnna walked over there about 4 .30, 4 .45

00:15:47.870 --> 00:15:50.870
-ish, but she was told to be home in a half hour

00:15:50.870 --> 00:15:54.029
at 5 o 'clock. So we know that neighbors saw

00:15:54.029 --> 00:15:57.929
her knocking on her friend's door. And I believe

00:15:57.929 --> 00:16:00.110
there are two witnesses that saw that. At least

00:16:00.110 --> 00:16:02.090
that's how it made it sound, is that there are

00:16:02.090 --> 00:16:05.950
a couple different accounts that saw LeeAnna knocking.

00:16:07.259 --> 00:16:09.899
didn't pay any attention past that, didn't see

00:16:09.899 --> 00:16:11.820
if anyone answered the door, didn't see if she

00:16:11.820 --> 00:16:13.960
was let in, if she turned around and started

00:16:13.960 --> 00:16:16.759
walking home, if she maybe started walking to

00:16:16.759 --> 00:16:19.340
another friend's house. Nothing is known beyond

00:16:19.340 --> 00:16:21.659
she got to the front door of the friend's house,

00:16:21.740 --> 00:16:24.980
knocked, and they weren't home and they had gone

00:16:24.980 --> 00:16:28.740
to Walmart. And that's really all we know. It's

00:16:28.740 --> 00:16:31.240
assumed that LeeAnna would have turned around

00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:34.139
and started walking back home, but we know she

00:16:34.139 --> 00:16:37.070
never makes it there. And there are no other

00:16:37.070 --> 00:16:40.710
sightings, at least that we know of, saying that,

00:16:40.730 --> 00:16:43.730
like, you know, this color car drove through

00:16:43.730 --> 00:16:47.529
or, you know, this person was seen walking. You

00:16:47.529 --> 00:16:49.909
know, there's nothing else, even around that

00:16:49.909 --> 00:16:55.049
time period, that gives any clue or indication

00:16:55.049 --> 00:16:57.950
or even just a lead as to what could have happened

00:16:57.950 --> 00:17:01.429
to LeeAnna. I mentioned during the timeline that,

00:17:01.429 --> 00:17:03.429
you know, once police are called, they're called

00:17:03.429 --> 00:17:07.150
about four hours after she's last seen. They

00:17:07.150 --> 00:17:09.269
start searching, but they kind of have to make

00:17:09.269 --> 00:17:13.470
an immediate decision. Do they treat this like

00:17:13.470 --> 00:17:16.990
a stranger abduction, which statistically would

00:17:16.990 --> 00:17:20.910
have been more rare? Or do they treat it like

00:17:20.910 --> 00:17:24.690
she has wandered off and maybe gotten lost or

00:17:24.690 --> 00:17:29.210
hurt? As discussed in the timeline, they put

00:17:29.210 --> 00:17:32.390
the resources towards searching the area as if

00:17:32.390 --> 00:17:35.670
she had wandered off and gotten lost. It does

00:17:35.670 --> 00:17:40.309
make me wonder if they had pivoted at all or

00:17:40.309 --> 00:17:46.369
maybe thrown some resources out for the maybe

00:17:46.369 --> 00:17:49.210
least likely option at the time, but now what

00:17:49.210 --> 00:17:52.190
is considered the most likely option of a stranger

00:17:52.190 --> 00:17:56.099
abduction. I do wonder. if that would have turned

00:17:56.099 --> 00:17:58.039
up anything, if that would have done anything.

00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:02.119
Because a couple things come to mind that make

00:18:02.119 --> 00:18:05.180
me think that, you know, if they had, you know,

00:18:05.180 --> 00:18:09.019
right at 9 p .m. when the police arrived, if

00:18:09.019 --> 00:18:10.720
they had started treating it like a stranger

00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.779
abduction, if... They could have pulled some

00:18:13.779 --> 00:18:16.440
leads. Of course, this is all speculation at

00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:18.440
this point. But, you know, at that point, it

00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:20.980
had been four hours. And Chisholm, Minnesota,

00:18:21.160 --> 00:18:23.920
is a pretty small town. It looks like there are

00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:26.740
kind of these two main roads that would take

00:18:26.740 --> 00:18:29.559
you out or, you know, kind of get you going to

00:18:29.559 --> 00:18:35.799
more places. So there's Highway 169, which runs

00:18:35.799 --> 00:18:40.640
east. And then there's also Highway 73, which

00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:43.799
is north and south. So both of those roads could

00:18:43.799 --> 00:18:48.099
have gotten you out of town pretty quickly if

00:18:48.099 --> 00:18:51.640
a stranger abduction had happened. So while I

00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:54.920
don't think the outcome would have been any different,

00:18:55.019 --> 00:18:57.859
I'm sure that if everyone could go back to that

00:18:57.859 --> 00:19:01.079
night, they would have maybe split the resources

00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:04.880
or at least put some officers out at those roads

00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:07.259
watching and stopping all traffic in and out

00:19:07.259 --> 00:19:09.960
of the area. But of course, you know, at the

00:19:09.960 --> 00:19:13.380
time, police made a decision based off of what

00:19:13.380 --> 00:19:16.460
was statistically most likely. And, you know,

00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:19.000
this is a small town of around 5 ,000. They had

00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:23.900
never seen something like this before. Now, over

00:19:23.900 --> 00:19:27.539
the years, a few persons of interest have come

00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:31.700
to light. And one that I am curious about is

00:19:31.700 --> 00:19:40.650
Bruce Christensen. LeeAnna’s mother or not kind

00:19:40.650 --> 00:19:42.970
of he was charged against it so he was making

00:19:42.970 --> 00:19:45.829
threats against LeeAnna’s mother and threatening

00:19:45.829 --> 00:19:49.269
to kill her and you know when she asked him to

00:19:49.269 --> 00:19:53.509
talk to police about her daughter's case he seems

00:19:53.509 --> 00:19:56.289
to have like blown up and like accused her of

00:19:56.289 --> 00:20:00.230
defamation and you know saying all these false

00:20:00.230 --> 00:20:06.700
things against him but I don't know what came

00:20:06.700 --> 00:20:09.779
out of any interview with police if he even talked

00:20:09.779 --> 00:20:12.339
to police I would assume that there was some

00:20:12.339 --> 00:20:17.420
questioning done by officers and I I'm just wondering

00:20:17.420 --> 00:20:20.799
if there was any more suspicion or if they were

00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:23.359
able to rule him out completely from LeeAnna’s

00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:27.779
case because this just seems like such a huge

00:20:27.779 --> 00:20:31.680
reaction to like have this grieving mother and

00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:36.910
to like threaten to shoot her like that's wild

00:20:36.910 --> 00:20:39.789
behavior and we do know that this man like later

00:20:39.789 --> 00:20:43.069
he will go on to kill someone in jail and he

00:20:43.069 --> 00:20:45.789
just kills that person because they're there

00:20:45.789 --> 00:20:49.869
it seems like so all in all this is somebody

00:20:49.869 --> 00:20:53.230
that I would you know if I could sit down and

00:20:53.230 --> 00:20:54.990
ask police anything I would want to know about

00:20:54.990 --> 00:20:58.930
him what did he have to offer what did he say

00:20:58.930 --> 00:21:01.849
how was his demeanor what did police think about

00:21:01.849 --> 00:21:05.230
him And were police ever able to rule him out?

00:21:05.269 --> 00:21:07.349
Did he have a really good alibi, like he was

00:21:07.349 --> 00:21:11.250
at work or something? Or is that all up in the

00:21:11.250 --> 00:21:13.829
air? So that is a person that I would like to

00:21:13.829 --> 00:21:16.789
know more about. And I just never could really

00:21:16.789 --> 00:21:21.049
find any updates beyond him years later in jail

00:21:21.049 --> 00:21:26.329
murdering somebody. And then the other person

00:21:26.329 --> 00:21:31.450
that I would be very curious to know. you know,

00:21:31.450 --> 00:21:35.269
what police thought about this person is Joseph

00:21:35.269 --> 00:21:39.369
E. Duncan. We know that Duncan was accused of

00:21:39.369 --> 00:21:44.650
child molestation in Minnesota when he went on

00:21:44.650 --> 00:21:48.509
the run and murdered and kidnapped members of

00:21:48.509 --> 00:21:51.990
the Groney family. The Groney family murders

00:21:51.990 --> 00:21:55.789
and kidnapping happened in 2005, so that would

00:21:55.789 --> 00:21:59.559
have been two years. after LeeAnna’s disappearance

00:21:59.559 --> 00:22:02.779
and we know that Duncan was writing about it

00:22:02.779 --> 00:22:07.880
like on his online blog I tried to find those

00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:10.779
posts exactly I tried to dig through the internet

00:22:10.779 --> 00:22:12.980
archive to see if I could find them at all but

00:22:12.980 --> 00:22:15.299
I couldn't come up with anything besides what

00:22:15.299 --> 00:22:18.740
was quoted in the newspapers but overall it seemed

00:22:18.740 --> 00:22:23.900
like the tone of these online blog posts was

00:22:23.900 --> 00:22:25.980
that he needed to solve LeeAnna’s disappearance

00:22:25.980 --> 00:22:29.519
because He was afraid that people would point

00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:32.799
to him and accuse him of the crime and that it

00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:36.559
was only a matter of time before he was falsely

00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:40.019
accused of this or another crime. So he wanted

00:22:40.019 --> 00:22:43.740
to get ahead of it and solve it for police. Kind

00:22:43.740 --> 00:22:47.779
of seems to be the overall summary of his writings.

00:22:48.859 --> 00:22:52.569
Considering what Duncan later goes on and does

00:22:52.569 --> 00:22:55.029
and what he's been accused of already in Minnesota

00:22:55.029 --> 00:22:57.910
I think he's one of maybe the better suspects

00:22:57.910 --> 00:23:01.369
that have cropped up in LeeAnna’s case and I would

00:23:01.369 --> 00:23:03.490
be curious if police were ever able to place

00:23:03.490 --> 00:23:06.690
him near Chisholm Minnesota during the time of

00:23:06.690 --> 00:23:10.569
LeeAnna’s disappearance Duncan did die on death

00:23:10.569 --> 00:23:14.589
row in 2021 he was not executed but he died of

00:23:14.589 --> 00:23:18.720
natural causes But he's somebody I kept coming

00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:22.220
back to. And, you know, even as I dug in more

00:23:22.220 --> 00:23:25.059
into the Groney case, there was enough there

00:23:25.059 --> 00:23:29.460
in that case. He annihilated this family and

00:23:29.460 --> 00:23:32.980
kidnapped two of the youngest, Dylan and Shasta.

00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:36.819
And he does end up also murdering Dylan. But

00:23:36.819 --> 00:23:41.200
Shasta is found, I think, two or three months

00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:44.759
later after her kidnapping. And so it seemed

00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:49.230
like he had and focused on, you know, the youngest

00:23:49.230 --> 00:23:54.170
girl in this family. So, you know, again, these

00:23:54.170 --> 00:23:57.029
are all, like, very thin threads to kind of tie

00:23:57.029 --> 00:24:00.109
him to LeeAnna, but it's just something that if

00:24:00.109 --> 00:24:01.789
I could sit down and go through the case file,

00:24:01.950 --> 00:24:04.309
like, that's somewhere I would go to kind of

00:24:04.309 --> 00:24:06.529
quickly. Like, okay, what came? Did police ever

00:24:06.529 --> 00:24:08.609
talk to him? What did that interview sound like?

00:24:09.029 --> 00:24:13.029
And where did they leave off? able to rule him

00:24:13.029 --> 00:24:15.190
out completely and say, no, there's no way he

00:24:15.190 --> 00:24:17.509
could have been involved? Or is he still somebody

00:24:17.509 --> 00:24:20.670
who, you know, they kind of consider as a person

00:24:20.670 --> 00:24:24.650
of interest? LeeAnna’s case honestly has more

00:24:24.650 --> 00:24:30.430
questions than solid answers on anything. As

00:24:30.430 --> 00:24:32.470
far as the timeline goes, you know, there's only

00:24:32.470 --> 00:24:35.170
really a half hour that we have to account for

00:24:35.170 --> 00:24:38.190
LeeAnna’s movements during that really critical

00:24:38.190 --> 00:24:41.000
time. And then beyond that, There's no clue.

00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:44.259
There's no footprints. There's no clothing found.

00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:47.640
There's no sightings. There's nothing. There's

00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:51.259
just nothing. There's nothing to indicate a direction

00:24:51.259 --> 00:24:54.240
that the little girl could have even gone. I

00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.140
think her mother said early on that, you know,

00:24:56.140 --> 00:24:58.279
it really was like she disappeared into thin

00:24:58.279 --> 00:25:01.400
air or she was zapped somewhere. And that really

00:25:01.400 --> 00:25:04.160
does feel like what happened. It was just thin

00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:07.779
air. But little girls just don't disappear into

00:25:07.779 --> 00:25:12.250
thin air. LeeAnna’s mother for years kept up the

00:25:12.250 --> 00:25:14.769
fight, kept up the search, always searching.

00:25:14.829 --> 00:25:16.730
It feels like her family will always be searching

00:25:16.730 --> 00:25:19.470
for that little five -year -old girl. But of

00:25:19.470 --> 00:25:23.349
course, she would be in her 20s now. And LeeAnna’s

00:25:23.349 --> 00:25:27.369
sisters have taken over for their mother in,

00:25:27.430 --> 00:25:31.130
you know, steering the ship on this case. They

00:25:31.130 --> 00:25:33.289
want answers. They were little girls when this

00:25:33.289 --> 00:25:37.150
happened as well. And I can't even imagine. being

00:25:37.150 --> 00:25:39.829
so young and having a sibling disappear like

00:25:39.829 --> 00:25:44.029
this. So this family needs answers and they deserve

00:25:44.029 --> 00:25:46.329
answers. All these years of not knowing and it's

00:25:46.329 --> 00:25:49.930
so unfair that LeeAnna’s mother didn't have answers

00:25:49.930 --> 00:25:53.990
before she passed. So my future hope in this

00:25:53.990 --> 00:25:57.309
case is that we're able to get the family answers

00:25:57.309 --> 00:26:01.049
and we're able to bring LeeAnna home and the family

00:26:01.049 --> 00:26:04.589
can know where she is. That's really the hope

00:26:04.589 --> 00:26:07.900
I have in this case. really there's so little

00:26:07.900 --> 00:26:10.259
to go on it's like any piece of information that's

00:26:10.259 --> 00:26:13.160
going to come in could potentially crack the

00:26:13.160 --> 00:26:15.359
case open because there's so little that like

00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:17.619
one thing might be all it needs to just take

00:26:17.619 --> 00:26:20.859
it in a certain direction and then really put

00:26:20.859 --> 00:26:24.119
the pieces of the puzzle together I know Eli

00:26:24.119 --> 00:26:26.279
says this a lot whenever we cover cases that

00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:30.819
are you know from the 21st century you know 2000

00:26:30.819 --> 00:26:34.460
and on that it does feel so recent so it does

00:26:34.460 --> 00:26:38.069
feel so solvable but This does feel so solvable.

00:26:38.789 --> 00:26:42.309
I hope that we're able to get LeeAnna home and

00:26:42.309 --> 00:26:44.930
get the family the answers as to what has happened

00:26:44.930 --> 00:26:50.410
over the last 21, almost 22 years. So with that,

00:26:50.430 --> 00:26:52.289
if you know anything about the disappearance

00:26:52.289 --> 00:26:56.809
of LeeAnna Warner in June of 2003 or her whereabouts

00:26:56.809 --> 00:26:59.910
today, please call the National Center for Missing

00:26:59.910 --> 00:27:05.069
and Exploited Children at 1 -800 -843 -5678.

00:27:06.419 --> 00:27:08.940
On our Instagram, we will, of course, have pictures

00:27:08.940 --> 00:27:11.299
of LeeAnna. We'll also have some age progress

00:27:11.299 --> 00:27:13.400
photos to kind of show what she would look like

00:27:13.400 --> 00:27:16.559
in her 20s because while she went missing when

00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:19.119
she was five, we are looking for somebody in

00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:22.210
their 20s today. So we will have that at our

00:27:22.210 --> 00:27:24.369
Instagram at coldandmissing. You can follow us

00:27:24.369 --> 00:27:26.329
there if you're not already. And of course, if

00:27:26.329 --> 00:27:29.430
we ever need to take the week off because life

00:27:29.430 --> 00:27:32.410
happens, something pops up, we'll always announce

00:27:32.410 --> 00:27:34.589
it on our Instagram just to keep you all in the

00:27:34.589 --> 00:27:37.710
loop. So please, if you're not, find us on Instagram

00:27:37.710 --> 00:27:41.799
at coldandmissing. We also have a website, www

00:27:41.799 --> 00:27:44.819
.coldandmissing .com, where we have all of our

00:27:44.819 --> 00:27:47.480
old episodes, the official transcripts, if you

00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:49.420
or someone you love is hard of hearing and need

00:27:49.420 --> 00:27:52.819
that to follow along. Or if you would like to

00:27:52.819 --> 00:27:55.880
donate to our podcast and continue the mission,

00:27:56.079 --> 00:27:58.740
it all goes right back into the podcast. We have

00:27:58.740 --> 00:28:01.509
a Buy Me a Coffee link, and you can... make a

00:28:01.509 --> 00:28:04.170
one -time donation to the podcast. You can find

00:28:04.170 --> 00:28:07.309
that easily on our website, www .coldandmissing

00:28:07.309 --> 00:28:10.569
.com. And if you could take a moment to rate

00:28:10.569 --> 00:28:13.049
and review us in your podcast player, we would

00:28:13.049 --> 00:28:15.529
appreciate it so much. And giving us a five -star

00:28:15.529 --> 00:28:18.970
rating really helps the algorithm get us to other

00:28:18.970 --> 00:28:22.089
people and get these cases to other people. So,

00:28:22.089 --> 00:28:24.150
you know, if you had never heard of LeeAnna’s

00:28:24.150 --> 00:28:27.190
case before today, Maybe go into your podcast

00:28:27.190 --> 00:28:29.670
app and just give us a rating so that way LeeAnna’s

00:28:29.670 --> 00:28:31.609
case can get to somebody else who has never heard

00:28:31.609 --> 00:28:34.170
it and we can just continue talking about her

00:28:34.170 --> 00:28:37.990
and continue to put pressure on police that we're

00:28:37.990 --> 00:28:40.849
not forgetting about her and we want answers

00:28:40.849 --> 00:28:42.930
in this case so they should keep putting resources

00:28:42.930 --> 00:28:46.980
towards her case. Again, something as simple

00:28:46.980 --> 00:28:49.700
as a review can do that. So thank you if you've

00:28:49.700 --> 00:28:51.440
done it already. Thank you if you're going to

00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:53.940
do it right now or later this week. We appreciate

00:28:53.940 --> 00:28:58.460
it so, so very much. But that is all I have for

00:28:58.460 --> 00:29:01.420
you this week. Thank you so much for listening

00:29:01.420 --> 00:29:04.700
to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Allie. Have

00:29:04.700 --> 00:29:06.319
a good week and stay safe, y 'all.