LEEANNA WARNER

Endangered Missing
LEEANNA WARNER


DOB: Jan 21, 1998
Missing: Jun 14, 2003
Age Now: 13
Sex: Female
Race: White
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 3'2" (97 cm)
Weight: 48 lbs (22 kg)
Missing From:
CHISHOLM
MN
United States
Age Progressed

LeeAnna's photo is shown age-progressed to 7 years. She was last seen at home at 5 p.m. on June 14, 2003. She was last seen wearing a sleeveless dark blue denim dress. LeeAnna has a mole on her left leg just above her ankle. She also goes by the nickname "Beaner."
ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)

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Chisholm Police Department (Minnesota) 1-218-749-6010 or

LeeAnna's mother, Tiffany Kaelin Whittaker, more commonly known as Kaelin Warner, began looking for her at 5:30 p.m., enlisting neighborhood children to help. When the search turned up no sign of LeeAnna's whereabouts, Kaelin called the police between 8:40 and 9:00 p.m. An extensive search by authorities, which lasted several days and included helicopters and bloodhounds, failed to locate LeeAnna or any sign of where she might be. LeeAnna lives near the Iron Mountain Range and, had she gotten lost in the mountains, probably could not have survived the conditions more than about 72 hours. While there is no evidence that she was kidnapped, authorities have been leaning towards that view, feeling they would have found her quickly had she merely wandered off. Tracker dogs traced her scent to the roadside edge but lost it after that.

An unidentified man in his mid-thirties was seen on foot in the neighborhood at about the time of LeeAnna's disappearance. He was approximately 5'10 tall and 155 pounds, with a dark-colored tattoo of a star or sun on his right arm. A maroon and blue two-door Cadillac driven by an African-American man in his twenties or thirties with a bald or shaven head, and an older model rusty brown pickup truck driven by a Caucasian man with black curly hair were also seen in the area. Neither the vehicles or their drivers have been identified or questioned by police. It is unknown if any of them had to do with LeeAnna's apparent abduction.

Matthew James Curtis, 24, was arrested in Chisholm in August 2003 for possession of child pornography charges which were unrelated to LeeAnna's case. He was interrogated several times about a possible connection to LeeAnna, however, due to the nature of his alleged crime. Curtis was found dead September 2003, the day before he was supposed to appear in court on the child pornography charge. Police say he suffocated himself with a plastic bag and his body was found in a gravel pit eight or nine miles outside of Chisholm. The investigation into his death has been closed and ruled a suicide. There has been speculation that Curtis did not commit suicide and was in fact murdered in a possible revenge or gangland-style killing, and his remains were then staged to make it look like he took his own life. There is no evidence to support this theory, however.

Authorities initially suspected that Curtis was involved in LeeAnna's disappearance, and they processed his pickup truck for DNA samples. They could not find any evidence that the child had ever been in the vehicle, and it was decided that Curtis was not connected to LeeAnna's apparent abduction.

Police suspect foul play in LeeAnna's disappearance, but her parents believe she is still alive. LeeAnna's parents were not asked to take lie detector tests and are not suspects in their daughter's apparent abduction. They have both been previously divorced and LeeAnna's father, Christopher, had domestic problems with his ex-wife; they both sought mutual restraining orders and he alleged that she had threatened Kaelin and LeeAnna. These difficulties occured several years before LeeAnna's disappearance, however, and are not thought to be related to it. The Warners moved to Chisholm just a few months prior to LeeAnna's disappearance.

In October 2003, five months after LeeAnna disappeared, Kaelin was arrested and charged with gross misdemeanor counts of of criminal vehicular operation causing bodily harm and one count of hit-and-run. She ran over Christopher with their red Chevrolet Cavalier during an argument that month. Christopher was struck in the arm and left leg but was not seriously hurt and did not seek medical attention. Investigators say the disagreement and the ensuing charges do not mean that LeeAnna's parents were involved in her disappearance and are only indicative of the stress her absence has caused her family. Kaelin pleaded guilty to both charges, though she maintains the incident was an accident.

LeeAnna enjoys playing with dolls and riding her bicycle, and is described as a friendly, precocious, and fearless child. She has been known to wander, and her survival instincts are said to be quite advanced for her age. After LeeAnna vanished, her footprints were found near Longyear Lake, a shallow lake near where she was last seen. Investigators pumped some of the water out of the lake in late October 2003 to search for evidence relating to her case, but they found nothing important and had to stop pumping because the lake was freezing over. They began a new search of Chisholm in the summer of 2004, looking for the child's remains.

LeeAnna's case remains unsolved.

The timeline for what authorities believe happened the afternoon and evening of June 14, when Leanna Warner disappeared in Chisholm, Minn.:

4:35 p.m.: Leanna, 5, leaves her home for a friend's house less than two blocks away. Her mother, Kaelin Warner, tells her to be home in about a half-hour. Leanna is barefoot and wearing a sleeveless denim dress.

5:15 p.m.: Two neighbors see Leanna knocking on the door of the friend's house. The friend is not home, and nobody answers.

5:30 p.m.: Kaelin notices Leanna isn't home yet. She sends Leanna's older sister over to the friend's house. The friend's family isn't home.

6 to 6:30 p.m.: Kaelin and Leanna's older sister start walking around the neighborhood looking for Leanna.

6:21 p.m.: Chris Warner, Leanna's father and a volunteer with Chisholm's ambulance service, leaves home on an emergency medical run to the Hibbing area. Authorities do not believe he knew at this point that his daughter was missing.

7:30 p.m.: More people join in the search for Leanna.

7:47 p.m.: Chris Warner's ambulance run ends. He returns home, is told that Leanna is missing and joins the search.

8:48 p.m.: Kaelin Warner places a 911 call to a St. Louis County dispatcher to report that her daughter is missing. By 9 p.m., Chisholm police are helping with the search. Rescue squad personnel, including bloodhounds, arrive by 10:15 p.m. A State Patrol helicopter is searching for Leanna by 4 a.m. Sunday.

June 15: Residents join police officers from Chisholm and neighboring cities, St. Louis County sheriff's deputies and state Department of Natural Resources officers. The helicopter again searches for Leanna, especially above Longyear Lake, which is about two blocks from her home.

Man questioned in LeeAnna Warner's disappearance is found dead
Howie Padilla and Terry Collins, Star Tribune

Published September 14, 2003 LEAN14


The body of one of several men who had been questioned in the disappearance of 5-year-old LeeAnna Warner of Chisholm, Minn., was found in a gravel pit Friday, the victim of an apparent suicide, authorities said Saturday.

At this point, Matthew J. Curtis, 24, of Chisholm, is no more of a suspect than any other person authorities have questioned, Department of Public Safety spokesman Kevin Smith said Saturday afternoon.

"There were a lot of things going on in this man's life, so it's not clear why he committed suicide," Smith said. "It may have nothing to do with LeeAnna Warner at all. He's like any other person they've been looking at for a long time."

Curtis' body was found by three men from the area who were looking for a place to practice archery, St. Louis County Sheriff Ross Litman said in a written statement. The gravel pit is about 8 miles north of Chisholm on National Forest land.

Curtis had recently been charged with possession of child pornography and was out on bail, the sheriff's statement said.

Investigators had said in July that they planned to look at about 130 convicted s@x offenders who live in northeastern Minnesota as part of the investigation.

Chris Warner, LeeAnna's father, said Saturday that he was awaiting a call from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension about Curtis.

Warner saw police at Curtis' home Friday night and wondered whether their presence had anything to do with his missing daughter.

"This guy only lives a few doors from me," Warner said. "I went up to the police and asked them if it had anything to do with LeeAnna, and they said no.

"Right now, everything I know is speculation."

LeeAnna, nicknamed "Beaner," was last seen about 5:15 p.m. on June 14 as she knocked on the door of a friend's house a block and a half from her home. She was wearing a sleeveless denim dress and was barefoot. Authorities believe she was abducted.

A reward and pleas from her parents have generated more than 1,300 leads. Investigators and family members have followed each tip and searched in vain for the girl.

Authorities investigating Curtis' death will probably spend the next few days gathering evidence at the gravel pit to see whether there are other clues, Smith said.

"They're going to move slow on it," he said. "They have to process all the evidence and try to figure out why he committed suicide.

"This in no way ends the investigation in LeeAnna's disappearance."

Originally posted 03/18/04


News Story About Leanna Warner

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Police find no evidence linking suicide to missing Chisholm girl
www.startribune.com

Published December 26, 2003 GIRL26

After months of examination, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has found no evidence of missing 5-year-old LeeAnna Warner of Chisholm, Minn., in the pickup of a man who apparently committed suicide in September.

"There was nothing in the results that help us in any way, shape or form," Chisholm Police Chief Scott Erickson said Tuesday. "This case is still under investigation, and we'll continue to investigate leads as they come in."

Investigators had questioned Chisholm resident Matthew James Curtis, 24, before he was found dead in his pickup while free on bail after being charged with possessing child pornography, according to the Sheriff's Office.

LeeAnna has been missing since June 14, when the 5-year-old was seen knocking on the door of a friend's house a block and a half from her home. Authorities believe she was abducted.

Originally posted on 04/09/04


Minnesota's missing: Terribly missed

By Robert Franklin, Richard Meryhew, Jill Burcum and Chuck Haga / Star Tribune
startribune.com
Updated: 7:41 a.m. ET March 23, 200403/23/2004 - They are still mothers and fathers.

Patty Wetterling still has Christmas presents saved for her son Jacob after he was abducted 14 years ago. Allan Sjodin still talks to his daughter, Dru, missing for four months, as he drives through the Red River Valley, looking for her in the wheat stubble.

More than nine months into the nightmare of 5-year-old LeeAnna's disappearance, Kaelin Warner still wakes at 3 a.m. and instinctively listens for the rhythmic breathing and rustlings of sleeping children. But she hears only one. There should be two.

Even as they search for their children and hope dims, even as months and then years pass, the relationship endures: "My child -- my child -- is missing."

There are haunting, heartbreaking similarities, but each family responds differently.

An anguished Brian Guimond presses police, college officials and students for information that might help him find his son Josh, or what caused his disappearance 16 months ago from St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn. Guimond the father presses so hard that he's "scaring the students," an official says in an affidavit.

At a hearing Wednesday in Stearns County District Court, a judge will determine whether to extend for two years a restraining order that has temporarily banned Brian Guimond from campus without permission and a school escort.

He has been ordered not to shout, swear or call names, an indication of his intensity.

"I'm just trying to get to the bottom of my son's disappearance," Guimond says.

While not necessarily endorsing all his tactics, Patty Wetterling understands the depth of his passion.

"He's under a lot of stress," she said. "Especially with a missing adult, a lot of pressure is put on the family to keep the interest going. That's all understandable and reasonable.

"Some of the challenges have been his arguments with law enforcement. It's difficult, because on the one hand they are the only people you've got to help find your son. But if you don't feel like they've done their job, then you are all on your own. And I think that's where Brian is."

Jerry Wetterling, Jacob's father, is also inclined to cut Guimond some slack.

"The thing with Brian, he's kind of all alone in this," he said. "Josh is his only child. His life is absolutely torn upside down, and I know absolutely what that is all about.

"I really feel for him -- that isolation and desperation. Whatever reason, he's justified just because you're just reaching for straws, you know. You've got to do what you think you've got to do to give yourself some peace of mind and find your loved one."

The school's restraining order also makes sense, Patty Wetterling said, because it "is putting some boundaries back" in Brian Guimond's life.

"Just because you have a missing child doesn't mean you can do anything you want to do," she said. Jacob's abducter might be someone who still lives in the area, "but I can't go pounding on doors and say, 'What happened? Give it up!' I may want to, but I can't."

Many similarities

Some parents of missing children cope by withdrawing from old friends and routines, even as they find themselves thrust into roles more public than they ever thought themselves capable of: talking with FBI agents and governors, accepting the sympathy of strangers at restaurants, putting on makeup to appear on network TV news shows.

"When your kid is missing, you cannot sleep," said Carol Watson, executive director of Missing Children Minnesota. Her toddler son was missing for 13 months in the early 1980s. The memories are still searing. "When your child is missing, that's the most important thing in the world," she said. "It feels like the world should stop."

It isn't just parents who must find ways to cope with loss. JoAnn Nathe is a sister of Jodi Huisentruit, who disappeared in Mason City, Iowa, in 1995 on the way to work as a TV anchor.

Nathe still misses "my little sister, who I just adored." And she still struggles with trust.

"One time, I had my mom along at a concert and I couldn't find her anywhere," Nathe said. "I just assumed she had fallen or had a heart attack, and I went wild assuming what had happened.

"It's gotten better. But for a while, I'd just overreact, assuming the worst. If my daughter was real late coming home from something, I'd think, 'Oh, no.' "

Nathe, 53, teaches first grade in Sauk Centre, Minn. To get through bad times, to talk herself out of fear or depression, she becomes Jodi: always bubbly, ever the optimist.

"Just like this Dru Sjodin," she said. "When you see Dru Sjodin on TV, that's Jodi."

In Brainerd, Minn., Colleen Dalquist also couldn't help watching the family pictures of a smiling Dru Sjodin shown on TV as thousands of volunteers searched for her last year.

Sjodin was 22 when she went missing after leaving work at a Grand Forks mall. Erika would be 22, too, Colleen Dalquist thought. "We look at Dru's parents on TV and we feel so bad they have to be there, waiting and not knowing," she said.

To friends who asked why she insisted on following the Sjodin case so closely, Dalquist said "I'm drawn to it. I'm drawn to them."

Months before, Colleen and Duane Dalquist had gone with investigators to watch as farm ponds were cleared of ice, drained and searched.

They had walked with searchers through fields and woods, and they had watched, holding hands, as divers went into a deep, water-filled mine pit where a 24-year-old suspect had told police he might have left Erika.

The divers couldn't find her. The suspect was released.

Duane Dalquist, a machinist who took a year off work after Erika disappeared so he could spend more time at home with their two sons, still gets the urge to go looking for his daughter.

Like Allan Sjodin, like Chris Warner (LeeAnna's father), like all the others, he returns from a f ruitless search disappointed -- and relieved.

"I'm partly glad each time when [we] find nothing," he said. "But that tears you apart, too."

To find nothing is to not know.

"I think it's easier to deal with death than [with] not knowing," Kaelin Warner said.

Added Chris Warner: "I can deal with facts. I can't deal with not knowing."

The Warners have taken antidepressants to help them through the worst times, but there have been moments when nothing could keep the pain at bay. On a cold night last October, they had a disagreement that led to Kaelin driving off in a fit of anger -- striking Chris, who suffered minor scrapes. It was determined to be an accident, a consequence of the strain on the family.

"I think, honestly, that's the point at which we hit the bottom," Chris Warner said.

Sustaining hope

"In my heart, there is still some hope," Colleen Dalquist said in December, more than a year after her daughter disappeared and just three weeks after the Sjodin abduction.

"I look at the reality of the situation and my head tells me no. But until we find her and bring her home, there's a part of me that still expects to see her come through the door. We have to have that."

Jacob Wetterling had scribbled his name on the back wall of his closet. His mother found it years later when she was repainting the room for her daughter, Carmen. "There it was, almost like he was saying, 'Hi, Mom,' " Patty Wetterling said.

She didn't paint the closet. How would she explain that to Jacob?

Allan Sjodin is a shy, soft-spoken man who initially barricaded himself with his family after his daughter disappeared. Then -- realizing he needed the reach of their reports -- he gave his phone number to journalists and said, "You may have as much of me as you need."

Now he shuttles more than 300 miles weekly between his Twin Cities construction supervisor job and a temporary home in Grand Forks, a base for searches for Dru and for monitoring the judicial proceedings against her alleged kidnapper.

Allan Sjodin used to enjoy losing himself in rows of empty seats in center field at a Minnesota Twins baseball game. A while ago, a friend asked him how he was doing. Sjodin responded, "There are no more center fields for me."

But even as prosecutors detailed the ominous evidence they had collected -- a knife, blood spatters, DNA test results -- Sjodin, too, refused to surrender that last shred of hope that she is alive and waiting for him to find her.

"Certainly with everything that's happened, it's hard to hold on, but I do," he said. "I'm her father. And if your father abandons you ..."

Dr. Daniel Broughton, professor of pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and former board chairman of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said that hope is vital and shouldn't be dismissed as wishful thinking.

"As long as there is a chance that the child is alive, the parents really need to be supported in that," he said.

"We know that the first several hours are the most important, especially in stranger kidnappings." The longer a child is gone, the more ominous it becomes. "But more ominous does not mean quit."

Often, after "a huge outpouring of support," that support dwindles, Broughton said. But the trauma stays with the family. "It never, ever goes away."

Lisa Cheney, Josh Guimond's mother, stays busy with work and with the search for her son. She has talked with politicians and with other parents of missing children, including Patty Wetterling. She visits Web pages devoted to the missing. She distributes buttons and ribbons, and she keeps Christmas lights blazing on a big sign -- "Keep hope alive" -- outside her house.

"Every day you wonder, 'Am I doing enough or not?' Until they find him, you don't know."

Some parents wallow in work, Watson said. Others can't work at all. Some can't eat; some eat compulsively.

"It's very hard to try to carry on any kind of a life," she said. "You think you're coping, then all of a sudden you'll fall apart. It's very common for [marriages] to come to a crashing halt."

If it's an extended absence, "There will be a time when you will laugh or smile or you'll have a good day. Then you feel like you're betraying your child."

Warners meet with law enforcement officials
By Brian K. Anderson
The Daily Tribune
Last Updated: Wednesday, April 21st, 2004 01:59:31 PM




CHISHOLM —After being out of the spotlight for quite sometime, Chris Warner was blindsided the other night when he turned on the TV to see a videotape of his missing daughter.

“All of the emotions just came racing back to me,” said Warner, the father of Leanna Warner, who has been missing since late June of 2003. “It was tough to watch because I hadn’t seen that video since June 16th.”

While a lot of time has passed since, Warner said he and his wife, Kaelin, are still holding onto hope that Leanna will some day be found alive.

“We can’t just go on and pretend she’s gone for good,” said Warner during an interview late Tuesday night. “If she’s found, I couldn’t look her in the eye and tell her we gave up looking for her.”

As Warner put it, he couldn’t bear to carry that guilt with him.

“I’m not in denial,” said the 32-year-old Warner of thinking his daughter is still alive. “I just think that’s what I owe her as her father.”

While there hasn’t been much new activity in the case, Warner said he met with law enforcement officials Tuesday afternoon.

He said the session entailed officials letting him and Kaelin know what they have been doing in the case, as well as what they plan to do next.

“It was basically just to touch base, and to let us know where we go from here,” said Warner.

That plan will include doing some more searches, but Warner said there won’t be official searches conducted by law enforcement officials.

“They will help supervise them, but it’s more of a search from a family standpoint,” said Warner.

The Warners also talked to law enforcement officials as to why they won’t go back to searching Longyear Lake now that the ice is almost gone.

“We had an extensive talk about that,” said Warner, “but they explained it to us why they aren’t going back — and we’re OK with that.”

Even so, Warner said he’s still holding out hope that law enforcement officials will follow through with a tentative plan that would “enhance” what diving teams have already done in the lake.

As for the family searches, Warner said he would like to check out some areas of interest, including McNiven Road, along with some roads out in Balkan Township.

“I don’t want to say what those roads are now, but when we put together a search, we’ll give out details,” said Warner.

Warner said that he and his good friend, Roland Shoen, have gone out with their ATVs searching seldom used trails and roads in hopes of finding some clues in the case.

Warner said he would hope people would keep an eye out for anything that might shed new light on the case.

“Even if they are out walking or taking a ride on their ATV, we’d ask that they keep their eyes open,” said Warner.

Warner said the tragic ending of the Dru Sjodin case in western Minnesota this past weekend obviously struck a nerve with his family.

“It was upsetting, hearing about how that played out,” said Warner. “Our hearts go out to their family and we hope they can find closure.”

While the Sjodin case had a terrible ending, Warner said hearing the news didn’t conjure up negative feelings about Leanna.

“We’re dealing with two different cases here,” said Warner. “There was some pretty strong evidence indicating early on that something terrible had happened to Dru. We haven’t gotten that.”

Even so, Warner said as the days go by, he worries about Kaelin and her ability to get through this.

Warner said there have been many times where he and his wife just hold each other so they know they are there for one another.

“We just hold on so tight,” said Warner of the hugs they share when talking about their little daughter. “We want to make sure our family doesn’t simply unravel from all of this.”

Source: http://www.hibbingmn.com/placed/inde...tory_id=170941

Sheriff clings to hope in search for Leanna

BY MARK STODGHILL
www.duluthsuperior.com/
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER


Unlike the Dru Sjodin murder-kidnapping case, Northland investigators didn't have a surveillance tape to use as evidence in connection with the disappearance of 5-year-old Leanna Warner last June from near her Chisholm home.

They didn't find a possible murder weapon, Leanna's blood, nor any evidence of a sex offender living in the area who might have abducted the little girl.

While Sjodin's body was recovered this month, about five months after she disappeared, and a man has been charged with her murder, it's been 10 months since Leanna disappeared and there are no answers as to what happened to her. Investigators have found nothing to work with.

"That's what is so frustrating about the case," St. Louis County Sheriff Ross Litman said Friday. "But we've also always retained some hope because we don't have a single piece of evidence that leads us to believe that she's not alive."

Litman said a two-month search of the Chisholm area last summer has led authorities to believe Leanna was taken outside of the search area, "which is more of a hope that she may be alive. We can't give up hope," the sheriff said.

Despite those hopes, melting snow led law enforcement agencies to issue a news release Friday providing details of the clothes and jewelry Leanna was wearing when she disappeared from the 100 block of Southwest Second Street in Chisholm after 5 p.m. on June 14.

The brown-eyed, brown-haired girl, known as "Beaner" to family and friends, would now be 6 years old. She has a mole on her left leg just above her ankle. She was wearing a dark blue sleeveless denim dress, orange Hanes underpants, and a flower petal earing with a red garnet insert. She was not wearing shoes.

"That's our best description of what she was wearing when she was last seen," Litman said. "Now we figure this time of year, because snow has melted and foliage is not out on the trees, if people are out and about and see these items we want to know about them. We don't want to limit people to the immediate Chisholm area, either."

Anyone who thinks they have information about the case is asked to call 1-888-323-2637 or the Chisholm Police Department at 218-254-7916.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/du...al/8925872.htm

On a painful anniversary, parents plea for Leanna Warner's return

MISSING CHILD: There has been little healing for her family during the year the Chisholm 5-year-old has been missing.

BY LEE BLOOMQUIST
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER


CHISHOLM - After a year that turned their lives upside down, Chris and Kaelin Warner were in front of the media again Monday, pleading for the return of their missing 5-year-old daughter.

"Whoever has done this has to harbor some guilt," Chris Warner said exactly a year after their brown-haired, brown-eyed daughter, Leanna, was last seen not far from the family home. "We are hoping that they will step forward and do the right thing and put this to an end. Nobody wants to be doing this again next year."

Known as "Beaner," Leanna was last seen June 14, 2003, before disappearing from the 100 block of Southwest Second Street in Chisholm. Not knowing her whereabouts has become increasingly difficult on parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents and extended family.

"I would just ask that no matter what the circumstances are, to let us know where she is, irregardless," Kaelin Warner said. "She was a beautiful little girl -- I would ask them to listen to their hearts."

Three new leads were reported over the weekend, said Chisholm Police Capt. Mel Maturi. Those leads, along with about 1,400 others, are being investigated by Chisholm police and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, he said. So far, none have produced anything of substance.

Lois Warner, Leanna's grandmother, spoke about faith Sunday night at a Christian teenage rock festival at Ironworld Discovery Center in Chisholm. She also presented a video that showed Leanna at different stages of her life, such as at family gatherings and at Christmas.

"On Friday, I could feel her little hand in mine," Lois Warner said Monday. "Today, I had a tough time. Chris and Kaelin really spent a lot of time with their kids, and they had a great day on the day Leanna disappeared. I think the kids (Chris and Kaelin) are going to really have a tough time today."

During the past year, Leanna's siblings have been hurt by comments made by some classmates, said Chris Warner, 32. The unknown also has placed a tremendous amount of stress on the couple's marriage and made day-to-day living a rocky road, he said.

"It's literally destroyed our family and, as time goes by, it gets harder, not easier," he said.

A member of U.S. Steel's Minntac Mine fire department, Chris Warner missed about six months of work after Leanna's disappearance.

"They've been great," Warner said of his employer. "Whenever I've needed time (off), they've been understanding."

However, Kaelin Warner, 30, who had worked about five years at a local convenience store, lost her job. She now is studying nursing at Hibbing Community and Technical College.

"It's deja vu all over again," she said of the sorrowful anniversary. "Time doesn't heal, I don't believe. It's the same pain."

Law enforcement has continued to do everything possible to solve the case, Chris Warner said.

After a year, the Warners say it remains important that the media continue to pay attention to the case and publish stories on their missing daughter. To that end, they spent most of Monday fielding interviews, one after another, from print and broadcast media.

"It's pretty much a day that should be used to grieve," Chris Warner said. "But you have to muster up the strength to be talking."

"I would like June 14 to go back to being a normal day," he said. "But we don't have anything to heal over because we don't know what we have to grieve. Give me a chance to heal."

http://www.hibbingmn.com/placed/inde...tory_id=175776

Relying on faith
By PATRICK THORNTON
The Daily Tribune
Last Updated: Tuesday, June 15th, 2004 03:44:06 PM


CHISHOLM — Lois Warner said her faith has helped her get through the year since her granddaughter, Leanna, went missing. But it hasn’t always been easy.

She spoke Sunday night at the Fringe Festival, a Christian rock concert, at Ironworld Discovery Center in Chisholm.

“I felt vulnerable during the search for Leanna. I felt abandoned, betrayed and guilty. I asked myself how could this be happening,” she said. “On the third day of the search I had to go home and be alone. I didn’t have any strength left. During times of tragedy you realize just how weak you are.

“My son and daughter-in-law have had some good times and bad times in the last year. As a grandparent it has been difficult to watch.”

Warner told the crowd how important it is to hang on to and fight for her faith. “Faith is a gut feeling that something is true even if you can’t see it or touch it. But it is not passive — you need to be strong. I believe my granddaughter is very much alive and I believe in miracles,” she said.

The organizers of Fringe Fest invited Warner and the Rev. Kevin Norton, a law enforcement chaplain in St. Louis County and pastor of Hibbing Alliance Church, to speak to the crowd in between performances. They spoke for about 30 minutes and then led the audience in a prayer for Leanna.
There was a booth selling T-shirts with the FBI missing poster of Leanna on the front. Sales from the shirts went to the web site www.findbeaner.org. A prayer house was set up on a hill overlooking the amphitheater.

Steve Meyer volunteered to staff the prayer house.

“This was something I wanted to do. Kaelin and Chris asked for help and a whole group of us came together,” he said. “In a time like this it’s natural to question your faith and ask why did this happen. The truth is, bad things happen to everybody. It’s our faith that can pull us through.”

Leanna Warner has been missing since June 14, 2003.

http://www.virginiamn.com/placed/ind...tory_id=176757

CHISHOLM — When it comes to hiring a top-notch private investigator, Chris and Kaelin Warner wanted the best in the search for their missing daughter, Leanna Warner, who disappeared a year ago.
And they’ve got him now.
The Warners are calling in famous private investigator Bob Heales, who was credited with solving the mysteries surrounding the tragic murders of Dru Sjodin and Erica Dalquist.
The Warners also appeared before the Chisholm School Board Monday to ask their help in an upcoming search July 10-11.
“We need all the help we can get,” said Chris Warner Monday night after Kaelin approached the Chisholm School Board with a request to rent two buses in the search for Leanna.
While the school board did tentatively lend their support to the request, Chris Warner said the $500 needed for the buses is just the first of many anticipated expenses they will incur for the planned search July 10-11.
“It’s not going to be cheap,” said Warner of bringing in Heales as well as a homicide investigator from Los Angeles to reinvestigate the case. “But we need to do this because we have to find out what happened to Leanna.”
Since Leanna disappeared on June 14, 2003, from the street near her home, law enforcement officials have sifted through more than 1,600 leads, but they have no solid evidence as to what might have happened to the little girl.
Because the case has been stagnant, the Warners made a request for Heales’ services to a Twin Cities television station on the one year anniversary of Leanna’s disappearance in mid-June.
“He called us two days later and we talked in great details about the case,” said Chris Warner. “It gives our family new hope because it brings a fresh set of eyes to this case.”
Although final details still need to be worked out, Chris Warner said that the Vaughan-Steffensrud Elementary School in Chisholm will serve as a command center of sorts on July 10-11.
“He wants to concentrate on another ground search,” said Warner of the search, which will entail going over up to 12 square miles around Chisholm. “We’re basically going to start over with the ground searches that have already been done.”
Warner said he got the approval from Jerry Koneczky of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to go forth with this latest plan of attack.
“He thought it would be nice to get a new perspective on this case,” sad Warner, who recently questioned why local law enforcement officials weren’t more receptive to receiving outside help. “After all, he (Heales) is the guy who was credited with solving the Sjodin and Dalquist cases.”
Warner said he and his wife, Kaelin, have come to grips with the fact that bringing in Heales could bring them some devastating news.
“Hopefully that’s not the end result,” said Warner of Heales solving another mystery that ended in tragedy. “But let’s face it, when you’re doing a ground search, there’s no doubt you’re looking at recovery and we’re prepared for that.”
Even so, that doesn’t make the upcoming renewed search for his daughter any easier.
“We’re scared,” said Warner. “To me, it’s going to feel like Day One of the search all over again, and that was tough. You can never truly prepare for that, but at least this would bring closure to this case.”
If Heales and others called in to work the case come up empty handed, Warner said that he and Kaelin will have to switch gears and go back to thinking that someone simply took their daughter and left the area.
“If they don’t find her it will make it that much easier for us to hold onto the hope that she’s still out there,” said Warner.
Anyone wishing to help volunteer on July 10-11 can show up at the Vaughan-Steffensrud Elementary School in Chisholm by 9 a.m.
“We’d appreciate any support we can get,” said Warner, who will attempt to get another fund-raiser organized to help offset costs associated with the upcoming search. “We’re in the process of applying for grants but there will be a lot of upfront costs we need to cover first.”
But finances aside, Warner said the main thing will be to generate some activity in a case that rocked the community of Chisholm nearly 15 months ago.
“We just need to find some answers so this ordeal can be over,” said Warner.
o
Brian K. Anderson is editor of the Chisholm Tribune Press, a Murphy McGinnis Newspaper.

http://www.hibbingmn.com/placed/inde...tory_id=177276

By Brian K. Anderson
The Daily Tribune
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 06th, 2004 10:07:11 AM


CHISHOLM — Renowned private investigator Bob Heales isn’t making any guarantees to the family of Leanna Warner for this coming weekend’s search.

“The only guarantee I can make is that if we don't go out and try to find Leanna, we won’t find her,” said Heales Monday afternoon, just five days before renewed search efforts for Warner will begin in Chisholm.

Warner was last seen during the early evening hours of June 14, 2003. Since that time, investigators have sifted through over 1,600 leads, but haven’t been able to come across any solid leads that will help solve the case.

Heales is hoping to change that this coming weekend when he will coordinate an extensive search that, when completed, will cover a 12 mile square radius around Warner’s home.
Previous searches were limited to a three square mile radius around Warner’s home in southwest Chisholm, but Heales and other investigators offering their assistance to the Warner family will quadruple those efforts.

Heales said the 12 mile square radius is the area that FBI investigators focus on in searches of people who were thought to be abducted, killed and then disposed of.

Obviously, that’s not the end result the Warners are looking for, but Heales said discussions he has had with the family indicate it’s a possibility they are willing to accept.

Just last week, Leanna’s father Chris, reaffirmed that aspect by saying the family just wants closure in the case.
“You can never give up hope,” said the 49-year-old Heales, who grew up near Minneapolis. “But they (the Warners) know this can end in tragedy.”

In order to get up to speed on the case, Heales met extensively with the Warner family two weeks ago to talk about the case.

“We went over everything dating back to the day Leanna disappeared,” said Heales.

He also spent this past Friday meeting with St. Louis County Sheriff Ross Litman and other law enforcement officials to discuss the case.

Heales also plans to meet with Chisholm Police Dept. Chief Scott Erickson and Jerry Koneczky from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension later this week to gain even more insight into the case.

Heales is hopeful at least 200 volunteers show up each day to help with the search, which will be aided by one or more dogs that are used to find cadavers.

Among the volunteers will be members of the Sjodin family, whose daughter Dru was abducted and murdered in November of 2003. Her body was found this past April and a convicted sex offender has been charged in her death.

The plan calls for teams of 20 volunteers to go out all day Saturday and Sunday, and cover a specific area within the 12 mile radius.

Heales said the three mile area already covered, specifically the Warner neighborhood, won’t be searched again because those areas have been combed over and over again.

“I’m pretty confident those areas were searched as well as they possibly could be,” said Heales, who will also be assisted by retired Los Angeles Police Dept. homicide detective Ike Eisentraut, during the search. “We’re going to focus our efforts on areas outside of the original search efforts.”

Heales said that he doesn’t expect this coming weekend’s search to extend to the planned 12 mile mark, which means its likely that another search will be needed on the weekend of July 24 and 25.

Heales said volunteers will be asked to look for articles of clothing, or as grisly as it sounds, any shallow graves.
“That’s something we might have to deal with,” said Heales of coming across a shallow grave with Warner’s remains.

Because the terrain will be so thick with high grass, brush and trees, Heales said volunteers will have to be extra cautious to keep their eyes open for any sign of Warner.

‘That’s why we’re not using ATVs in this search,” said Heales. “You just can’t thoroughly cover an area when you’re riding one of those.”

Although Heales has a lot of private investigative experience, finding missing persons is some thing relatively new to him.
His involvement with the Dru Sjodin case only surfaced because he was friends with Dru’s boyfriend.

“I just went to Grand Forks like any other person to walk the ditches,” said Heales. “I just wanted to find Dru.”
Sjodin’s case ended tragically as did the case of Dalquist, but his involvement in the cases lit a fire under him to help solve other cases — including the one involving Leanna Warner.

“It has always bothered me hearing about cases like these,” said Heales. “When I heard about Dru’s case, I said to myself, ‘It’s time to do something—it’s time to help.”
And that will be the same philosophy Heales will use this coming weekend.

“It’s difficult to make any promises because we have so few clues to go on,” said Heales of being able to solve the case, “but we’re determined to give it our all so there can be some closure for the Warner family.”

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4869997.html

LeeAnna's mom not giving up
Jill Burcum, Star Tribune
July 11, 2004 BEANER0711



CHISHOLM, MINN. -- Kaelin Warner was supposed to wait back at the command center on Saturday while volunteers launched the first large-scale search in more than a year for her missing 5-year-old daughter, LeeAnna.

Private investigators leading the effort worried about the physical strain on the young mom, as well as the devastating impact of what she might find in the thick woods near the Iron Range town.

But Warner would have none of this.

She tromped through woods beside her husband, Chris Warner, batting away bugs, bulldozing through brush, peering into crevices and losing a powder-blue tennis shoe in a mucky creek bed.

"I can't just sit back and watch. It's too hard on me. I need to be out here," said Kaelin Warner, who last saw LeeAnna as the little girl skipped out the door to visit a friend on June 14, 2003.

About 200 volunteers, including several relatives of Dru Sjodin and Erika Dalquist -- Minnesota women whose bodies were found this year in similar searches -- and the private investigator who helped look for the two women, joined the Warners on Saturday in the first part of a weekend-long search for LeeAnna. While searchers didn't find the little girl, or any obvious clues about what happened to her, the Warners said they consider the effort a success.

"It gives us hope," said Kaelin, who was relieved to be out looking again. "It's hard to sit around and wait and wait and wait for answers."

Bob Heales, a Denver private investigator and Sjodin family friend, spearheaded Saturday's search. No new tips or information triggered the effort, he said. Rather, the Warners got in touch with him and felt it was time to get organized.

On Saturday, Heales had searchers focus on brushy, wooded areas 5 to 7 miles north of the town of 5,000.

Last summer, law enforcement-led efforts fanned out up to 4 miles around the girl's home. Heales wanted to expand that. He also thought the area to Chisholm's north seemed a likelier place for someone to dispose of a victim.

Three two-lane highways branch out north of Chisholm and they're connected to dozens of gravel or dirt roads. A four-lane highway is main way out of Chisholm to the south.

"When someone gets rid of a body, they're going to turn off and go down a road or trail," Heales said, adding that perpetrators are looking for a spot where they won't be seen.

Law enforcement agencies were not officially involved.

But Heales said he met with St. Louis County Sheriff Ross Litman last week, and said authorities were comfortable with the strategy.

Authorities have few clues in the girl's disappearance and nothing that indicates she was harmed.

Volunteers gathered at a Chisholm elementary school early Saturday. Heales divvied up assignments with search team leaders in a grim morning briefing.

Grim preparation

On hand was Denny Adams, a South Dakota canine search expert whose dog helped find Dalquist's body near Brainerd.

Adams held up diagrams of the human skull, jawbone and other body parts as LeeAnna's father looked on.

"Let's not send people off with the illusion that they'll find a pretty little girl," Adams said. "What we may locate is not what we last seen."

Chris Warner, a Chisholm first responder, swallowed hard a few times as Adams went on or nodded in agreement as the canine search expert explained what happens when a child's body decomposes.

"It's just a reality that we're dealing with," Warner said.

The rugged Range didn't make volunteers' day any easier. Thick stands of thorny berry bushes, poison ivy, dive-bombing deerflies and warm, humid weather worked against them.

"It's slow moving over here. We got a ravine. You'll have to wait for us," yelled out Lonnie Hartshorn, a friend of the family whose bullhorn of a voice kept the Warners' search group of about 20 organized as they pushed, whacked and stomped their way through the brush.

In the woods, the family flagged several items for investigators: an old McDonald's bag, a beat-up tarp remnant and a dirt pile with some rocks on it.

"Mounds. We're supposed to be looking for mounds," said LeeAnna's grandmother, Lois Warner, explaining that it could be a grave.

Just over the ridge, Lowell Sjodin, Dru Sjodin's uncle, led another team through the woods. A veteran of many cold-weather searches (his niece was abducted Nov. 22 from a mall in Fargo, N.D.), Sjodin said the heat brought its own set of challenges: a physical toll and the challenge of seeing anything in the thick green foliage.

A bone was found

"These are very difficult search conditions," Sjodin said.

By the end of the day, volunteers had reported numerous finds to Heales. One item was particularly interesting: it looked like a leg bone or knee joint and couldn't be ruled out as a human remain.

Heales said the bone will be turned over to authorities but cautioned that searches typically unearth hundreds or thousands of animal bones. "I wouldn't get too excited," he said.

The search will resume today and will held again later this month if necessary.

Amy Dishneau, a volunteer from Britt, Minn., said she'll be back however many times it takes.

She ended the Saturday -- her 31st birthday -- tired, dirty and still shiny from a thick coating of bug spray and sunscreen.

The only gift she wanted was that her family help search for LeeAnna. About six plowed into the woods.

Dishneau doesn't know the Warners. She just felt she had to do something.

"I just can't imagine what they're going through," Dishneau said. "I just had to get out there and help."

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twinci...Â

Posted on Sat, Jul. 10, 2004





Searchers turn up little as hunt for LeeAnna Warner renwed

Associated Press


CHISHOLM, Minn. - Kaelin Warner was relieved to be out tromping through the woods on Saturday, as part of the first large-scale search in over a year for her missing 5-year-old daughter, LeeAnna.

The private investigators leading the effort had intended for the young mother to wait back at the command center while volunteers scoured the thick forest near this Iron Range town. They were worried about the physical strain on her, as well as the devastating impact of what she might find.

But Warner had other ideas, so she was out in the woods beside her husband, Chris Warner.

"I can't just sit back and watch. It's too hard on me. I need to be out here," said Kaelin, who last saw LeeAnna as her girl, nicknamed "Beaner," skipped out the door to visit a friend on June 14, 2003, and vanished without a trace.

So she spent the day out with about 200 volunteers, batting away bugs, bulldozing through brush, peering into crevices and losing a tennis shoe in a mucky creek bed.

The searchers included several relatives of Dru Sjodin and Erika Dalquist, as well as the private investigator who helped look for the two women, joined the Warners on Saturday in the first part of a weekend-long search for LeeAnna.

While searchers didn't find the little girl, or any obvious clues about what happened to her, the Warners considered the effort a success. The search was due to resume Sunday and another will be conducted later this month if necessary.

"It gives us hope," Kaelin said. "It's hard to sit around and wait and wait and wait for answers."

Bob Heales, a Denver-based private investigator and Sjodin family friend, spearheaded the search. No new tips or information triggered the effort, he said. Rather, the Warners got in touch with him.

Also on hand was Denny Adams, a South Dakota canine search expert whose bloodhound helped find Dalquist's body near Brainerd.

On Saturday, searchers focused on brushy, wooded areas five to seven miles north of the town of 5,000. Heales thought the area seemed a like place where someone might dispose of a victim. Three two-lane highways branch out north of Chisholm and they're connected to dozens of gravel or dirt roads.

"When someone gets rid of a body, they're going to turn off and go down a road or trail," Heales said, adding that perpetrators want a spot where they won't be seen.

Law enforcement agencies were not officially involved with the search. But Heales said authorities were "comfortable" with the strategy.

In the woods, the family flagged several items for investigators: an old McDonald's bag, a beat-up tarp remnant and a dirt pile with some rocks on it.

"Mounds. We're supposed to be looking for mounds," said LeeAnna's grandmother, Lois Warner, explaining that it could be a grave.

Just over the ridge, Lowell Sjodin, Dru Sjodin's uncle, led another team. A veteran of many cold-weather searches (his niece disappeared last November), Sjodin said the warmth brought its own set of challenges: the heat's physical toll and the challenge of seeing anything in the thick green foliage.

"These are very difficult search conditions," Sjodin said.

By the end of the day, volunteers had reported numerous finds. One item looked like a leg bone or knee joint and couldn't be immediately ruled out as human.

Heales said the bone would be turned over to authorities but cautioned that searches typically unearth hundreds or thousands of animal bones.

"I wouldn't get too excited," he said.

Volunteers also searched an old sand pit about eight miles from Chisholm, where a man previously under suspicion in the case committed suicide last September. He had lived in the Warners' neighborhood and was facing charges for having child pornography on his computer. The man was eventually cleared as a suspect by law enforcement officials, but Chris Warner wanted to search the sand pit just in case.

The sand pit didn't yield any significant clues, but Heales said the important thing was that the area was combed over again.

"Whether it was looked at one time or two times, we just wanted to make sure it was done as thoroughly as possible," he said.

www.kdlh.com/news/headlines/875421.html
Searching for Leanna, Part I
Over 200 Volunteers
Gil David

The truth will set Chris Warner free if he can find any sign of his daughter Leanna in the wooded areas north of Chisholm on Saturday.

"I don't know how else to explain. If it's here, then let it be found," says Warner, sweating under the 75-degree heat. He says he's waited a long time to have a large, organized search for Leanna.

Private investigator Bob Heales is organizing the search. Heales is the same investigator who helped discover the bodies of Dru Sjodin and Erica Dalquist.

Over 200 volunteers equipped with sunscreen and bug spray joined in the search. They checked in at Vaughan-Steffensrud Elementary School in Chisholm at 9:00 a.m. Half an hour later, they boarded eight buses that transported them to several areas located approximately 11 miles north of town.

"I tell you, I hope to find nothing. I hope somebody else finds something because I don't know if I could deal with it," says Mike Hielscher, who traveled over two hours from International Falls, Minnesota.

The volunteers were instructed to pay attention for remnants of Leanna's clothing, such as a dark blue denim dress, a bright orange underpants, and a gold necklace with a heart on it.

They were also looking for a shallow grave or the body, or bones, of a small child.

"I think everybody knows today that we're not searching for a little girl that's playing in the woods right now. It's been a year...13 months," says Kaelin Warner, Leanna's mother.

The search will continue for as long as the volunteers can handle. It will continue on Sunday, if needed.

www.kdlh.com/news/headlines/875501.html
Searching for Leanna, Part II
Less Than 50 Volunteers Show Up; Not Many Chisholm Residents Participate
Gil David

Search group leader Deb Doering, from Watertown, Minnesota, is trying to keep a positive attitude during the second day of searching for Leanna Warner.

"I'm really glad that you're here. I'm glad I could be part of your team, too," Doering says to a couple of volunteers who are combing through a grassy field under an 80-degree sun.

Doering needs to stay optimistic. Only 44 volunteers showed up for work on Sunday. On the first day of the search, over 200 volunteers turned out.

"I'm really disappointed," says Doering. "I know a lot of people had church this morning and that people were going to show up after church. That's great. I wished--I really wished with all my heart--that more people would have shown up today."

Of the 44 volunteers, only about a dozen of them were from Chisholm.

Doering says the rain that drenched the Northland on Sunday morning may have influenced Chisholm residents to stay indoors.

Robert Milton, a Chisholm resident, says, "Well, I had things to do yesterday [Saturday]. And this morning, my daughter had to go down to St. Cloud."

Milton's next door neighbor, Walter Sandvick, is 79 years old. Sandvick says he couldn't participate in the weekend search because he can't walk long distances. But, he adds that people in Chisholm may be burned out from helping in the search. "People in town feel there was a massive search last summer and bore no f ruit. I suppose a lot of people figure that it's not going to be f ruitful this time, either."

Chief investigator Bob Heales says he's not surprised by the lower turnout on Sunday. Regardless, he says, the searchers were still able to cover some significant areas located 11 miles north of Chisholm. Heales seized the opportunity on Sunday to tie up some loose ends from Saturday's search.

"We had people marking off things they wanted us to go back and look at--like other bones they found--or other things that seemed out of place," Heales explained.

The second weekend search for Leanna will be held in two weeks, July 24-25. Deb Doering says she hopes she'll see more residents from Leanna's hometown the next time. "If it happened to them, they would want people to look for their loved ones, too."

Volunteers are asked to check-in at 9:00 a.m. at the Vaughan-Steffensrud Elementary School in Chisholm. They should be wearing outdoor gear. Sunblock and bug spray are strongly recommended.

Searchers Find No Clues in Disappearance of LeeAnna Warner

www.kare11.com

Another day of searching has turned up no clues in the disappearance of LeeAnna Warner.

About 100 volunteers were out north of Chisholm Saturday looking for any signs of what happened to LeeAnna. She was five when she was last seen leaving her home in Chisholm to visit a friend on June 14 of 2003.

This is the second weekend of renewed searches organized by private investigator Bob Heales and search dog handler Denny Adams, who helped find the remains of Erika Dalquist. They were also active in the search for Dru Sjodin.

Heales says they're being patient because these things aren't solved overnight. He notes that it took five months to find Sjodin, so they're not giving up after three days.

Searchers will be out again Sunday, and again in September if necessary.

Leanna Warner- Minnesota
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.virginiamn.com/placed..._id=183200
Warners plan to do new search for Leanna
Fund-raiser set to help cover $12,000 owed from previous efforts looking for missing girl

Brian K. Anderson
Mesabi Daily News
Last Updated: Thursday, September 23rd, 2004 1228 AM


CHISHOLM— The parents of Leanna Warner, are contemplating whether they will be doing another search next month for the six-year-old Chisholm girl.

“We’re still trying to figure out where we want to go next,” said Chris Warner, the 32-year-old father of Leanna, who has been missing since June 14, 2003.

Although searches held back in July didn’t yield any clues as to what might have happened to Leanna, Chris said further investigations done by Bob Heales have answered some questions about “people of interest” in the case.
Because of that, Warner said some areas initially scoped out in the July searches won’t need to be looked at. Instead, he said any forthcoming searches would probably be done near the Jordan Location, which is west of Chisholm.

“Realistically that would be the next step,” said Warner.
However, before another massive search can be held, Warner said the family is still trying to recoup $12,000 in unpaid bills to Heales, a well known private investigator, and to busing companies for rental of busses during the two weekend searches this past July.

Heales’ bill is roughly $9,000, while the bussing companies are owed $3,000.

“We need to pay those down because as a family we just don’t have the money to pay them,” said Warner.
Warner said coming up with money to settle the bills has been a constant struggle for the family.

“We have enough stress in our family without worrying about these additional bills,” said Warner. “Obviously, the answer to this case isn’t going to come to us — we have to find it, and that's going to cost money.”

A fund-raiser has been set up for Sunday, Oct. 3 at Lucky’s Bar, which is the former Scorecard Bar on Highway 73 heading toward Floodwood. Included in the fund raiser, which will cost $3, is an auction where numerous businesses have donated goods to be bid on.
Anyone who would like to donate an item to be auctioned off or who have any questions about the fund raiser, can call Roland Shoen at 969-2226.

“All proceeds will go directly to paying down the debt we have for the searches,” said Warner.

Although 15 months have gone by since they last saw their daughter, Warner said he and his wife, Kaitlyn, along with the rest of the family, find themselves missing their little girl even more.

“If anything, it has gotten harder to deal with,” said Warner. “I can’t speak for Kaitlyn, but as times goes by, the memory things are what I miss most.”

Warner said he can be watching a television show where the character the age of Leanna will remind him of his missing daughter.

“You start to wonder what she would be like now,” said Warner of Leanna, who will turn 7 this coming January. “I wonder if she is going to school some place and I wonder how much she has changed.”

The way Warner talks is indicative of a gut feeling he has had since Leanna disappeared—and that feeling is that someone abducted her.

“I just have a feeling she’s not in this area,” said Warner. “I don’t know, but in my heart of hearts, I felt all along that she’s not here. It just seems the further we go (with searches) is proving that to be true.”
Even so, Warner said searches held thus far and any upcoming searches will serve as proof that her life didn’t end tragically in some remote wooded area in the plotted 25 mile square radius around Chisholm.

“What we have to figure out next is where to channel our efforts,” said Warner. “Is it locally or do we focus nationwide in getting the word out about her again? It’s a tough decision because you’re always afraid you’re going to make the wrong one.”

Warner said that he and Kaitlyn have spent many hours wracking their memories to see if they can think of any relative or family friend that might have wanted to take Leanna and raise her themselves.

“We have gone all the way back to junior high school,” said Warner of making a list of acquaintances who might have wanted to take Leanna. “Do I think the person who took Leanna knew her? Yeah, I think they did, but I can’t put a name to that person.”

And because so much time has gone by without any positive sighting of his little daughter, Warner knows the battle ahead is a paramount one.

“From a probability standpoint, it’s going to take a miracle to bring that little girl home,” said Warner. “But miracles have happened before and that’s what we have to hold onto.”

http://wcco.com/localnews/local_story_279094258.html

Commissioner: Use Missing Girl Fliers While Campaigning

Oct 5, 2004 8:40 am US/Central
Duluth, Minn. (AP) A St. Louis County commissioner has an idea for helping find a missing Chisholm girl.

Joanne Fay suggests that candidates across Minnesota hand out a picture of LeeAnna Warner as they campaign door-to-door this fall.

Fay called LeeAnn's parents, Chris and Kaelin Warner, and they liked the idea. Fay says she then called the man running against her, Steve O'Neil, and he agreed to join her in the effort.

They and the Warners are encouraging all candidates to go to the Internet, print out a LeeAnna flier and distribute copies as they go door-to-door across the state.

LeeAnna -- nicknamed "Beaner" -- was five years old when she disappeared last year.

www.virginiamn.com/

Hunters asked to keep an eye out for clues in Warpula and Warner cases

Brian K. Anderson
Mesabi Daily News
Last Updated: Thursday, November 04th, 2004 12:23:10 AM


CHISHOLM With the deer hunting opener just a few days away, the longtime partner of a missing Chisholm man is hoping deer hunters will be on the look out for any clues that could bring closure to the case.
We just want some answers, said Della Dunda regarding the whereabouts of Larry Warpula, who has been missing for more than six months. Our life has been pure hell since he disappeared.
Law enforcement officials are also asking the public to look over their own property and their hunting grounds for any sign of Warpula or a missing Chisholm girl, Leanna Warner, who was last seen June 14, 2003.
that time of the year again when there will be a lot of people out in the woods, said Chisholm Police Department Chief Scott Erickson late Tuesday night. Obviously we want people to pay attention to anything unusual out there.
For Erickson that means any article of clothing that matches what Warpula or Warner were last seen wearing.
Warner, who was five when she disappeared, was wearing a dark blue sleeveless denim dress, orange Hanes underpants and a flower petal earring with a red garnet insert. She was not wearing shoes.
“We want people to be looking for anything that could lead us to where Larry Warpula or Leanna Warner is, said Erickson. “If someone does come across something, they should call us right away because we'll want to look at it.
If residents do find something related to the cases, they are asked to call 911, the Chisholm Police Department (218-254-7916), or their local law enforcement agency.
The 75-year-old Warpula was last seen on Friday, April 23. His truck was found two days later on an old logging road off Laitala Road, roughly five miles north of Chisholm.
However, there hasn't been any solid leads as to what may have happened to Warpula, who was a diabetic and in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
Im a wreck, said Dunda. “You would think we would have some clues, but we have nothing.
When he disappeared, the 6 Warpula was wearing a brown pair of Dickies pants; a pair of black jogging pants underneath his regular pants; an orange, green and brown plaid shirt; size 11 tennis shoes; black socks; and a brown, felt fedora Stetson hat. He was wearing a pair of glasses with black plastic on top and steel on the bottom and was carrying a well worn, black leather wallet, along with a red handkerchief. Warpula also wore an upper denture plate with the right molar missing.
He always carried a can of Copenhagen with him and he carried a 1921 silver dollar in memory of his wife, said Dunda of Warpula's deceased wife, Idella. He also had a two-inch Leatherman tool on his set of keys.
Dunda, along with local law enforcement officials, hope these tips will be helpful for any hunter going out for this weekend's opener.
We just want them to keep their eyes open, said Dunda.
Although Warpula’s truck was found just five miles north of Chisholm, Dave Stensrude is asking that the public doesn't limit their efforts to that specific stretch of land.
“He could be 50 to 75 miles away, said Stensrude, who is Warpula's son-in-law. The key to finding him is to locate an article of his to give us a more specific area to search.
The Warpula family is also requesting people to call 263-9310 or 263-4873 if they have any information about the case.

www.amw.com

A Puzzling Disappearance

Leanna loves riding her bike.In the small town of Chisholm, Minnesota, pictures of five-year-old Leanna Warner hang from storefront windows and telephone poles. It's a constant reminder to this community of 5,000 of a search that started June 14th, 2003 -- the day little Leanna Warner disappeared.

According to police it takes an adult, walking slowly, a little less than two minutes to travel the block and a half.

The Disappearance

That afternoon Leanna and her family had just returned from a family trip. Leanna asked her mom if she could visit a nearby friend. Leanna's mom gave her permission and at 4:30 in the afternoon Leanna walked toward her friend's home. She wore a belted denim dress and was barefoot. The path she took would have led her to a gravel alley two houses down and then to Southwest Third Street.

On Third Street, she would have passed a few houses, ant dunes and grass peeking out from cracks in the sidewalk before getting to her friend's house. According to police it takes an adult, walking slowly, a little less than two minutes to travel the block and a half. Leanna knocked on the door of her friend's house, but no one was home.

Police say a neighbor saw her pet a dog and she began to head west sometime between 5 and 5:15 p.m. Leanna usually checks in with her parents every 20 minutes. On this afternoon too much time passed and her mom began to worry. Forty-five minutes after Leanna first left home, her parents launched a frantic search of the neighborhood. Shortly before 9 p.m. they called police and reported her missing.


The Investigation

Leanna goes by the nickname Beaner.

Vaughan-Steffensrud Elementary, where Leanna attended school became the command center for her search. Police and volunteers walked shoulder to shoulder and combed a two-mile radius around the city -- seraching roads and ditches. Helicopters and boats checked woods and bodies of water. Bloodhounds tried to sniff out Leanna's scent.

Police went door to door in her neighborhood. They've followed every lead and interviewed friends and family extensively. They now believe it's likely that someone took the outgoing and fearless five-year-old.

http://www.startribune.com

Two years later, no leads on missing 'Beaner'
June 15, 2005 BEANER0615

CHISHOLM, MINN. -- Two years after the disappearance of 5-year-old Leanna (Beaner) Warner, officials don't have any promising leads left to search for the girl.

Abducted June 14, 2003, Leanna was last seen walking alone about a block from her home. Since then, police have tracked thousands of leads and come up with next to nothing.

Chisholm Police Chief Scott Erickson said an occasional lead still comes in, but there's nothing concrete. "We're just hoping to get that little piece of the puzzle that will break this case wide open," he said. "All I can say is that we're not giving up."

Chris and Lois Warner said they hope the anniversary will put the spotlight back on their daughter's case. "She's out there somewhere," Chris Warner said.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Chisholm Police Department at 1-218-254-7915.

Kelly Jolkowski, Mother of Missing Jason Jolkowski
President and Founder,
Project Jason
www.projectjason.org
Read our blog about missing persons:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/

If you have seen any of our missing persons, please call the law enforcement agency listed on the post. All missing persons are loved by someone, and their families deserve to find the answers they seek in regards to the disappearance.

Two years later, still no leads in Leanna Warner disappearance

http://www.in-forum.com

The Associated Press - Tuesday, June 14, 2005
CHISHOLM, Minn.

Two years after the disappearance of 5-year-old Leanna "Beaner" Warner, officials don't have any promising leads left to search for the girl.

Abducted June 14, 2003, Warner was last seen walking alone about a block from her home on this Iron Range town. Since then, police have tracked down thousands of leads and come up with next to nothing.

Chisholm Police Chief Scott Erickson said an occasional lead still comes in, but there's nothing concrete.

"We're just hoping to get that little piece of the puzzle that will break this case wide open," Erickson said. "All I can say is that we're not giving up."

Warner's parents, Chris and Lois Warner, said they were hopeful that Tuesday's anniversary will put the spotlight back on the case. They think any publicity could help them find their daughter.

Although the case has slowed down, Chris Warner said he believes Beaner is not dead but is instead living out of state or abroad.

"She's out there somewhere," he said.

The Warner family is asking the public to download pictures of their daughter from http://www.findbeaner.org and distribute them. The pictures are more recent than photos distributed in the past.

Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call the Chisholm Police Department at (218) 254-7915.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/

Fargo sex offender's blog about the June 2003 disappearance of Leanna Warner raises disturbing questions, girl's father says.

Law enforcement authorities are investigating whether a 42-year-old Fargo, N.D., man registered as a sex offender and arrested in Idaho on kidnapping charges may have been on the Iron Range in June 2003 when 5-year-old Leanna Warner disappeared near her Chisholm home.

Chisholm police will work with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI to determine whether Joseph Edward Duncan III was in the small Iron Range city on the day the little girl known as Beaner disappeared without a trace.

"The first thing we need to do is find out if the guy was in the area," said Chisholm Police Chief Scott Erickson. "But until we determine whether he was in the area, it's tough to comment."

A blog authorities believe was written by Duncan on Jan. 4, 2004, mentioned Leanna's June 14, 2003, disappearance.

In the blog, a man identified as Joe said he knew that he would be blamed for Leanna's disappearance and was trying to figure out what he was doing that day.
Leanna's father, Chris Warner, said he learned of the blog about 10 p.m. Tuesday. Since then, he's been in contact with Chisholm police. He also plans to contact the BCA and FBI.

"They (law enforcement) just find it really odd that he made mention of it," said Warner. "If you read it (the blog), he thought that he was going to get blamed for it, so he started it out as an alibi."
Authorities have investigated thousands of leads in hopes of finding Leanna. None of the leads have materialized.

Warner said Duncan wrote in the blog about making a scuba-diving trip to Lake Superior, but went on to write that he never made the trip.

Duncan was living in Detroit Lakes, Minn., at the time, said Warner.

"Coming from Detroit Lakes to Lake Superior isn't that far," said Warner. "Obviously he has the capability of doing something -- he's a sick guy."

Warner said he and his wife, Kaelin, don't know whether Duncan was ever in Chisholm.

But Warner says it's unsettling that Duncan would mention Leanna in the blog.

"I'm worried sick," said Warner. "There's a lot of things that make sense here. Two hundred miles isn't that far away. It's kind of a double-edged sword. You hope it's not the case, but you also come away relieved knowing that there's something."

"It's scary to see that he would say something about her (Leanna) when we hadn't even heard of him (as a suspect)," said Warner.