WEBVTT 00:00:08.269 --> 00:00:10.810 The views and opinions expressed in Cold and 00:00:10.810 --> 00:00:13.710 Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All 00:00:13.710 --> 00:00:16.129 parties mentioned are considered innocent until 00:00:16.129 --> 00:00:18.969 proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing 00:00:18.969 --> 00:00:22.410 also contains adult themes and languages. Listener 00:00:22.410 --> 00:00:26.269 discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin 00:00:26.269 --> 00:00:29.010 -Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski. 00:00:29.230 --> 00:00:31.269 And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover 00:00:31.269 --> 00:00:34.899 cold cases and missing person cases. Hello everyone 00:00:34.899 --> 00:00:37.100 and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your 00:00:37.100 --> 00:00:39.659 host Allie and it will just be me coming to you 00:00:39.659 --> 00:00:42.479 this week. Eli is taking another week off just 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:44.979 to take care of himself and thank you all so 00:00:44.979 --> 00:00:47.780 much for sticking with us. I know we took last 00:00:47.780 --> 00:00:51.280 week off completely. One of our dogs broke out 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:54.280 in hives. He's okay. Everything's okay. A little 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:56.399 Benadryl and a quick trip to the vet was all 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:00.079 that was needed but we just had to change course 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:03.700 a little bit last week and just make some more 00:01:03.700 --> 00:01:06.299 space to take care of the dog as I'm sure any 00:01:06.299 --> 00:01:09.340 pet parent out there would understand. But thank 00:01:09.340 --> 00:01:11.200 you so much as always for your understanding 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:14.260 and your kind words. But I wanted to get back 00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:16.659 to you this week and give you another episode. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:20.379 We are on a missing person case and we are on 00:01:20.379 --> 00:01:24.760 episode 130. So let's go ahead and get into it. 00:01:26.189 --> 00:01:28.629 So just as a quick content warning at the top, 00:01:28.689 --> 00:01:31.209 this case does involve a young person, and there 00:01:31.209 --> 00:01:34.030 are some brief mentions of death by suicide and 00:01:34.030 --> 00:01:38.370 sexual assault. Today, we are talking about the 00:01:38.370 --> 00:01:41.469 missing person case of LeeAnna Warner, and this 00:01:41.469 --> 00:01:45.530 takes place in June of 2003 in Chisholm, Minnesota. 00:01:46.230 --> 00:01:49.689 But first, a little bit about LeeAnna. LeeAnna 00:01:49.689 --> 00:01:53.230 is five years old in 2003 and is described as 00:01:53.230 --> 00:01:57.500 a chatterbox. Her nickname is Beaner, given to 00:01:57.500 --> 00:02:00.099 her at birth by her mother that said she looked 00:02:00.099 --> 00:02:03.680 like a tiny bean pod. She and her family lived 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:06.620 in the smaller town of Chisholm, Minnesota, which 00:02:06.620 --> 00:02:09.460 is about 250 miles north of the Twin Cities. 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:13.319 LeeAnna loved frilly dresses and the family pets. 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:18.000 She had four older siblings and was known as 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:21.580 a light in the house, always talkative, always 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:25.810 having fun, the baby to everybody. And now, a 00:02:25.810 --> 00:02:30.550 timeline of events. Saturday, June 14, 2003. 00:02:31.569 --> 00:02:34.689 Our timeline picks up as LeeAnna is headed home 00:02:34.689 --> 00:02:37.750 in the family car. She had fallen asleep in the 00:02:37.750 --> 00:02:40.430 car, and her mom, Kaylin, lets her sleep while 00:02:40.430 --> 00:02:43.669 she empties the car out. When she started to 00:02:43.669 --> 00:02:46.110 stir, she immediately wanted to go to her friend's 00:02:46.110 --> 00:02:48.569 house that lived nearby. She said she wanted 00:02:48.569 --> 00:02:51.539 to go say goodbye. Her friend lived just down 00:02:51.539 --> 00:02:53.939 the street. She had walked there on her own many 00:02:53.939 --> 00:02:57.819 times before, was only about a block away. Her 00:02:57.819 --> 00:03:00.159 mother told her that it was fine, but she needed 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:04.099 to be back in a half hour at 5 p .m. So at 4 00:03:04.099 --> 00:03:07.840 .30, LEeAnna headed off. She was wearing a sleeveless 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:11.199 denim dress and was barefoot. She was also wearing 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:14.000 a flower earring with a red garnet in her right 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:17.639 ear. Two neighbors saw LeeAnna knock on the friend's 00:03:17.639 --> 00:03:21.930 door. Unbeknownst to LeeAnna, her friend's family 00:03:21.930 --> 00:03:23.969 had left to go to Walmart, and there was nobody 00:03:23.969 --> 00:03:28.009 home. The neighbors who saw LeeAnna knocking kept 00:03:28.009 --> 00:03:30.250 going about their day. They assumed the little 00:03:30.250 --> 00:03:32.909 girl was going to be let in in a moment. No one 00:03:32.909 --> 00:03:36.250 came to the door. It's assumed at this point 00:03:36.250 --> 00:03:38.490 that LeeAnna turned around to head back home, 00:03:38.650 --> 00:03:42.930 but she never made it back. LeeAnna is never seen 00:03:42.930 --> 00:03:47.780 again. As 5 o 'clock rolls around, Kaelin, LeeAnna’s 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:49.840 mother, noticed that she hadn't gotten home yet. 00:03:50.219 --> 00:03:52.560 She sends one of her older sisters to get her 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:55.360 and bring her home. LeeAnna’s sister heads over 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:58.199 to the neighbor's house and knocks. No one answers. 00:03:58.939 --> 00:04:01.460 The sister then turns around and heads back home 00:04:01.460 --> 00:04:04.539 to report this to her mother. Immediately, her 00:04:04.539 --> 00:04:07.139 mom and older sisters head back out into the 00:04:07.139 --> 00:04:11.280 neighborhood to look for LeeAnna. At 6 .21 p .m., 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:16.100 so LeeAnna was last seen about 4 .45 to 5 p .m., 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:20.879 Chris, LeeAnna’s father, gets a call. He works 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:23.600 as a volunteer ambulance worker and heads out 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:27.079 on the emergency. He left without knowing his 00:04:27.079 --> 00:04:30.379 daughter was missing. He's out on the call until 00:04:30.379 --> 00:04:34.139 7 .45 p .m. When he gets home, he's alerted that 00:04:34.139 --> 00:04:37.319 LeeAnna is missing and joins the search. At this 00:04:37.319 --> 00:04:39.939 point, neighbors and friends are all out looking 00:04:39.939 --> 00:04:42.000 throughout the neighborhood. They're checking 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:45.120 other families' homes. Everybody is out looking 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:49.600 for her. At 8 .48, this would be about four hours 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:52.699 after LeeAnna was last seen. Her parents call 00:04:52.699 --> 00:04:56.459 911 to report her missing. Police arrive on the 00:04:56.459 --> 00:04:59.399 scene quickly. Cops are there by 9 p .m. and 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:03.139 join the search and start organizing. By 10 .15, 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:05.800 bloodhounds and search and rescue teams join 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:08.920 the search for LeeAnna as well. The search goes 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:11.160 throughout the night. They have a big operation. 00:05:11.160 --> 00:05:13.720 There are lots of volunteers helping. Police, 00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:17.220 search and rescue, dogs are all going. Early 00:05:17.220 --> 00:05:20.019 on, investigators have to make a choice. Do they 00:05:20.019 --> 00:05:22.259 treat this like an abduction and spend resources 00:05:22.259 --> 00:05:25.560 pursuing that? Or should they spend their resources 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:28.300 searching the area in case she wandered off and 00:05:28.300 --> 00:05:31.680 got lost or hurt? Police decide to spend the 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:33.819 resources searching for the little girl in the 00:05:33.819 --> 00:05:37.019 area, thinking it most likely that she wandered 00:05:37.019 --> 00:05:40.560 off and got lost. Investigators specifically 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:44.579 focus on a four -square -mile radius around where 00:05:44.579 --> 00:05:48.120 LeeAnna was last seen. In that four miles also 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:51.680 included a lake. Police continue to search throughout 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:54.420 the night and into the next day, Sunday, June 00:05:54.420 --> 00:05:58.500 15th. At 4 a .m., the state police launch a helicopter 00:05:58.500 --> 00:06:03.759 to help aid in the search. The next 48 hours 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:06.420 is a frantic search with police, firefighters, 00:06:06.779 --> 00:06:09.839 volunteers, helicopters, divers, bloodhounds, 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:12.819 and tracking experts. It's a massive search. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:16.500 Police and family are just hoping that LeeAnna 00:06:16.500 --> 00:06:18.620 wandered off and got lost and that they'll be 00:06:18.620 --> 00:06:22.160 able to return the little girl home. Her mother 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:24.720 says, quote, It's like she disappeared into thin 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:27.519 air or someone zapped her somewhere with a laser. 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:31.220 Or that she was just abducted by aliens. Just 00:06:31.220 --> 00:06:35.379 vanished. Gone. End quote. Nothing of the little 00:06:35.379 --> 00:06:39.199 girl is found in the search. No clues, no leads. 00:06:39.819 --> 00:06:42.980 Police looking back at this search say, quote, 00:06:43.139 --> 00:06:45.740 it was a Herculean effort to search that area. 00:06:46.180 --> 00:06:49.100 We're pretty confident, though I suppose we can't 00:06:49.100 --> 00:06:51.899 say beyond all reasonable certainty, but we're 00:06:51.899 --> 00:06:54.300 pretty confident that she wasn't in that four 00:06:54.300 --> 00:07:00.120 -mile radius. The days turn into weeks and the 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:03.819 weeks into months. At the 50 -day mark, police 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:06.600 announced that they now believe LeeAnna was the 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:09.920 victim of a stranger abduction, completely pivoting 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:12.759 what they had been communicating to the neighborhood, 00:07:12.899 --> 00:07:16.199 to the public, and also how they were investigating 00:07:16.199 --> 00:07:20.060 LeeAnna’s disappearance. Her father tells the 00:07:20.060 --> 00:07:23.060 media, quote, We knew it in our hearts, but it's 00:07:23.060 --> 00:07:26.639 not an easy word to hear. Police came to the 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:29.579 conclusion of a stranger abduction after sorting 00:07:29.579 --> 00:07:32.560 through over 300 leads and a thorough search 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:36.839 and research of the area around the home. The 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:39.279 State Bureau of Investigation joined the case 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:42.680 to help. One agent with over 30 years of experience 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:45.339 said that he'd never seen a case with so little 00:07:45.339 --> 00:07:48.639 to go on. Investigators start by eliminating 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:51.680 everyone in LeeAnna’s life, starting with family 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:54.160 and friends closest to her and working outward. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:57.259 Police do not believe that LeeAnna’s family had 00:07:57.259 --> 00:07:59.439 anything to do with it, and they're eliminated 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:03.040 quickly in the investigation. Police also pulled 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:05.639 names from all the gas stations, hotels, and 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:07.899 campgrounds in the area for the weekend that 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:11.240 LeeAnna went missing. There had been a concert 00:08:11.240 --> 00:08:14.079 and a charity motorcycle ride that same weekend. 00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:17.240 According to police, nothing came from these 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:21.399 searches. Everyone is looking for LeeAnna. For 00:08:21.399 --> 00:08:24.959 months, they're looking for her. Friends of hers 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:27.180 and other kids in the neighborhood converted 00:08:27.180 --> 00:08:30.480 an old shed to the official Find Beaner Kids 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:34.639 Clubhouse. Her parents remain hopeful. Her dad, 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:37.779 Chris, says, quote, As a parent, you'd feel it 00:08:37.779 --> 00:08:40.500 in your heart if she'd passed on. We haven't 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:43.200 felt that yet. We'll continue to hold the hope 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:45.740 until they can show us otherwise. End quote. 00:08:46.700 --> 00:08:50.120 In September of 2003, so LeeAnna has been missing 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:53.120 for three months. A man who had been questioned 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:56.100 several times in LeeAnna’s disappearance is found 00:08:56.100 --> 00:08:59.440 dead by suicide. Police had searched his home 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:02.419 in relation to LeeAnna. He lived just a few doors 00:09:02.419 --> 00:09:05.460 down from her in the neighborhood. During the 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:08.259 search of his home, police had found child pornography. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:11.720 Police will later say that this man had nothing 00:09:11.720 --> 00:09:13.820 to do with LeeAnna’s disappearance specifically. 00:09:14.100 --> 00:09:16.659 There was never any evidence that LeeAnna was 00:09:16.659 --> 00:09:20.789 at his home. Later that same month, September 00:09:20.789 --> 00:09:24.950 of 2003, Bruce Christensen pleads guilty to making 00:09:24.950 --> 00:09:28.870 terroristic threats against Kaylin Warner, LeeAnna’s 00:09:28.870 --> 00:09:32.769 mom. Kaylin had asked Christensen to talk to 00:09:32.769 --> 00:09:35.889 police about LeeAnna’s disappearance. Christensen 00:09:35.889 --> 00:09:38.929 told Kaylin that he would sue for defamation 00:09:38.929 --> 00:09:41.649 and threaten to shoot her. He will eventually 00:09:41.649 --> 00:09:45.809 go on to murder other people in jail. The reward 00:09:45.809 --> 00:09:49.450 for information is upped to $25 ,000 later in 00:09:49.450 --> 00:09:52.909 September as well. LeeAnna’s grandfather, Butch 00:09:52.909 --> 00:10:13.360 Warner, says, quote, In June of 2004, At the 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:16.279 one -year anniversary of LeeAnna’s disappearance, 00:10:16.700 --> 00:10:19.559 and police still have no idea what happened to 00:10:19.559 --> 00:10:23.740 her. No clues, no leads, no theories even outside 00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:27.259 of a stranger abduction. But police have nothing 00:10:27.259 --> 00:10:30.860 to go on. Investigators have ran down more than 00:10:30.860 --> 00:10:34.460 1 ,500 leads and nothing turned up. The family 00:10:34.460 --> 00:10:36.620 hired a private investigator to help them in 00:10:36.620 --> 00:10:40.559 their search. The PI plans to research the area 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:42.860 around the home to see if he's able to find anything 00:10:42.860 --> 00:10:46.320 that was overlooked. Nothing new is discovered 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:51.019 in those searches either. In June of 2008, so 00:10:51.019 --> 00:10:53.460 it's been five years since LeeAnna vanished, and 00:10:53.460 --> 00:10:56.960 police still have no leads in the case. Police 00:10:56.960 --> 00:10:59.600 ask people to come forward with any information 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:02.559 that they may have. Quote, they might think that 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:04.500 we've already heard it, but they've never talked 00:11:04.500 --> 00:11:08.090 to us. And that's one of the hopes I have. is 00:11:08.090 --> 00:11:10.289 that somebody who knows something will come forth 00:11:10.289 --> 00:11:12.889 and give us that little piece of the puzzle that 00:11:12.889 --> 00:11:14.830 will put this whole thing together and bring 00:11:14.830 --> 00:11:17.850 a resolution to the case. It appears that this 00:11:17.850 --> 00:11:21.070 public plea helps police. They begin to look 00:11:21.070 --> 00:11:24.970 at sex offender Joseph E. Duncan. Duncan had 00:11:24.970 --> 00:11:29.289 posted online about LeeAnna’s case. Duncan wanted 00:11:29.289 --> 00:11:31.830 to try to figure out who kidnapped her so that 00:11:31.830 --> 00:11:35.669 way the finger wouldn't be pointed at him. He 00:11:35.669 --> 00:11:38.769 posted online, quote, This is for my own safety. 00:11:39.070 --> 00:11:41.950 I figure it's just a matter of time before I 00:11:41.950 --> 00:11:44.929 am falsely accused of some crime or another." 00:11:44.929 --> 00:11:48.110 Duncan would later be sentenced to death row 00:11:48.110 --> 00:11:51.210 in Idaho for the kidnappings and murders of members 00:11:51.210 --> 00:11:54.529 of the Groney family. When he killed the Groney 00:11:54.529 --> 00:11:57.769 family and kidnapped Shasta Groney, he was on 00:11:57.769 --> 00:12:00.309 the run from child molestation charges in Minnesota. 00:12:01.669 --> 00:12:03.850 Investigators look into Duncan's life to see 00:12:03.850 --> 00:12:06.509 if they're able to place him in or around Chisholm, 00:12:06.590 --> 00:12:09.070 Minnesota during the time of LeeAnna’s disappearance, 00:12:09.149 --> 00:12:11.929 but I couldn't find any updates if they were 00:12:11.929 --> 00:12:15.909 ever able to link him to that area at the time 00:12:15.909 --> 00:12:20.610 of her disappearance. The case goes cold for 00:12:20.610 --> 00:12:25.049 years. It comes up again in the media at anniversaries 00:12:25.049 --> 00:12:27.610 and when they talk about other Minnesota missing 00:12:27.610 --> 00:12:32.299 children cases. In 2022, so it's been 19 years 00:12:32.299 --> 00:12:35.080 since LeeAnna vanished. Her mother says, quote, 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:38.360 every few years we have to do the new and updated 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:40.620 photographs of what she would look like now, 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:44.139 and that's a struggle for me. Still to this day, 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:46.759 I look for a five -year -old. I can't get that 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:49.679 out of my head, even though I know she'd be 24. 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:53.320 If I saw her today or could speak with her, I'd 00:12:53.320 --> 00:12:55.480 tell her how much I love her and that she'll 00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:58.110 always be my little angel. I would do anything 00:12:58.110 --> 00:13:00.250 in the world to find her and to make up for the 00:13:00.250 --> 00:13:03.850 last 19 years we've missed. LeeAnna’s mother will 00:13:03.850 --> 00:13:08.190 pass away later in 2022 from lung cancer. LeeAnna’s 00:13:08.190 --> 00:13:10.509 older sisters have taken up the fight to keep 00:13:10.509 --> 00:13:13.250 her case in the media and to keep searching for 00:13:13.250 --> 00:13:16.289 her in order to bring her home and to provide 00:13:16.289 --> 00:13:20.789 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 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:27.419 about the disappearance of LeeAnna Warner in June 00:13:27.419 --> 00:13:31.519 of 2003 or her whereabouts today, please call 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:33.759 the National Center for Missing and Exploited 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:40.080 Children at 1 -800 -843 -5678. So that is the 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:44.460 missing person case of LeeAnna Warner. With this 00:13:44.460 --> 00:13:48.019 case, when I came across it, I was really looking 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:50.620 at Minnesota, just the state of Minnesota kind 00:13:50.620 --> 00:13:53.580 of came to me when I was thinking about where 00:13:53.580 --> 00:13:57.899 to kind of look for the next case. And when I 00:13:57.899 --> 00:14:00.659 typed her name in and just, you know, kind of 00:14:00.659 --> 00:14:02.740 did a quick internet search just to see, you 00:14:02.740 --> 00:14:05.360 know, where the case is today. Sometimes there's 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:07.779 cases, you know, where there has been an arrest, 00:14:07.860 --> 00:14:10.259 but maybe the person is still missing. So I always 00:14:10.259 --> 00:14:13.299 like to kind of check where the case is as of 00:14:13.299 --> 00:14:16.980 today in 2025. I was really surprised when I 00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:19.659 Googled LeeAnna’s name because a Wikipedia article 00:14:19.659 --> 00:14:23.419 popped up for her. And typically, you know, we 00:14:23.419 --> 00:14:25.600 don't cover a lot of cases that do have Wikipedia 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:28.519 articles. Some do. Some are well -known like 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:32.720 that. And this one is one that to me was not 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:35.580 well -known. Maybe it's well -known to our listeners, 00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:38.779 but I wasn't as familiar with LeeAnna’s case. 00:14:38.899 --> 00:14:41.659 And, you know, reading through just the Wikipedia 00:14:41.659 --> 00:14:44.620 article really quickly and then... diving deep 00:14:44.620 --> 00:14:47.279 into the newspaper articles and the reporting 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:53.700 at the time. This is a case that is very difficult 00:14:53.700 --> 00:14:57.820 and heartbreaking due to the complete lack of 00:14:57.820 --> 00:15:01.200 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.