In the small town of Chisholm, Minnesota, pictures of five-year-old Leanna “Beaner” Warner still 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.
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.
Investigators are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of Leanna.

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 — searching 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.

Aliases : Beaner
Sex : Female
Race: White
Age at Disappearance: 5
Age Now: 13 on Jan 21st
Height: 3’2” at time of disappearance
Weight: 48 lbs. at time of disappearance
Hair (Color, Description, Facial Hair): Brown
Eyes (Color and Correction): Brown
Last Seen” Chisholm, MN
If you have information concerning this case, please contact:
Chisholm Police Department (218) 749-6010

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 13th, 2011 at 6:24 pm and is filed under $10,000+, High Profile Cases, Minnesota, Missing Persons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.