Jayme Closs Disappearance: Wisconsin Sheriff Seeks 100 Volunteers for Search Party

A sheriff’s office in Wisconsin is asking for 100 volunteers to help search for missing 13-year-old Jayme Closs, who went missing several days ago and whose parents were found shot to death in their Barron home.

The Barron County Sheriff’s Department said on Oct. 18 that it is “requesting the public’s assistance in conducting a routine search for articles of evidentiary value that may be related to the incident.”

The 100 volunteers, it said, “are needed and should report to the intersection of State Highway 8 and 16th Street at 2:00 p.m. in the City of Barron. Barron County officials will be there to greet you.” The volunteers should be able to walk on uneven terrain.

Other details were not revealed by the sheriff’s department.

Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said on Oct. 17 that Jayme was at home when her parents were shot dead, and while there are no suspects, officials believe she’s in danger, USA Today reported.

“I just want to bring Jayme home,” said Fitzgerald.

A cryptic 911 call led police to her home earlier this week, finding her parents dead. Officials said that 911 call was made from a phone inside the home, and there was no interaction with the dispatcher, just “noise and things heard,” Fitzgerald said.

A sheriff’s office in Wisconsin is asking for 100 volunteers to help searching for missing 13-year-old Jayme Closs, who went missing several days ago and whose parents were found shot to death in their Barron home, on Oct. 15, 2018. (Fox)

“We believe Jayme was in the home at the time of the homicides and we believe she’s still in danger,” Fitzgerald said, CNN reported, and he added that they have a “100 percent expectation that she’s alive.”

The motive in the parents’ death is unclear. Their deaths were ruled as homicides, and no gun was discovered at the scene.

Locals On Edge

“Is it a random attack or a targeted attack? I don’t know that answer,” Fitzgerald told CNN, adding that the FBI is investigating the case. “That’s why those leads are so important.”

Joan Smrekar, who lives next door to the Closs family, said she heard two shots at around 12:30 a.m. on Monday. “It was just, ‘bang’ and ‘bang,’” Smrekar said.

“There’s a lot of fear, there’s a lot of anxiety through the kids, through the adults,” dance studio owner Christine Fink of Barron, a town of about 3,000 people, told the Star-Tribune. “It’s opened our eyes that it can happen here.”

“It’s a scary thing,” mechanic David Bender told the paper. He said, “We’re all wary.”

“Children are scared,” another local said. “Very sad.”

“It’s just the stuff of nightmares,” said Rachel Svendsen, who works at a bakery, according to the newspaper. “I think people are just holding their families closer because of this.”

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