OLYMPIA, Wash. - Relatives of Lindsey Baum, the McCleary 10-year-old girl who vanished in June, called Olympia police last month to report a stranger in their backyard.
The homeowner said the man was crouching beneath the bedroom window of Baum's two female cousins, who are 9 and 12 years old.
Olympia Police said any connection between the two cases is coincidental, but Grays Harbor County investigators have been in touch with Olympia Detectives about the Nov. 13 incident.
Investigators in the Baum case have not identified any suspects in the girl's disappearance.
"It's scary," said Derric, the father of the girls who did not want his last name published. Derric said he and his wife were already nervous about their kids' safety after what happened to his niece.
"It even makes you more cautious about your own children," said Derric.
Olympia police have released a sketch of the suspect from the case in the backyard break-in. Detectives said the man may be responsible for two attempted luring cases in Olympia in November.
On Nov. 10, about eight blocks from the house where the man was seen, a man approached a 10-year-old girl and asked if she needed a ride. She ran home and police were contacted.
On November 24, about two miles from the home, a 9-year-old girl said a stranger asked her if she could help him load groceries into her car. She said no and ran away.
In both incidents, the man was reportedly driving a silver car.
Detectives said the girls did not think the man in the sketch released by police was the man that approached them, but police said it's possible he could be responsible for all three incidents.
When Derric confronted the man in his backyard , he asked what the man was doing. Derric said the man told him he was a building inspector. Derric said when he asked the man for his I.D., the man walked quickly to his car, and drove off. Derric told police the man was driving a silver Mazda.
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