No Clues in Search for Missing Minn. Girl

C H I S H O L M, Minn., June 23, 2003 -- The last time her mother saw 5-year-old Leanna Warner, the little girl was walking barefoot to a friend's house a short distance away from her Chisholm, Minn., home.

More than one week later, there is still no sign of Leanna, and her parents are pleading for help.

It was about 4:30 p.m. on June 14 when Leanna left her house to visit a child who lives about a block and a half away.

Leanna's mother, Kaelin Warner, said she spent all day at a nearby lake with Leanna before the little girl decided she wanted to visit a neighborhood friend.

"She was tired and I tried to get her to come in and take a nap but she wanted to go play with a friend she sees every day," Kaelin Warner said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "I told her she would have to come back home in a half hour to check in," she said.

Leanna — who goes by the nickname "Beaner" — knocked on the door, but no one was home at her friend's house. Neighbors last saw the little girl sometime between 5 and 5:15 p.m. walking away from her friend's house. Just before 9 p.m., her parents reported her missing.

Leanna's father, Chris Warner, says he hopes getting the word out will lead to his daughter's safe return.

"Leanna had a blue denim dress on, no shoes, typical for her," Chris Warner said. "We need everybody to take a look at that Web site [www.findbeaner.org] and one of those posters, download one and post it somewhere. We need everybody's help to bring our daughter home," he said.

Chisholm Police Chief Scott Erickson says he's assigned more officers to check out the nearly 500 leads police had received.

"Unfortunately, none of those leads have given us any specific information as to what may have happened to Leanna or where she may have gone or who may be involved with her," Erickson said.

The local police force has taken some heat for not issuing an Amber Alert as soon as Leanna went missing, but Erickson says they didn't have enough information to issue such an alert.

"You need to have some specific information so you get that information out as quickly as possible to as large an area as possible in hopes that somebody will see something," Erickson said. "In this case, what we have is a missing 5-year-old and no information beyond that," he said.

Investigators are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of Leanna.

If you have any information about Leanna Warner, go to:http://www.findbeaner.org