What Happened to Beaner?

January 15, 2008

It was Saturday afternoon, June 14, 2003 when Leanna Warner left her home in Chisholm, nestled in the heart of iron country, in far northern Minnesota. Leanna, nicknamed “Beaner,” intended to go around the corner and play with her friends. She hasn’t been seen since.

Beaner Warner ThumbnailBeaner Warner Thumbnail 2

At the time of her disappearance. “Beaner” was 5 years old, 36″ tall and 50 pounds. She has brown eyes and had brown, shoulder length hair. Leanna has a wart on her left ankle and a dimple on her left shoulder.
 
Missing and Exploited has an age progressed photo of Leanna, reproduced here:

Leanna Aged

A home video of Leanna is available on YouTube.

The case of Leanna Warner has some unusual twists that were revealed when her parents went on the syndicated Maury Povich television show.
 
Leanna’s mother, Kaelin Warner, said that Leanna came home one day with a case filled with Barbie dolls and clothes. Leanna would only say she had received the dolls and accessories from a “little old lady.” Leanna also packed a suitcase before she disappeared, and told her parents she wanted to go live at her “…new family’s house.”
 
Chris Warner, Leanna’s father, told the Duluth News Tribune that Leanna complained of monsters being outside her window, after he found her sleeping in her closet. Warner said he went outside to look for footprints but didn’t find any.
 
Police said they were aware of the Barbie dolls and Leanna’s odd behavior but they did not find any evidence that the dolls were used as a lure. The Barbie dolls were considered such low importance that, when later asked about the dolls, St. Louis County Sheriff, Ross Litman, said he didn’t even remember them. “It doesn’t ring a bell with me,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a lead of significant importance, because if it was, I would’ve heard about it.”

(The three paragraphs above are all referenced on Writertiff’s blog,  Help Find 7 Year Old Leanna Susan Marie Warner by Writertiff.)

There is really little evidence of either a kidnapping or of her just wandering off. Leanna seems to have just vanished. Her home is close to an area known as The Iron Range. If she had wandered into The Iron Range, authorities say she would likely have succumbed to the elements. A shoulder-to-shoulder surface search and a helicopter aerial search of The Iron Range, and areas around Chisholm, had no results.
 
There was, reportedly, an unidentified male, estimated in his mid thirties, seen in the vicinity of her disappearance. He was on foot, 5′10″ 155 pounds, with a dark color tattoo on his right arm, perhaps a sun or a star. Several vehicles were also seen in the area, but none of the vehicles were ever found nor their drivers identified. No one knows if any of those cars or people had anything to do with Leanna’s disappearance.
 
After her disappearance, footprints were found on the edge of Longyear Lake, a shallow lake near Chisholm and about two blocks from the Warner home. In order to look for clues, in October, authorities pumped the lake to bring the water level down, but nothing was found. The operation was halted when the lake froze over. The search continued in 2004 but no evidence was ever found.
 
There are even more bizarre twists in this case. Matthew James Curtis, 24 years old at the time, was arrested in August of 2003 on possession of child pornography. Investigators kept looking for evidence to link Curtis to Leanna’s disappearance, even going so far to check his truck for her DNA. No evidence was found that Leanna had even been in Curtis’ truck.
 
The day before his court appearance on the child pornography charges, Curtis’ body was found in a gravel pit several miles from town. Police report he took his own life by suffocation, as his body was found with a plastic bag over his head. Some theorize he did not commit suicide but was, in fact, murdered and placed to look like a suicide. There does not seem to be any evidence to support the theory.
 
In October 2003, Kaelin Warner was arrested on gross misdemeanor charges for running over her husband with her Chevrolet. He was struck in the arm and leg but was not seriously injured. Kaelin maintains the incident was actually an accident, even though she plead guilty to the charges.
 
To this day, police suspect foul play in Leanna’s disappearance. To this day, Leanna’s parents hold out hope that she is alive and being held somewhere.
 
As with any missing person case, though, keeping the case in the public eye is important to perhaps find the one piece of evidence that can unlock the case. Leanna’s case appeared on America’s Most Wanted on May 22, 2004 and remains on the AMW website. (Duplicated Below.)

In the Summer of 2005, a convicted sex offender, Joseph Duncan, began to write about Leanna in his blog. He said in his blog that, after he heard about Leanna’s disappearance, he began to track his own whereabouts on that day. “I’m always afraid of getting accused when something like this happens,” he wrote. Of course, his online denial served to attract authorities to him.
 
The blog of Joseph Duncan and his criminal history is well documented on Huff’s Crime Blog. WARNING! This entry is not for the faint of heart and contains some chilling information about this man. Huff’s Crime Blog.
 
Chris and Kaelin Warner appeared on the CBS Early Show on July 12, 2005 to discuss the development. Nothing ever developed from the lead. The Warner’s appearance is still available on the CBS News website.   Duncan’s blog is still active - you can read his entries on the Huff Website, the link is listed in the previous paragraph.
 
Chris Warner has said that he tries to get as many people as he can to read a website dedicated to finding Leanna - Help Find Beaner (Duplicated Below.)
 
“I hold on to the hope,’ Kaelin Warner told CBS News. “I made a promise when this happened. I made it to LeeAnna, that until they can physically prove to me that she’s no longer alive, I will believe that she is still here on this earth.”
 
Whatever happened to Leanna “Beaner” Warner? Do you have any evidence in this tragic case? Her family wants to know. Police want to know. Can you help bring Beaner home?

For more about Leanna “Beaner” Warner, you can visit these websites:

Help Find Beaner

America’s Most Wanted

Help Find 7 Year Old Leanna Susan Marie Warner by Writertiff

Missing Kids Clearinghouse - Leanna Warner

Rachel’s Message Board

Written by Ghost Writer · Filed Under Cold Cases, Leanna Warner, Missing Children 

Comments

5 Responses to “What Happened to Beaner?”

  1. Hope on January 16th, 2008 4:39 pm

    Thank you for bringing awareness to this little angel. I have followed her case from the day she came up missing until now.

    I prayer for answers. I hold on to hope.

  2. charity on October 26th, 2008 7:02 pm

    i hope you find your little girl i will pray for u! i’m 12 years old

  3. charity on October 26th, 2008 7:06 pm

    you will find her i fill it & if i every see a girl like her i will call 911 as fast as i can.i will help u!

  4. Steve on January 29th, 2009 7:40 pm

    Why does this happen to so many kids a women?
    My heart goes out to all of the family of this young girl and to all of the other families of missing people.
    May all of the sexual predators rot slowly in jail. The death penality is to good for these a-holes.

  5. Susi Nelson on March 30th, 2009 4:47 pm

    Hi, My name is Susi Nelson. You bought my families house in Hibbing. I grew up there, riding horses and playing ghost in the graveyard. We moved when I was in the ninth grade. You bought it the year after. When my grandparents told me your family’s story, I was so terribly heartbroke. I still hope to check from time to time and see that she’s been found. Yet, I feel as you do, in my heart, that LeeAnna is still alive. I just hope you find her soon so she can come home and enjoy the remainder of her childhood with her family. I’m so sorry for what you’ve lost with her. I cannot imagine your pain, your grief. Please, please as much as you can, take care of yourself. My prayers are with you.

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