Indiana
Desperate family of pregnant Indiana mom of four who vanished in October begs for public’s help with search
Desperate family and friends of a pregnant mother of four who disappeared in Indiana last month are hoping to rally support to bring her — and her possibly newborn child — home.
Emma Baum, 25, was last seen at her boyfriend’s house in Gary, Ind. on Oct. 10, her family said. She was heavily pregnant at the time and likely due in just days.
“We are looking for my sister. She was one centimeter dilated on October 4. She has been missing since October 10,” Baum’s sister, Abigale Smith, said at a press conference on Friday.
“At this point, we have done everything we can, and now we ask the public to please help us.”
Jamie Baum, Emma’s mother, believes her daughter’s boyfriend had something to do with her sudden disappearance.
“I would like my daughter home. We miss her. Her babies need her. Her family needs her,” she said at the press conference.
Emma’s boyfriend has since been taken into custody, but in connection to an unrelated case for a failure to appear warrant, Gary police Commander Jack Hamady said.
A missing persons report wasn’t filed for Emma until Oct. 28 — 18 days after she was last seen at her boyfriend’s house.
Police say that they have dedicated their search efforts to the three primary locations that have come up during the investigation and are pivoting to scour old video footage in the areas where Emma was last seen.
The young mom is approximately 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs about 136 pounds. She frequently wears wigs and different hair pieces but is naturally a brunette.
“We love you, Emma. And if you can hear us, there is nothing that you have done to make any of us stop loving you. We trust that somebody knows something and we want her home,” Smith said.
Indiana
4-star freshman defensive lineman back on the Indiana football roster
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football freshman defensive lineman Kevontay Hugan is back on the team’s active roster as of Friday morning.
Hugan has yet to practice this spring — IU’s fifth practice of camp is on Saturday — and his bio had been removed from the program’s official website. He also wasn’t listed on the rosters handed out by team representatives throughout spring camp as one of the program’s mid-year enrollees.
The 2026 signee was one of the higher rated players IU landed in the most recent recruiting cycle. The 4-star defender had 28 scholarship offers and ranked No. 306 nationally, according to 247 Sports composite rankings.
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Indiana coach Curt Cignetti has twice brought up the team’s depth on the defensive line as a strength of the team headed into the 2026 season.
“We have a lot of bodies there on the defensive line, returners, transfers, and then high school guys,” Cignetti said on Thursday. “There’s a lot of guys getting work right now….But it looks like we have a chance to be decent there. You know, (Mario) Landino and (Tyrique) Tucker are the two returners, and they do always start a couple of games, but they’re the two primary returners as pieces of the mix, so it will be interesting to see how it shakes out.”
The Hoosiers added six true freshman in 2026, including Hogan, after signing five defensive line recruits last year.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
Indiana
Severe thunderstorm watch canceled for Indianapolis and surrounding counties
(WISH) — A severe thunderstorm watch for Indianapolis and other central Indiana counties, which had been set to run through midnight Thursday, was canceled about 9:15 p.m. Thursday.
The Severe Thunderstorm Prediction Center at 7:45 p.m. Thursday issued the watch for these Indiana counties: Allen, Blackford, Boone, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Delaware, De Kalb, Fulton, Grant, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Howard, Huntington, Johnson, Kosciusko, Lagrange, Madison, Marion, Miami, Montgomery, Morgan, Noble, Owen, Putnam, Steuben, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Wabash, Wells and Whitley.
Other cities in the watch area are Angola, Carmel, Crawfordsville, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Kokomo, Logansport, Noblesville, Marion, Muncie, Warsaw and Westfield.
Storm warnings that had been issued earlier for the watch area warned over 60 mph gusts, which can cause damage to roofs, siding and trees. Tornadoes were possible, but the National Weather Service at Indianapolis did not issue any tornado warnings.
As of 9 p.m., an automated system from the Indianapolis weather service said a storm spotter reported a large tree being uprooted on the southwest side of Terre Haute about 7:14 p.m. due to thunderstorm winds.
Also, about 14% of electricity customers in Parke County, north of Terre Haute, were without power at 9 p.m. Thursday. About 40 minutes earlier, about 24% of Parke County electricity customers were without power.
Indiana
Indiana 225 bridge closure remains ongoing amid rehab work
The Indiana 225 truss bridge over the Wabash River in Tippecanoe County remains closed as work begins on its rehabilitation, according to a community announcement. The Indiana Department of Transportation announced that erosion control and right-of-way clearing are underway to prepare for the project.
The single-lane bridge south of Battle Ground will undergo deck replacement as part of the rehabilitation efforts.
The work is expected to continue until 2028, although the timeline is weather-dependent and subject to change.
Motorists are encouraged to find alternate routes and exercise caution while traveling in the area.
Updates on road conditions and traffic alerts can be monitored through various platforms, including the INDOT West Central Facebook page, X (formerly Twitter), TrafficWise at 511in.org, and mobile apps available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play store for Android devices, according to the announcement.
This story was created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct/.
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