Indiana

Family of missing Indiana pregnant woman Emma Baum reveals suspicions about disappearance

Published

11 months ago

January 19, 2025

Family of missing Indiana pregnant woman Emma Baum reveals suspicions about disappearance

An Indiana woman was nine months pregnant when she disappeared over three months ago, and her family has suspicions about her last whereabouts.

Mother of three Emma Baum, 25, went missing Oct. 10 in Gary, Indiana, and she was about to give birth to her fourth child.

Baum was last seen being dropped off at her boyfriend’s house, her sister Hailey Baum-Waddell told Fox News Digital.

“Looking for Emma has been a very struggling thing for everybody, mentally and physically and emotionally … but we’re not going to stop looking for her,” Baum-Waddell said. “I think if people keep going on and chanting that something needs to be done and chanting her name … just get the word out because a lot of people know, but not everybody knows.”

Authorities received a missing persons report for Baum from her family Oct. 28, Gary Police Cmdr. Jack Hamady told Fox News Digital.

“A couple of days went by. … We all started, like, messaging each other, ‘Hey, have you heard from Emma? Anybody seen her? Can you message one of her friends to get a hold of her boyfriend?’ And it was kind of just a ring around with everybody and everyone’s just trying to figure it out,” Baum-Waddell said.

“Then we’re like, ‘OK, well, this is not normal.’ … That’s when my mom really started to panic,” she added. “Then my mom ended up going to the police station.”

Officers with the Gary Police Department have used K-9s on several searches in the area, and the Lake County Sheriff’s Department has assisted in a few of the searches, Hamady said.

“We have searched a house, apartment, recreational vehicles and one other property,” he added.

In addition to the police investigation, Baum-Waddell said she and other relatives of Baum have been organizing a widespread search after a social media post of hers drew hundreds of willing participants.

“There’s been a lot of people who have offered to come out and look for her,” she said. “We’ve talked it over with other search groups. I made a post online just saying, you know, ‘Hands of how many people would be willing to come out,’ and I posted it in multiple groups.”

Baum lived in Portage, Indiana, but was visiting her boyfriend in Gary when she was last seen.

Baum-Waddell said her sister didn’t have a working phone when she disappeared and that although her sister may have “gone off and done her own thing” for several days at a time, she would never disappear for such a long period of time.

“That day, she was supposed to go with her boyfriend … to the phone store and get it activated, and she never got the phone activated,” she said. “She’s been completely silent on everything, and now that’s not like her.”

Baum-Waddell also mentioned her sister’s devotion as a mother and the close relationship she has with her oldest son.

“They have a freaking crazy, unbreakable bond,” she shared. “For her not to be here to see him on Christmas or Thanksgiving or … New Year’s. It’s unreal. There’s no way she would do that to him.”

Baum-Waddell believes her sister’s boyfriend is “hiding something,” she told Fox News Digital, and Baum’s mother believes the boyfriend had something to do with her disappearance, WGN9 reported.

“We have not charged anyone with the disappearance of Emma Baum, and she has not been located yet,” Hamady said. “We continue to search and interview individuals that are or maybe associated with this case.”

Baum’s boyfriend, who was originally in custody in an unrelated case, was released from Lake County Jail and is awaiting his court date for the separate charges, Hamady added.

Baum is approximately 5 feet, 3 inches tall, weighs around 136 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. She has several scars and tattoos, and she often wears colorful wigs.

“Emma gave everybody her all, gave them all the love that she could,” Baum-Waddell emotionally said about her sister. “She has these big brown eyes, and she always just wanted to make everybody, you know, laugh or feel good about themselves or have them feel included.

“It’s very difficult because now it’s not just her that’s missing. It’s her baby. And you don’t want to think, you know, the worst because who would want to, you know, hurt a girl and her baby?” she added. “We’re just hoping to find her safe.”

Anyone with information on Baum’s disappearance is asked to contact the Gary Police Department at (219) 881-1209.

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Indiana

Indiana ethics panel approves Jennifer-Ruth Green settlement; possible criminal charges pending

Published

8 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Indiana ethics panel approves Jennifer-Ruth Green settlement; possible criminal charges pending

The Indiana State Ethics Commission on Thursday approved a settlement requiring former Public Safety Secretary Jennifer-Ruth Green to pay a $10,000 civil fine, closing the ethics case against her — but potential criminal charges remain under review by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. The bipartisan, five-member commission voted unanimously to accept the agreement during its […]

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Bears consider move to Indiana with effort to secure public funding for stadium in Illinois stalled

Published

20 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Bears consider move to Indiana with effort to secure public funding for stadium in Illinois stalled

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears say they’re mulling a move to Northwest Indiana with their efforts to secure public funding they say they need to build an enclosed stadium in Illinois stalled.

Team president Kevin Warren insisted Wednesday in an open letter to fans that the team still prefers to build a new home on a tract of land it owns in suburban Arlington Heights, Illinois. He also said the Bears are not using the threat to cross state lines as leverage.

“This is not about leverage,” Warren said. “We spent years trying to build a new home in Cook County. We invested significant time and resources evaluating multiple sites and rationally decided on Arlington Heights. Our fans deserve a world-class stadium. Our players and coaches deserve a venue that matches the championship standard they strive for every day.”

Warren did not say where in Northwest Indiana the Bears would look to move.

The letter comes just days before Chicago hosts rival Green Bay in a game with heavy playoff implications. The Bears (10-4) hold a slim lead over the Packers (9-4-1) in the NFC North. In their first season under coach Ben Johnson, they are trying to secure their first postseason appearance since 2020.

“The Bears have called Chicago home for more than a century,” Warren said. “One certainty is that our commitment to this city will not change. We will continue to provide unwavering support to the community. We need to secure a world-class venue for our passionate fanbase and honor the energy you bring every week.”

The Bears’ focus for a new home has fluctuated between a tract of land they own in Arlington Heights to the Chicago lakefront, and then back to the suburb. They have said they plan to pay for the stadium construction on the site of a former racetrack about 30 miles northwest of their longtime home at Soldier Field, though they would need assistance to complete the project.

According to a team consultant report released in September, they are seeking $855 million in public funding for infrastructure in order to build a stadium in Arlington Heights that could host Final Fours and Super Bowls. The Bears were also hoping the Illinois legislature would pass a bill in October that would freeze property taxes for large-scale construction projects such as the stadium, allowing them to begin construction this year. But that didn’t happen.

“For a project of this scale, uncertainty has significant consequences,” Warren said. “Stable timelines are critical, as are predictable processes and elected leaders, who share a sense of urgency and appreciation for public partnership that projects with this level of impact require. We have not received that sense of urgency or appreciation to date. We have been told directly by State leadership, our project will not be a priority in 2026, despite the benefits it will bring to Illinois.”

In September 2022, the Bears unveiled a nearly $5 billion plan for Arlington Heights that also called for restaurants, retail and more, when they were finalizing the purchase of that site 30 miles from Soldier Field. Their focus moved toward building a new stadium next to Soldier Field after Warren was hired as president two years ago to replace the retiring Ted Phillips. The plan to transform Chicago’s Museum Campus got an enthusiastic endorsement from Mayor Brandon Johnson but a tepid reception from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and state legislators when it was announced in April 2024.

Last spring, the team announced it was turning its attention back to Arlington Heights, citing “significant progress” with local leaders.

Since moving to Chicago in 1921, the Bears have never owned their stadium, whether playing at Wrigley Field from 1921 to 1970 or Soldier Field since then.

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Slim chances for a white Christmas in Lafayette area and in Indiana

Published

1 day ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Slim chances for a white Christmas in Lafayette area and in Indiana

Indiana is unlikely to have a white Christmas because of forecasted warmer-than-normal temperatures.
Temperatures on Christmas Day are expected to be in the 40s or 50s, possibly reaching the 60s.
The normal high temperature for the Lafayette area this time of year is 36 degrees.

LAFAYETTE, IN — Hopes for a white Christmas are fading quickly in Indiana.

“I know earlier in the month we were thinking we might have a higher chance of a white Christmas,” National Weather Service meteorologist Cody Moore said, “but unfortunately, I have some bad news for you. A lot of long-range guidance has been consistent showing a pattern on Christmas Day featuring much warmer than normal temperatures for the region and the chance for some rainfall.

“It does look like we’ll be above average, temperatures at least in the 40s, maybe 50s,” Moore said on Wednesday, just three days after subzero temperatures pummeled the area.

With still eight days until Christmas, the forecasts closer to Dec. 25 might bump the expected high temps up even into the 60s, Moore said.

Normal temperatures this time of year for Lafayette are 36 for a high and 22 for a low.

“It looks like you might be able to keep your heavy winter jackets in the closet for now,” Moore said.

How will a Christmas with temperatures in the 40s, 50s or even 60s compare to Christmases past?

In 1982, Lafayette’s record-warm Christmas was 64 degrees. Its record cold temperature was 12 below zero in 2000.

So now that the dreams of a white Christmas appear dashed, what about January or February?

The Climate Prediction Center published a three-month forecast in November, and an update is expected in the next couple of days.

But last month, center’s forecast for January, February and March was for Hoosiers to have an equal chance of above and/or below average temperatures.

“We’ll see how that translates with the storm track,” Moore said.

The Climate Prediction Center forecasts warmer than normal temperatures in the southern United States and below normal temperatures in the Northern Plains.

“That puts the storm track right through Indiana, which makes sense because the Climate Prediction Center has Indiana as a bullseye for a pattern favoring above-normal precipitation,” Moore said. Temperatures will decide whether that precipitation falls as rain or snow — or ice or freezing rain.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

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