It was the day before Father’s Day 2003 in Chisholm, Minnesota when 5-year-old LeeAnna Warner returned home with her sister Karlee and their mother after a day of shopping and swimming.

LeeAnna asked her mom, Kaelin, if she could walk around the corner to her best friend’s house to say goodnight. Kaelin says this was a “normal thing,” so she said yes.

But when LeeAnna didn’t return home after the usual few minutes, Kaelin sent Karlee to bring her sister home. “Mommy, I can’t find her,” Kaelin recalls Karlee saying.

Kaelin went to look for herself. She found LeeAnna’s shoes outside her best friend’s house, where no one was home. No one has seen LeeAnna since.

Vernon Manner, chief of Chisholm Police, had been with the department for eight years when LeeAnna disappeared. “Somebody knows something. We’re still hopeful,” he says.

LeeAnna is remembered as an outgoing and very energetic little girl. Many people in her small, 5,000 resident hometown knew who she was. In fact, multiple neighbors recall seeing LeeAnna on the day of her disappearance. Several witnesses say they saw LeeAnna knock on her best friend’s door and walk away when no one answered. They watched her head back in the direction of her own home.

Despite the fact there was no evidence of any foul play, LeeAnna’s young age concerned police. They immediately launched an intensive search, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Investigation issued a statewide alert.

After days of intense search and help from the entire community, there was still no sign of LeeAnna. Police eventually brought in bloodhounds. The dogs tracked LeeAnna’s scent from her home to a shallow lake a couple blocks away. Searchers scoured the lake and surrounding land. A hovercraft was even brought in to help search the water, but there was nothing that indicated LeeAnna was at the lake. It turned out that the bloodhounds had picked up an earlier trail. The day before she went missing, LeeAnna went to the lake with a friend to release turtles back into the water.

A few more days passed, and investigators were no closer to finding LeeAnna than they were the night she disappeared. Although there was no evidence of a kidnapping, investigators had no choice but to focus on the possibility of foul play. They interviewed anyone who had recently been in contant with LeeAnna. They also checked on all registered sex offenders in the area.

As week two of her disappearance approached, police assumed a kidnapping was the most likely possibility. They told media that it would be impossible for a young child to stay hidden for this long without the help of an adult.

Due to the small size of the neighborhood and large amount of people around when LeeAnna disappeared, police believe it is highly unlikely that no one saw anything. They were convinced someone knew something. So, they announced a $10,000 reward for any information leading to LeeAnna’s discovery.

It has been over 18 years since LeeAnna disappeared, and investigators still have no clue what happened to the little girl. But they do believe that there are people out there who do know what happened. LeeAnna’s parents have never stopped looking for their daughter. Even if LeeAnna is not alive, they hope they can one day get the closure they deserve.