TO CLOSE

This small community in western Wisconsin is boiling as the search for a 13-year-old girl continues Tuesday, one day after police found her parents dead and the disappearance of the young lady.
Wausau Daily Herald

Jayme Closs(Photo: Barron County Sheriff's Department)

BARRON, WIS. – A missing teenager from Wisconsin was still at home when his parents were shot dead this week, the Barron County Sheriff said on Wednesday.

Officials determined that James and Denise Closs had died Monday as a result of gunshot wounds and called their homicide death, said Barron County Sheriff, Chris Fitzgerald, at a conference of press in the afternoon. More details about the autopsies were not available and the murder weapon was not found.

Authorities launched an Amber national alert on Monday afternoon at 13-year-old Jayme Closs, and searches continued Wednesday. Authorities think she's in danger, but Fitzgerald said she'll wait to find her alive.

The sheriff's department arrived Monday at the Closs home about one kilometer west of Barron, after the dispatchers had received a 911 call from a stranger. The officials found the bodies of James Closs, 56, and Denise Closs, 46, but their daughter was not found.

Officials said the 911 call came from inside the house and identified the cell phone from where it came from but declined to say who it belonged to. The caller did not speak to the dispatchers.

More: What we know about the disappearance of Jayme Closs

Fitzgerald said Wednesday that information from the phone call and from inside the house had led investigators to conclude that Jayme Closs was home at the time her parents had been killed.

Miami police tweeted Monday that Jayme may have been seen nearby in a black Ford Explorer with Wisconsin plates with two well-dressed bearded men. But Fitzgerald said on Wednesday that he had received no indication of a credible sighting, and on Tuesday he questioned the Miami report.

The murders and the subsequent disappearance of Jayme rocked the peaceful city of less than 3,500 inhabitants. Barron is about 45 miles northwest of Eau Claire and 80 miles northeast of Minneapolis.

With blond blonde hair and green eyes, Jayme has been described as a gentle, calm girl who runs in cross-country skiing and loves to dance. Her parents were longtime employees of the Jennie-O Turkey store in Barron.

The sheriff scheduled a town hall on Wednesday night exclusively so residents of Barron could talk about how the community is doing. Victim assistance staff should be available to resolve welfare issues.

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