Detectives comb through debris at a property on Ferrier Road. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office
Updated
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Sheriff’s detectives yesterday finished up two days of searching two wells and digging through mounds of garbage at a property south of Winlock after getting tips the body of the missing Kayla Croft-Payne had been dumped there.
Nothing of interest was located except for a dog carcass, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said today.
The Lewis County girl vanished three years ago. She was 18 years old when a missing person report was made, days after her last posting on social network sites.
Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said the office had received several tips Croft-Payne had been killed and either buried or tossed down a well at property on the 1500 block of Ferrier Road.
She said the young woman used to hang out with the people who lived there.
The owners gave detectives permission to conduct the search, according to the sheriff’s office. Brown said she didn’t know if the property has changed hands.
The sheriff’s office says the place is known as “the farm” by those who frequent it.
Brown said detectives excavated a 20-foot deep well which had recently been filled with trash and debris. They used a pump to drain a 35-foot deep well.
A neighbor assisted with his backhoe and the detectives worked sixteen hours on Wednesday and Thursday, but turned up nothing, according to Brown.
According to Brown, deputies had received information in the past about the location which was vague, but two new tips in the past three weeks offered more detail.
Sheriff Steve Mansfield said in a prepared statement his people worked diligently and conducted a thorough search.
“This case has been troubling for our office and we still hope to find Kayla and bring closure to her family and friends,” Mansfield stated.
At a gathering the weekend before last at Penny Playground in Chehalis, family and some friends marked the three year anniversary since Croft-Payne disappeared.
Her aunt has connected with a Vancouver, Wash.-based organization that is investigating women and girls exploited by online modeling sites.
Croft-Payne wanted to be a model, and spoke of getting photographs taken for a portfolio.
Earlier this week, the sheriff’s office outlined the lengths it has gone to pursue that lead, noting they now know it was a different modeling site that Croft-Payne used than the one they checked.
Brown says the case has never been dormant, and detectives continue to follow all leads.
The sheriff’s office asks anyone who knows anything about the case to please call them at 360-748-9286 or contact Crime Stoppers of Lewis County, at 1-800-748-6422.
•••
For background, read “News brief: Model Mayhem website not involved in missing Lewis County girl’s case” from Tuesday May 7, 2013, here
Detectives search a well at a property on Ferrier Road. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
I have to disagree with you lewiscountyelites…if they still have their own thought patterns they will be oblivious idiots…just as they are now. They may wanna check up on what’s going on in the good old U.S. before they start crackin on people who do pay attention. Dumb asses.
I have to agree with CRAZEE, as crazy as some of you think it sounds, he is very close to hitting the nail on the head. Sit back and watch your news channels every day from 5 to 7, which does nothing but repeat itself through out the entire 2 hours, then turn on some accurate news and see the difference of what is really going on and what they only want you to know! QUESTION EVERYTHING, IF YOU STILL HAVE YOUR OWN THOUGHT PATTERN YOU WILL.
this is terrible the stuff people say on here I knew the girl very well. and although she may have had some problems at points what young teenage girl hasn’t. was a great person and every day she is missing is a nightmare for her family
Hey crazee go back under your non-patriotic rock and hide. The government heard u and they’re coming for you, wacko!
OMG REALLY, REALLY? Dont be delusional. The human race is full of bad apples, law enforcement isnt immune, anywhere! And nobody realizes one when they are standing in front of them. Wanna know why? Cause the victims of bad cops have had their worlds destroyed for no reason. And they can not do anything about it. They live in silence due to the fear of reprocussion, from what DCE and many more of us call the “good old boys” club. Not to mention the new, efficent “databases” popping up everywhere, hospitals, etc. can ruin your life witha few strokes of their keyboards. Life is plain old fucking scary now. Everybody has a number and is in the system. They have many ways to enter you into it nowadays, and they will. Im telling ya, you only have to piss off one person to get a flag in that database. After that, life will never be the same. Youll know when it happens. Its part of the master plan. Within a few years our freedom will be no more. We will be under strict control of our government.
Ok, I call myself crazee, so you may wanna take that with a grain of salt, or you may wanna wake up and prepare for the dismal very near, future. Become a Patriot, build your own little world now so that you will not have to depend on any entity for anything later. Theres going to be shortages of power, water, food, etc. Be self sufficent for everything. These times are going to be soon.
I think Ill change my name to the “crazee patriot”. Id rather be safe then sorry! I bet your agreeing with me huh DCE? Its all sad but true!
OMG REALLY….THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT YOUR FRIEND!
Crack**on
Also understanding and agreeing are two very different things. Don’t try to insinuate that I’m stupid because our opinions differ. Nice try but I’m not some dumb little uneducated welfare case you can cracking on. I highly doubt you are in any way above my intellect.
So I take it you must be a volunteer fire fighter, and that you will be helping out on the search for this missing girl from now on? While I personally have no desire to do the cops job for them, you on the other hand clearly do…. So all I can say is: don’t TALK about it, BE about it.
Also, I don’t dial 911. Ever. I learned long ago what they are really about. But you go right ahead n keep on relying on them. LC’s problems should fall to the police… but some people enable them to sit on their asses
“So now citizens are supposed to do a job for Free, that the cops get paid for?”
!!ABSOLUTELY!!
They are called Reserves, Auxiliaries, Sheriff’s Posse, Volunteers, etc. Folks who just don’t like to stand by and bitch when they can do something about it. That’s what being a Citizen of your community is all about. Fire, Schools, Sport Coaches, Library Reading Programs and yes even Officers and Deputies are often made up of people who for some reason just don’t feel like the problems of Lewis County are someone else’s problem to solve. They Get Involved and make a difference every day! Who knows, the next time you dial 911 it just might be a non paid volunteer that comes to your rescue.
Don’t worry, I really didn’t expect you to understand any of this, but I though I’d give it one last try.
@omg really… So now citizens are supposed to do a job for Free, that the cops get paid for? What a stupid thing to say. Since my taxes go to pay their wages technically I do help. Maybe they should just do the job our taxes go for. Hmmm there’s a thought.
Sylvia Brown was given the boot by George Nori host of the nation wide ‘Coast to Coast’ radio show.
It was due to Browns highly inaccurate information regarding several missing person cases.
Nancy Moyer, Lindsey Baum and Kyron Horman are all still missing since 2009.
I find it difficult to believe these cases, all in different law enforcement jurisdictions within less than a 100 mile radius have all went cold. Why??
Hey instead of constantly blaming or putting down the law enforcement , you should all get off your butts and help out. If you don’t help then you have no right to bitch.
I don’t understand if all these kids missing on tv and around the areas and all over the world why people don’t get these sickets
to help these people find there children and loved ones ask silvia brown she will be in town next week
Yea free air ur right the cops around there are totally on top of it, on top of everything as a matter of fact…they are brilliant and extremely competent. Just working the leads they have. (Imagine the thickest sarcasm possible as u read this)
Or,
Maybe they are chasing down a bad lead that started with someone saying “I heard she was put in the well, or a friend of mine said everyone knows that crazy guy did it then cut her up and hid her”. A lot of information that comes in on something like this is just junk started through school age rumor mills and facebook chats, but you have to chase them down as best you can as they come up. That’s why a case like this is kept open for so long, and reactivates once new information comes in.
You can’t act on what you don’t have.
Wtf.. I agree with almost everything u said. Cops are useless, especially in Lewis County. 3 years later they are finally looking for her… And for her body no less. Though honestly, I think this poor girl is dead. I really hope she wasn’t dumped in any place like this. No matter what she was into no one deserves that.
Also why the eff are those people so disgusting? Are u kidding me? Who lives like that? Ugh, sick.
You have GOT TO BE KIDDING! Don’t konw if the property has changed hands? Give me 5 minutes, and I can detect that very important piece of information off the LC assessors records. And, why now? Wby didn’t they develop those leads back when the girl went missing? Oh yea, it didn’t make headline news then.
Maybe she doesnt want to be found – moved and is assuming another name which is most likely the case. Its very easy to get fake documents. The recent “vigil” is proof of how easy public opinion and speculation drives local law enforcement action – their desperate efforts to justify adding more officers to the expanding budget and ever expanding criminal justice industry in the sight of the public eye. Meanwhile we incarcerate more people per capita than any other nation in the world. This is a ‘slam dunk’ for them whether the “good guys” find anything or not. I just find it funny the sheriffs dept has new suvs, boats, helicopters, tanks and armored vehicles but no excavator. They had to borrow the neighbors. Let alone any real evidence of a homicide. Just keep following the tweaker tips. Maybe their crystal ball will guide u in the right direction. lol