By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Detectives recently traveled to Oregon, in search of the body of Kayla Croft-Payne, the Lewis County teen who vanished five and half years ago.
Kayla Croft-Payne
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has been investigating since the beginning, but several weeks ago, after getting new information, the case was turned over to the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.
Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office Chief Criminal Deputy Charlie Rosenzweig said he feels like the case has progressed from where it stood six months ago.
“We have had some good leads,” Rosenzweig said yesterday.
Detectives feel like they know now where it was Kayla Croft-Payne died, and they think it was in Cowlitz County, Rosenzweig said.
That’s the reason his detectives have taken it over, he said.
“We believe the information she died in our jurisdiction is a credible report,” he said.
Croft-Payne was 18 year old in May 2010 when she was reported missing by a friend. She was described as jobless and transient, but lived in rural Chehalis.
Her roommate at the time has said they were together the night she went missing, and another friend came to pick Croft-Payne up from their friend’s in Onalaska.
Early in the investigation, the sheriff’s office said the last place they could verify her spending time was a trailer park in the Toutle area. They had a cadaver dog search around a river in the Toutle area that summer, without success.
Rosenzweig said that in the next couple of weeks, he and his people plan to share more information about what they’ve been doing.
He wasn’t prepared to say specifically where in Oregon they hunted for her body, or specifically where they think Croft-Payne died, although he said it was in the northern portion of the county.
“Honestly, we’re hoping to spur some interest,” he said.
He did ask that anyone who has not yet talked to police, but has any information, to please phone detective Brad Thurman at 360-577-3092.
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For background, read “Kayla Croft-Payne: Missing Lewis County teen’s parents still seeking answers” from Friday March 25, 2011, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
I am very glad to hear that this case is progressing. My thoughts and prayers to the family. I hope that they are able to figure out what happened to this girl and are able find her killer if their is one.