NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The search for 6-year-old Elle Ragin of Northfield has shifted more than 100 miles away to a park along the Mississippi River in central Minnesota, two days after the Rice County Sheriff's Office first asked for the public's help in locating the missing girl.
The Stearns County Sheriff said the Stearns-Benton Dive Team has been assisting Northfield Police in their missing persons search at Mississippi River County Park near the town of Rice, more than 100 miles away from the child's home. The park is closed while the search is ongoing.
At a news conference Tuesday, Northfield Police Chief Mark Elliott noted for the first time that Ragin "was last seen on Sunday, June 19."
Police believe that Elle's mother, 39-year-old Lisa Wade, may have been involved in her disappearance before she died. Autopsy results are pending for Lisa Wade, but police believe she had taken her own life. Her body was found Saturday morning at her apartment in Northfield, but there was no sign of her daughter.
“On June 21 at about noon, Lisa Wade drove from her home in Northfield to Mississippi River Park in Stearns County," Elliott said, which investigators learned through cell phone records from a search warrant.
Elliott added that a Stearns County Deputy had contact with Elle's mother in the park on June 23 at about 9 a.m. "She told the deputy she lost her phone and car keys while hiking the trails in the park and she needed assistance."
After officers learned of the park location, the search began for Elle Ragin.
"The search revealed evidence related to this case including the discovery of Elle’s cell phone on land, and Lisa’s cell phone and purse containing her drivers license and key fob in the river,” Elliott said during Tuesday's press conference.
Elliott also said investigators were able to obtain video of Lisa between June 23 and July 2 at various locations, but Elle was not seen with her mother at any of those times. Elliott mentioned that Elle and her mother had a very close relationship, and that it was "very uncommon to see one without the other."
"During the week of June 25, Lisa had contact with family members and seemed distraught," Elliott said.
Ragin is about 3'6" tall, weighs roughly 45 pounds, and has brown hair and brown eyes, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
This is an open and active investigation, and anyone with information regarding this case can contact the Northfield Police Department at 507-645-4477.
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