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Family of missing pregnant woman reveals suspicions about disappearance
An Indiana woman was nine months pregnant when she disappeared over three months ago, and her family has suspicions about her last whereabouts.
Mother of three Emma Baum, 25, went missing Oct. 10 in Gary, Indiana, and she was about to give birth to her fourth child.
Baum was last seen being dropped off at her boyfriend's house, her sister Hailey Baum-Waddell told Fox News Digital.
"Looking for Emma has been a very struggling thing for everybody, mentally and physically and emotionally … but we're not going to stop looking for her," Baum-Waddell said. "I think if people keep going on and chanting that something needs to be done and chanting her name … just get the word out because a lot of people know, but not everybody knows."
MOM 9 MONTHS PREGNANT MISSING FOR A MONTH, LAST SEEN AT BOYFRIEND'S HOUSE, FAMILY SAYS
Authorities received a missing persons report for Baum from her family Oct. 28, Gary Police Cmdr. Jack Hamady told Fox News Digital.
"A couple of days went by. … We all started, like, messaging each other, ‘Hey, have you heard from Emma? Anybody seen her? Can you message one of her friends to get a hold of her boyfriend?’ And it was kind of just a ring around with everybody and everyone's just trying to figure it out," Baum-Waddell said.
"Then we're like, ‘OK, well, this is not normal.’ … That's when my mom really started to panic," she added. "Then my mom ended up going to the police station."
Officers with the Gary Police Department have used K-9s on several searches in the area, and the Lake County Sheriff's Department has assisted in a few of the searches, Hamady said.
"We have searched a house, apartment, recreational vehicles and one other property," he added.
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In addition to the police investigation, Baum-Waddell said she and other relatives of Baum have been organizing a widespread search after a social media post of hers drew hundreds of willing participants.
"There's been a lot of people who have offered to come out and look for her," she said. "We've talked it over with other search groups. I made a post online just saying, you know, ‘Hands of how many people would be willing to come out,’ and I posted it in multiple groups."
Baum lived in Portage, Indiana, but was visiting her boyfriend in Gary when she was last seen.
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Baum-Waddell said her sister didn't have a working phone when she disappeared and that although her sister may have "gone off and done her own thing" for several days at a time, she would never disappear for such a long period of time.
"That day, she was supposed to go with her boyfriend … to the phone store and get it activated, and she never got the phone activated," she said. "She's been completely silent on everything, and now that's not like her."
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Baum-Waddell also mentioned her sister's devotion as a mother and the close relationship she has with her oldest son.
"They have a freaking crazy, unbreakable bond," she shared. "For her not to be here to see him on Christmas or Thanksgiving or … New Year's. It's unreal. There's no way she would do that to him."
Baum-Waddell believes her sister's boyfriend is "hiding something," she told Fox News Digital, and Baum's mother believes the boyfriend had something to do with her disappearance, WGN9 reported.
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"We have not charged anyone with the disappearance of Emma Baum, and she has not been located yet," Hamady said. "We continue to search and interview individuals that are or maybe associated with this case."
Baum's boyfriend, who was originally in custody in an unrelated case, was released from Lake County Jail and is awaiting his court date for the separate charges, Hamady added.
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Baum is approximately 5 feet, 3 inches tall, weighs around 136 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. She has several scars and tattoos, and she often wears colorful wigs.
"Emma gave everybody her all, gave them all the love that she could," Baum-Waddell emotionally said about her sister. "She has these big brown eyes, and she always just wanted to make everybody, you know, laugh or feel good about themselves or have them feel included.
"It's very difficult because now it's not just her that's missing. It's her baby. And you don't want to think, you know, the worst because who would want to, you know, hurt a girl and her baby?" she added. "We're just hoping to find her safe."
Anyone with information on Baum's disappearance is asked to contact the Gary Police Department at (219) 881-1209.
Midwest state’s DEI department nixed in new governor’s 1st major act
Only days after Indiana Gov. Mike Braun was sworn-in in Indianapolis, the former Republican senator officially rid the state government of its Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) apparatus.
Instead, Braun – who grew a small Jasper truck-body business called Meyer Distributing into a major player with 700 product lines – said on Friday it takes a politician who "signed the front side of a paycheck" to understand what economic priorities actually matter, and DEI is not one of them.
"At the [Indiana] inaugural, which was over the weekend for me, there was so much excitement knowing something is afoot even in a good red state like Indiana, mostly because of what's going to happen out in D.C. and the partnership that can happen between enterprising states like ours has always been," Braun said on "Fox & Friends."
"We’ve never really had somebody from Main Street… be our own governor here."
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Braun contrasted the conservative economic vision with that of President Biden and other Democrats, whose platform is "built on big government."
"Rahm Emanuel said ‘never let a crisis go to waste’," he said in that respect, referring to the former President Barack Obama confidant’s motto during the 2008 financial crisis. The line was seen as a suggestion to use tough moments to force through tenets of one’s personal agenda.
In comments to Fox News Digital, Braun said that in nearly 40 years of running a business, he knows what works and what does not.
Instead of DEI, Indiana needs "MEI" – or Merit, Excellence and Innovation – to be a priority, he said.
"Government should be laser-focused on one thing: getting results for the people they serve. We’re replacing the divisive DEI ideology with a level playing field of MEI -- the same reason we’re eliminating college degree requirements where they’re not essential and adding key performance metrics for accountability," Braun said.
"[That is] because everyone should be judged on what they do, not who they are."
Braun noted his business background and reiterated how his guiding principle of growing Meyer into the expansive business it is today has been "results – above everything else."
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"That’s exactly what we’re putting first in my administration."
In his order, Braun cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard – which found affirmative action programs violate the Equal Protection Clause – and said state resources would not be used to "support [DEI] positions, departments, activities, procedures or programs if they grant preferential treatment based upon one person's particular race..."
It also bans requirements of Indianans to have to disclose their personal pronouns or for employers to mandate job applicants to provide a DEI-related statement.
"We've grown the federal government to a place that I hope DOGE… brings it down because you’ve got a lot of anxious governors that want to double down on [DOGE] – we’re going to do it anyway," Braun said separately on Fox News Channel.
Braun said that since COVID-19, too many Indiana bureaucrats are still teleworking and that the DEI-nixing effort is also another way to streamline government to be more effective, just like Meyer.
The state’s DEI office had been established by Braun’s predecessor, Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb.
After the George Floyd incident in Minnesota, Holcomb addressed Indianans on the issue of "getting to the root causes of inequities and not just reacting to the symptoms."
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Holcomb, who first ascended to the governorship when Mike Pence became vice president in 2017, appointed then-University of Notre Dame public affairs director Karrah Herring to lead the new DEI department.
Braun also received some pushback on his decision:
The Indiana legislature’s minority leader said he respects Braun’s right to position his new administration how he wants but questioned his chosen hierarchy.
"Thinking of the myriad issues Hoosiers are facing, though, I can’t understand why this is a top priority," State Rep. Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, said in a statement.
GiaQuinta added a recent caucus meeting with the DEI office was "insightful and helpful" to their work addressing Indianans’ needs, and called the department’s sunset a "distraction from the real issues."