Enumclaw man arrested for 2003 McCleary cold case; investigation into Baum possible connection

The Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office have made an arrest for a 2003 kidnapping and rape cold case from McCleary, and they are looking to see if it has any ties to the Lindsey Baum murder investigation.

In a release from the local office, the GHSO told KXRO that on Tuesday, Paul Bieker of Enumclaw was arrested in connection with the cld case.

According to GHSO, in March of 2003 the Sheriff’s Office investigated a kidnapping and rape that started on Church Road in McCleary after a 17-year-old girl was abducted as she returned home in her vehicle.  In the case, the suspect had bound the girl before loading her into her own vehicle, was taken to an undisclosed location and sexually assaulted.  

The Sheriff’s office says that the case shows that after sexually assaulting her, the suspect drove her to a location near McCleary and left her in the vehicle.  The victim was able to free herself and she returned to her residence where the kidnapping and assault were reported to her father who immediately called 911 to report the crimes.  

Investigators collected evidence at the hospital and a DNA profile was eventually obtained for the suspect in the sexual assault.  Although an exhaustive investigation was conducted, investigators had not been able to identify a suspect.  The suspect’s DNA profile was entered into the nationwide criminal database and it was not linked to a known person in the database.

In 2010 the Grays Harbor Prosecuting Attorney’s Office obtained an arrest warrant for an unknown person, based on the DNA profile developed from the sample taken from the victim following the kidnapping and rape.

In December of 2020, Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office Chief Darrin Wallace submitted the DNA evidence to a laboratory for genealogy testing.  The testing revealed a short list of possible suspects that were believed to be related to the source of the suspect DNA. Investigators learned that Paul Beiker lived in McCleary in 2003 at a residence not far from the victim’s residence.  

The investigation also brought detectives more circumstantial evidence that linked Beiker to the crime.  GHSO Chief Wallace and Det. Sgt. Logan surveilled Beiker and obtained his DNA from a discarded item.  The item with Beiker’s DNA was submitted to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab for comparison and it was determined that it was a match of the suspect in the 2003 sexual assault.  Beiker was contacted by investigators in McCleary, Washington on 06-15-21 and taken into custody.

The Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the case. 

Due to the nature and circumstances of the crime investigators are also looking into the kidnapping and murder case of Lindsey Baum who went missing on June 26th, 2009 in the city of McCleary.  Baum’s remains were located in 2018 in Kittitas County in Eastern Washington.  If anyone has any information that may be helpful in either of these cases you can call the Lindsey Baum tip line 360-964-1799 or email [email protected].