Over a week after 13-year-old Jayme Closs was abducted from her rural Wisconsin home, her aunt is speaking out, vowing to “never stop looking for you.”
“Not a moment goes by when we aren’t thinking of you and praying for you,” Jayme’s aunt, Jennifer Smith, said at a news conference Wednesday.
The desperate search comes after Jayme’s parents, Denise and James Closs, were found shot dead at their home in Barron in the early hours of Oct. 15. Jayme was believed to be home at the time of the killings but had been abducted by the time police arrived, according to authorities.
Jayme is considered missing and endangered, authorities said.
Smith said she misses her niece’s “sparking eyes, bright smile, soft little giggles.”
In a message to Jayme, Smith said her dog, Molly, is “waiting for you,” adding, “We all love you to the moon and back and we’ll never stop looking for you.”
“Whoever may know where Jayme is, please contact the Barron County Sheriff’s Department,” she said.
Meanwhile, day 10 of the search for Jayme is coming to a close after a massive search on Tuesday involving 2,000 volunteers that searched a several-mile radius around the Closs home, but no evidence was found, authorities said.
“As of today, no items of evidentiary value were recovered during our search,” Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald told reporters Wednesday.
Authorities have received over 1,550 tips and closed over 1,250 of those tips, Fitzgerald said.
Investigators believe Jayme is still alive, Fitzgerald told ABC News on Tuesday, and they won’t stop until they bring her home.
“The hope is what we’re riding on,” he said.
The FBI is now offering a $25,000 reward for any information that leads to Jayme’s whereabouts.
Anyone with information is asked to call the 24-hour tip line at 855-744-3879.
A funeral for the missing girl’s parents, Denise and James Closs, will be held Saturday.
