What to Know
- Miami Police tweeted an alert message early Tuesday morning saying that 13-year-old Jayme Closs may have been seen in the city.
- Officers received a 911 call and responded to the home of Closs’s parents in Barron, WI where they found both of their dead bodies.
A tip about a missing Wisconsin teen who disappeared after the deaths of her parents being possibly seen in Miami are not credible, authorities said Tuesday.
Earlier Tuesday Miami Police said that 13-year-old Jayme Closs may have been seen at a gas station in the area of Northwest 27th Avenue and 11th Street on Monday afternoon.
But at a news conference Tuesday evening, Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said authorities had followed up on the tip and determined it's "not credible information."
"We have no credible information about the Miami incident," Fitzgerald told reporters.
Miami Police said someone matching her description may have been in a black Ford Explorer with Wisconsin tags reading I60WER. The teen is described as 5-feet tall and 100 pounds with strawberry-blond hair and green eyes.
Officials say two men may have been in the vehicle as well, described by Miami Police as two well-dressed, Middle Eastern men in their 30s, between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-9, weighing 200 to 250 pounds with beards.
Fitzgerald said Closs isn't a runaway and said authorities believe she's in danger. During an earlier media briefing Tuesday, he said that he can't reveal why authorities believe Closs is in danger because it could compromise the investigation. But he repeated his plea for the public's help in finding her.
Deputies went to the home in Barron after dispatchers received a 911 call from an unknown person at around 1 a.m. Monday, Fitzgerald said. An Amber Alert was also issued for the teen.
Fitzgerald said they found the bodies of Jayme Closs' parents, who were later identified by the sheriff's department as 56-year-old James Closs and his 46-year-old wife, Denise Closs. Fitzgerald also said there had been gunshots, but he stopped short of saying that's how the couple died.
"At the end of the day, I want a 13-year-old here safe and sound. That's our goal. That's our only goal right now," Fitzgerald said at a news briefing.
Investigators don't have any leads or suspects, but they have enlisted the help of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the FBI, which has agents who specialize in missing children cases, the sheriff said. He said Jayme is not considered a suspect in her parents' deaths.
Fitzgerald said investigators are frustrated they haven't developed any leads and asked for the public's help with any information about what could have happened to the girl.
Officers also were at Jayme's middle school talking with her friends and acquaintances, hoping to develop some leads, officials said.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911 immediately.
