Barron community raises money for Closs family on day six of search for Jayme

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It’s been six days and there are still no signs of Jayme Closs.  

The Barron, Wisconsin community has been searching for Closs and is now undertaking an effort to fundraise for the family. They are even feeding the large investigative team that is working this baffling case 24 hours a day.

“I feel everyone has been affected, near and far,” said Ashley Kopping, of Barron. “It makes it real because you don’t think something like this will happen in a small town. So when it does, it really hits home.”

For sisters-in-law Ashley and Lyndsay Kopping, the frightening nature of the Closs case is life-altering in this pocket of northwest Wisconsin.

“I have three children and I just think seeing them outside or even answering the door sometimes, you don’t know who is on the other side,” said Lyndsay Kopping. “It makes you more aware of your surroundings.”

Saturday, there were still no sightings of 13-year-old Jayme Closs.

Frustratingly, the Barron County Sheriff had very little in terms of an update on a case that has rattled the community of 3,300 people.

We now know investigators have thoroughly vetted 800 of the more than 1,000 tips that have poured in since the teen disappeared from her home early Monday morning.

Her parents were shot to death in the house with Jayme inside, but minutes later, after authorities arrived, she was gone and there was no gun at the scene.

The Sheriff has insisted Jayme is not a suspect, but rather a young girl in grave danger.

“So, we’re all trying to rally together to get some answers and hopefully find peace again,” said Tim Anderson, the founder of Haunted Path.

Jayme’s community is focused on bringing Closs home safely, but they are also raising money to assist her grieving family.

One way in which they are doing that is through green bracelets. At $5 each, the bracelets are selling quickly in several locations with the message, “Find Jayme Closs.”

Meanwhile, just up the road in Rice Lake, a popular Halloween tradition, The Haunted Path, is turning over half its proceeds Saturday night to the Closs family.

Everyone in Barron is hurting and looking for something, anything to do to help.

“I can’t even imagine how that would feel,” Ashley added. “No words. Couldn’t imagine not having my mother and father and Jayme, still missing.”

As this agonizing search approaches a week, Jayme’s school district is trying to help folks cope and process the horrors, particularly Jayme’s young classmates and friends.

There is a Monday evening Gathering of Hope event planned at Jayme’s middle school.

Clearly, the goal there is to keep people’s spirits up and to keep this community unified and focused on bringing Jayme home.