Authorities, Volunteers Search For Missing Wis. 3-Year-Old

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Authorities in Burnett County, Wis., are searching for a 3-year-old girl that apparently went missing Tuesday night.

The Burnett County Sheriff's Office received a report of a missing 3-year-old girl at about 6:58 p.m. Tuesday. Authorities said the girl apparently wandered away from her home in Danbury, Wis., which is about 15 miles north of Siren, Wis., and 60 miles south of the Duluth-Superior area.

The girl's name is Reena Mae Williams. She is described as a white female, 3-foot-8, 30 to 50 pounds with blond hair that's in a partial ponytail. She was last seen wearing pants, a long-sleeved purple shirt and was not wearing shoes.

Authorities began an immediate search of the area and called off search efforts just before 3 a.m. Search efforts are resuming Wednesday morning during daylight hours.

Rhonda Reynolds is the Emergency Management Director for Burnett County. She said there are close to 400 or 500 people helping in the search.

"Currently, we're conducting a ground search in the area where the child was reported missing," said Reynolds. "It's actually in an area south of the town of Danbury. It's in an area along the Yellow River. We got fire department teams out. We got law enforcement teams and hundreds of citizen volunteers that working with Wisconsin DNR crew chiefs and are targeting areas that they need to look."

Reynolds added that the area is difficult to search.

"It's very dense brush. The area here was hit with a windstorm in July of last year. So, the brush is very thick and tangled, trees are fallen over," said Reynolds.

Anyone with information on her disappearance or who may have seen her since she wandered from her home is asked to call the Burnett County Sheriff's Office at 715-349-2121.