A convicted sex offender charged with the rape of a Bonney Lake teen and other related charges may have connections to the McCleary area, fueling interest in his whereabouts in 2009 when Lindsey Baum went missing.

According to a King 5 story published on Wednesday, police say Lily Christopherson, 15, went missing on May 9 from Bonney Lake. Christopher Fitzpatrick, 39, recently was “arrested and charged with raping her and selling her for sex with other men,” King 5 reported.

Baum, a grade schooler when she went missing in 2009, was last seen walking home from a friend’s house in McCleary. Her remains were found by hunters in Eastern Washington in 2017. DNA analysis confirmed the identity of the remains earlier this year.

King 5 noted that the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office is interested in Fitzpatrick’s whereabouts when Baum was kidnapped in 2009. According to King 5, Ftizpatrick’s former girlfriend has lived in McCleary.

In a brief telephone conversation, Grays Harbor County Sheriff Rick Scott said they have not connected Fitzpatrick to Baum.

“That’s something I was asked about, and we’re looking into it. At this point, there’s nothing that would connect him to the investigation other than he’s the suspect of a missing child up north. Then we found out about his connection to McCleary in the same time period that Lindsey went missing,” Scott said. “I’m not in a position to comment publicly that we think he would have any knowledge or involvement.”