The family of a pregnant Indiana mother, who mysteriously vanished in October, believe her boyfriend may be concealing something about her disappearance.
Emma Baum, 25, was nine-months pregnant when she inexplicably vanished on October 10 while paying a visit to her boyfriend, Antwon Butler, 29, in Gary, around 10 miles from her home in Portage.
The young mother-of-three did not have a working phone at the time of her vanishing, and family members have said she was supposed to go with her boyfriend – the father of her unborn child – ‘to the phone store and get it activated’.
Now, Baum’s sister, Hailey Baum-Waddell, 23, suspects her older sister’s boyfriend is ‘hiding something,’ she told Fox News Digital.
Baum’s mother, Jamie Baum, also believes the Butler – who has a lengthy criminal record – had something to do with her daughter’s strange disappearance, WGN9 reported.
Butler has not been put forth as a suspect in her disappearance, and Gary Police have yet to charge anyone with the pregnant mother’s unexplainable vanishing.
‘We have not charged anyone with the disappearance of Emma Baum, and she has not been located yet,’ Gary Police Commander, Jack Hamady, said. ‘We continue to search and interview individuals that are or maybe associated with this case.’
Butler, who was taken into custody in an unrelated case just after his pregnant girlfriend’s disappearance, was later released from Lake County Jail and awaits a court date for the separate charges, Hamady said.
This isn’t Butler’s first run-in with the law.
In 2019, the 29-year-old had a battery charge dismissed. That same year, Butler pleaded guilty to a neglect of a dependent charge.
In 2024, he pleaded guilty to a possession of a substance represented to be a controlled substance charge. And in 2025, he pleaded guilty to a resisting law enforcement charge.
The Gary-native has other pending cases – including dealing in cocaine and marijuana – and his most recent possessing of a controlled substance charge – a felony – that he was recently arrested for.
Now, several months after her dissappearance, Baum’s mother is facing eviction as she continues the futile search for her daughter and unborn grandchild.
The worried-sick mother is currently providing daily care for her grandchildren and is ‘facing significant financial difficulties in paying utilities and rent,’ according to a GoFundMe campaign aimed to help provide support her.
‘Jamie is struggling to make ends meet. She has received a 10-day eviction letter from landlords requesting payment of late fees, and back rent a total of $2000,’ the page reads.
‘As a self-sufficient individual, Jamie is experiencing an immense stress and hardship while trying to locate her missing daughter searching daily in Gary, Indiana in Northwest Indiana regions.’
A second fundraiser was created by Baum’s sister. Between the two, a meager total of just $80 has been raised to help the troubled family.
Baum is approximately 5 feet, 3 inches tall, weighs around 136 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes.
She has several scars and tattoos, and she often wears colorful wigs.
‘Emma gave everybody her all, gave them all the love that she could,’ Baum-Waddell said of her sister.
‘She has these big brown eyes, and she always just wanted to make everybody, you know, laugh or feel good about themselves or have them feel included.
‘It’s very difficult because now it’s not just her that’s missing. It’s her baby. And you don’t want to think, you know, the worst because who would want to, you know, hurt a girl and her baby?’ she added. ‘We’re just hoping to find her safe.’
Authorities first received a missing persons report for Baum from her family October 28, Hamady told the outlet.
The missing woman’s family said it is likely Baum has already given birth – as she was one centimeter dilated on October 4.
A widespread search ensued for the missing mother as volunteers searched through overgrown fields, knocked on doors and passed out flyer and K-9 units were deployed in search for her scent, CBS News reported.
Baum-Waddell recalled stopping people in their cars and those who were walking in the neighborhood to ask them if they knew where her older sister may be.
‘We have put our own lives at risk,’ Baum’s other sister, Abigale Smith, added. ‘We have run into abandoned houses, we have dug in dirt piles.
‘At this point, we have done everything we can, and now we ask the public to please help us,’ Smith added in a news conference addressing her sister’s unknown whereabouts.
Hamady said police have questioned multiple people in connection with the case, and noted to WGN9 that officers continue to scour the area.
‘There are three locations that have come up in the investigation, so we’ve exhausted those means, and looked into video that was possibly in those areas that she was last seen as well.’
Still, Baum’s family is not giving up hope.
‘We’re always going to look for her,’ Baum’s mother said. ‘I’m never going to stop looking for her. My whole family will never stop looking for you, Emma.’
‘We love you, Emma. And if you can hear us, there is nothing that you have done to make any of us stop loving you,’ Smith added.