Police were already familiar with the house. They had it boarded up six months earlier after they first searched for Katie.

Records obtained by 5 INVESTIGATES would later reveal a failure by police to follow up on repeated concerns over Katie’s wellbeing.

Those records, as well as interviews with neighbors and experts, confirmed that police also failed to alert the city officials who could have found her sooner.

“I’m sure she laid there probably waiting on somebody to help her,” said Collins, who lived next door. “And nobody never came.”