BARRON – During the extensive, wide-ranging search for Jayme Closs, authorities have closely reviewed 80-plus surveillance videos — but there has been no sign of the missing and endangered 13-year-old girl.

Still, authorities say, the video collected from businesses, highway cameras and other locations could bring the person responsible for Jayme's disappearance to justice.

“The video will help us solve the case,” Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. “We don’t see Jayme on any of the videos. But once we arrest a suspect, it will help us convict (the person responsible).”

Jayme vanished early Oct. 15 when sheriff’s deputies, responding to a 911 call, found the door to her family’s home near Barron kicked in. Her parents, James and Denise Closs, were found shot to death, but Jayme was missing. She has not been seen or heard from since.

Fitzgerald said that once a suspect is arrested, officials will search for that individual by re-examining the videos.

“If we determine the suspect traveled north or west, we have a lot of cars on video to check it against,” he said. Knowing the color of the vehicle that the suspect was driving could also be important, he said.

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Fitzgerald said authorities expanded the video search to 60 miles out of Barron County. “We’ve got all the directions we can go,” he said.

In addition, he said, “we’ve got a lot of video of people going in and out of gas stations.”

Fitzgerald said video surveillance has emerged as a routine investigative method in criminal cases. “The quality of the video is so good, and you can see it 24/7,” he said.

That assessment is shared by law enforcement officials throughout the U.S.

“It’s one of the first things we do on a major case; we seek out surveillance on cases,” said Detective Chris Braman of the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department. “People have a myriad of video surveillance devices, (including) doorbell video of vehicles passing by. It’s a different way of canvassing than the old days. It’s a new age.”

Braman said videos are obtained from businesses, highway cameras, citizens and over-the-road truck drivers to assist in investigations.

“There’s usually video somewhere. You just have to find it,” he said.

Video surveillance can be a factor in investigating major crimes.

On the morning of Nov. 5, Hania Aguilar, 13, was kidnapped from outside her Lumberton, N.C. home by a masked man. Three days later, the FBI released surveillance footage of an unidentified man walking in the area of Hania’s home.

Hania’s body was found on Nov. 28, several miles from her home. Prior to the discovery, authorities had asked the public for any surveillance video or photos from the area. Police still sought surveillance video from residents and businesses after the girl was found dead.

In another harrowing case, a surveillance camera at a carwash in Florida captured the kidnapping of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in 2004. Within several hours, police arrested the man shown in the video and he was later convicted of killing the girl.

“That’s one of a number of cases where this technology pays off,” said Jim Walters, program director at Fox Valley Technical College’s National Criminal Justice Training Center.

”You’re looking for that one lead. One of the key things in a missing persons case is establishing the initial contact that took place. Often, you’ll find it on a video.”

Walters said video technology is expanding “faster than we can keep up with” and detectives are obliged to check for the availability of videos in most cases.

“The ability to access all of these sources of information has almost become another element of the criminal justice investigation,” he said, listing home security systems, doorbell cameras, business surveillance, ATMs and traffic lights as possible sources for police to examine.

“So many cases have been resolved through that key bit of information, from a piece of video,” Walters said. “Every so often, the owner won’t even know they have something of importance.”