Analysis: Leads in story about missing 6-year-old girl

The lead is designed to draw audience attention. In the msnbc.com article, the lead is straight-forward, summarizing the most important information in the story. The lead incorporates the essentials in hard news reporting: facts based on the five W's and a clear, concise writing style.
What the story is about is by far the most detailed aspect of the lead whereas why or how the story occurred is of less importance. These aspects of the story are typically found later in the story to provide further detail.
I feel the reporter chose this particular lead because it quickly informs the reader what happened yet provides some detail to provide the reader a better understanding without using too much space.