WA WA - Leah Roberts, 23, Whatcom Co, 13 Mar 2000

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They can extract DNA from bones that are 5-10,000 yrs old so I would imagine obviously the same can be done for more recent remains. It seems to be a rather involved process.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=102752

Some sources regarding DNA extraction from skeletal remains:

From the National Criminal Justice Reference Service: http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=206532

National Center for Biotechnology Info:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7557753
 
I don't think it looks like her in the picture. Several things match though....the birthmark and the femur surgery...but I don't think it's her.
 
I just went back and re-read the whole thread. Leah's website seems to be permanently gone. The wayback archive machine has the last 'sighting' of the active site in Jan 2008. I am sad that the link to the letter she left her roommate is also gone. If anyone can figure out a way to find it again, I would be eternally grateful.

I am not too good but I might go and see if there are any UID's that match Leah's description on any database I can find.
 
Hi, I noticed the site is gone as well. The site is still owned according to WHOIS by Heath Roberts (according to Archive.org, her brother). Too sad. Maybe they just decided to give up.
 
I clicked on web site link.
The power point presentation link does not work.
I emailed Heath R about the website.
 
They still haven't figured out what happened to this poor woman :(

Hypothermia makes some sense - remember what happened to James Kim.

I'm not sure exactly where her car was found along Canyon Creek Road, but looking at the NWTrails maps, it doesn't look like there are any hiking trails along that part of the road, so it's entirely possible that nobody has discovered her remains had she gone wandering off.

And - as much as I hate to say this - this is about the right age for someone's latest schizophrenia to kick in. So perhaps she went "Chris McCandless."
 
I think the April 23 date is important...Easter. Rebirth? Maybe Leah was traveling around for a few weeks and marked 4/23 when she would begin a "new phase" of her life?

It seems interesting that she paid the bills for about a month, which would indicate to me that she would be returning in about 30 days. I don't think I would feel okay about stiffing my roommate/friend on my rent and bills payment if I was planning on disappearing.

Also, driving cross country in 3 days is intense. To go from Tennessee to Oregon is a HUGE distance to cover in 2 days (according to her hotel, money trails). What was the rush to get out there? If I'm on a soul searching journey, trying to channel Kerouac, I would take my time driving xcountry, seeing sights/national parks etc. 3 days is, like another poster said, almost driving all day and way into the night straight through. It seems like she was in quite a hurry...was she meeting up with someone? Did she have any contacts in that region? Was her computer ever searched? Had she done any extensive travel out West before? Had she been to Oregon/WA area in the past?
 
maggieo said:
I think about Leah often. Something about her story has always touched me. I hope one day her family and the world find out what happened to her.
Click to expand...

I just noticed that (as of a few weeks ago) it's been the tenth anniversary of her disappearance.

Her brother still keeps findleah.org up, bless him.
 
bumping for Leah...her case was on "Disappeared" tonight.

A few thoughts on this case:
- I wonder if the police checked the position of the seat when they found the car - if it would have been appropriate for Leah's height?

- I'm also wondering if she or the person who harmed her put a block on the gas pedal and sent it down the embankment to crash on purpose, and that there was actually no one driving it.

- From what we know of her, she's easily open with strangers and has no problem meeting new people when she's alone. She makes herself an easy target in this way, especially driving on the road - letting strangers know she's taking a trip on her own, her family won't be looking for her etc. The fact that she talked to two men at the lunch place and told them of her trip ALONE tells me that she was not as street-smart as she thought; way too trusting, and a predator would see her as an easy target. If it were me I would not be sharing that information with strangers I'd just met, let alone strange men, or going anywhere with anyone I'd just met while alone on the road.
 
Just watched Leah's story on the ID network's Disappeared.There is so much more to this story than found on the many different missing sites. For one, it seems that her jeep had evidence of being tampered with (found out recently by detectives)- making it possible that the car would have been able to accelerate on it's own. From the photos shown on the tv program the windshield was completely busted out of the truck, but there was no indication of blood in or near the car. The jeep was busted up pretty bad...I am not so sure anyone was in the car when it went over the side.
There have been eye witnesses who remember seeing and talking with Leah at the local mall in a restaurant on 3/13/00 prior to the movie time.
I think that Leah made friends with the wrong person at the mall in that small WA town - either before, during or after attending the movie (ticket was found in her car for the 10 pm show for the night of 3/13). That person followed her afterwards - doing God only knows what to this poor young girl. In my opinion, this person sent the vehicle over the side of that embankment to hide her car and throw suspicion away from him.
So sad that there are too many places in that vast part of the country to hide a body.
 
I was very impressed with the cop who inherited the case and is doing his best to solve it and has come up with so much important evidence that had been previously overlooked. You sure don't see many public servants like him anymore. He's great.
 
nola said:
Just watched Leah's story on the ID network's Disappeared.There is so much more to this story than found on the many different missing sites. For one, it seems that her jeep had evidence of being tampered with (found out recently by detectives)- making it possible that the car would have been able to accelerate on it's own. From the photos shown on the tv program the windshield was completely busted out of the truck, but there was no indication of blood in or near the car. The jeep was busted up pretty bad...I am not so sure anyone was in the car when it went over the side.
There have been eye witnesses who remember seeing and talking with Leah at the local mall in a restaurant on 3/13/00 prior to the movie time.
I think that Leah made friends with the wrong person at the mall in that small WA town - either before, during or after attending the movie (ticket was found in her car for the 10 pm show for the night of 3/13). That person followed her afterwards - doing God only knows what to this poor young girl. In my opinion, this person sent the vehicle over the side of that embankment to hide her car and throw suspicion away from him.
So sad that there are too many places in that vast part of the country to hide a body.
Click to expand...

I saw this too, and was shocked to learn that LE don't even think she was inside the vehicle when it went over the embankment. There were also some unidentified fingerprints found under the hood, and male DNA located on some of the articles found inside the Jeep.
 
I watched this show last night too and it seems that LE is waiting for the DNA results even now? But that the fingerprints found under the hood did not match the man from the bar. I'm not sure which of her items had DNA on it and whether it will turn out to mean anything. But LE seems to feel sure that someone rigged the car to go over the embankment and that Leah would not have known how to do it.
 
Hi all,
I am new to Websleuths, but saw this case on Disappeared last night on the ID channel, and just been thinking about it ever since. I had a question- not sure if anyone can answer- does anyone think the blankets which were hanging from the windows were placed there before the crash? I.e.- if Leah was camping/sleeping in the truck on previous nights- maybe she had placed them there for privacy and to block out the sun while she was sleeping? Is it possible they were placed there before the crash, or would they have fallen off during the crash?
Thoughts?
LM
 
lucymoosey said:
Hi all,
I am new to Websleuths, but saw this case on Disappeared last night on the ID channel, and just been thinking about it ever since. I had a question- not sure if anyone can answer- does anyone think the blankets which were hanging from the windows were placed there before the crash? I.e.- if Leah was camping/sleeping in the truck on previous nights- maybe she had placed them there for privacy and to block out the sun while she was sleeping? Is it possible they were placed there before the crash, or would they have fallen off during the crash?
Thoughts?
LM
Click to expand...

The blankets on the windows were strange - but no mention made as to when they were placed.. Also the pants (think that's what they said) that had all her money in them - no mention made where they were in the car or trunk.
Most amazing was that the original LE team never checked under the hood of the car.
New cold case team found something around the started motor (a cover removed?) and something done so the car could be started without anyone in the car - allowing it run on it's own off the road.
I was left with the conclusion that the when the car was run off the road, Leah was not in it, thus nothing around the car showed her leaving it.
 
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