I agree, Alleykins, sounds strange... There's not an ocean anywhere near Kansas, AFAIK...
What got me confused about this theory-- WHY would they refuse to release documents to his parents if LE believed he was in a car accident in a creek?
Makes no sense, IMO.
The reason they won't release the documents is because they have something to hide. What could that be? Evidence of their spectacular mistakes they made year after year. They went on a wild goose chase to pin it on the three teenagers. They spent all their time harassing these kids. It went on for years. Someone from the police department sent by mail some copies of the reports and accusations of these teenagers to the Leaches. The reports went public at some point, and can be viewed online. It makes the police look like fools. It also makes the person who reported their "lead" to them, look like a fool as well, because they were in part what made this case a "satanic panic" case. The cops assured this "witness" that they would be anonymous, but it didn't work out that way. Cops might be reluctant to let anything go public after this leak.
Then there was the fiasco with "Dawn" and the fake investigative journalist. They actually made some arrests without having any sort of probable cause so they had to release the people they arrested.
They (meaning the county attorney and the police chief) gave conflicting statements to the press, and didn't keep Harold and Alberta Leach updated on the case facts, so the Leaches didn't know what to think. All they knew was that the authorities would make cryptic statements to the press, but wouldn't ever tell them anything. No progress was being made on the case either. That was when the Leaches started asking for the case files.
Then there was the debacle associated with the criminals who were trying to blame each other for some murders, one of which was claimed to have been Randy. Randy's case became part of their criminal court cases, and one of the defendants wanted access to Randy's case files. The judge sealed them. The Leaches found out about all this not from the cops, but from a friend who showed them the news reports about it.
There are so many more examples of how the police bungled the investigation. It's shameful.
The case is not being actively investigated and it will never be. These people just want the Leaches to go away. They want the case to be forgotten about. Which is why keeping it in the public eye is that much more important until some legitimate investigating is done.
All this "I think the car is in the river" talk means nothing if nobody is going to go look for the car until they have looked all up and down that river. If they don't intend to do anything, and don't think it's worth it, why are they even talking? It's just more conjecture. What the Leaches need are facts.