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

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Do any Websleuthers have any theories on what happened here? [\QUOTE]

When I first found out about this case it sounded to me like Leah had been recruited as a "mule." It is routine to move drugs across the country by vehicles driven by people recruited to be "mules." These people are offered the chance to make thousands of dollars to drive a shipment without much risk. The deal is simple: they are told to schedule a vacation, tell their family that they want to see something or go skiing, and then drop the goods at the appointed place, pick up their cash and have enough money to make it back home and have some fun along the way. Sounds good?

Sure, except here's the catch. If the people picking up the drugs at the other end don't want to pay the money, they don't have to. All they have to do is get the goods and then make the "mule" disappear. In this case, murdering the mule is cheaper than paying for the services. These are not nice people.

What makes me think this fits the story is:
1) Leah fits the profile of someone who could be made to disappear without any relatives raising a stink. Her sister wasn't rich enough or well connected enough to get anyone's attention.
2) Leah obviously made the story of motivation for her cross country trip up. She claimed it was because she was so enamored with a book but then couldn't spell the author's name. Why would she hide her motivation? Mule's are instructed not to tell anyone about what they are really doing and Leah may not have wanted to worry her sister, since what she was doing was VERY dangerous.
3) Using her cards until she got to Oregon, then switching to cash was so that no one could follow her trail. If her car hadn't been found no one would ever have known she went to Washington. This, again, would have been part of her instructions, making her disappearance nearly untraceable.
4) Bellingham is one of the biggest drug cities on the West coast. It is at the North end of the I5 drug pipeline that stretches from Mexico to Canada. Drugs heading north into Canada get staged in Whatcom County before they are moved across.
5) The story about Bellis Fair Mall sounds like a delivery contact.
6) I read a report that law enforcement found that her engine had been tampered with so that the car would effectively drive itself off the road.

So, here is my theory. Leah's new friend, the same one that convinced her to drop out of school and told her about the book that Leah never read arranged for her to deliver some drugs cross country to Bellingham. Leah thought she was going to deliver the drugs, take a vacation with the money she made and come on home. Her "friend" knew otherwise and sent her on her way. Leah followed the instructions to the letter and walked into Bellis Fair Mall to meet her contact, deliver the drugs, get the payout and head back down to Oregon to continue her "adventure." Instead, she delivered the drugs and then was taken out. Her car was driven up the Mt. Baker Highway and off the side so that no one would find it. Case closed.

Sorry, Leah sounds like an incredible young women so full of promise. Just a little too naïve and a little too trusting. The perfect victim. I hope my theory is wrong and that she will someday turn up alive.





From what I saw, Leah fit the profile of the perfect candidate. She had few


Is that the friend they showed in her Disappeared episode?

You made a good point about "Mule". That never , ever entered my mind, but it does make sense. And this is in no way a dig at Leah, she does sound like someone so full of promise like you said. I hope se can be found to give her family some peace.
 
IDK. It's an interesting idea.

I certainly agree that Leah was Naive. But I am just not sure... from the impression I got from Leah's Disappeared episode she didn't strike me as someone who would go to such lengths for money. It appeared as if she was primarily focused on getting things right within herself, very introspective. I also don't know that she was hurting for money, as she was living on her own without working-- I always figured she must have gotten a fair amount of money from her parents' estate. Additionally, both of her siblings were adults making $ and could have helped to support her financially if need be.

I guess, just from my impression of Leah via Disappeared, I don't see what her notice would have been. But I am not opposed to the idea, and I appreciate the outside-the-box thinking!
 
I agree with Dixie, an introverted type of person. I didn't hear about not being able to recall the book title or spell the author's name, as his is not an easy name to spell!

Nah, I don't think so......

But what do I know., only that she's unaccounted for and missing a long time now.
 
I will say I thought it was weird that Leah misspelled Jack Kerouac's name. If she owned the book (did she?), wouldn't she have grabbed it if she didn't remember how it was spelled? She either didn't care, thought she knew how it was spelled but was wrong, was lying in some way, or had some quirk about her personality that would explain this (dyslexic? flaky? high on drugs when she wrote it?). It just struck me as odd.
 
I will say I thought it was weird that Leah misspelled Jack Kerouac's name. If she owned the book (did she?), wouldn't she have grabbed it if she didn't remember how it was spelled? She either didn't care, thought she knew how it was spelled but was wrong, was lying in some way, or had some quirk about her personality that would explain this (dyslexic? flaky? high on drugs when she wrote it?). It just struck me as odd.


That was something I noticed, too. For a girl who knew two languages, it seemed off. It irks me to no end that Canada won't just turn the creep who gave the false leads to police over. That should be illegal enough to merit at least a visit back to WA.

Tcat.


Sent from my Lite-Brite modded to run Free BSD.
 
I will say I thought it was weird that Leah misspelled Jack Kerouac's name. If she owned the book (did she?), wouldn't she have grabbed it if she didn't remember how it was spelled? She either didn't care, thought she knew how it was spelled but was wrong, was lying in some way, or had some quirk about her personality that would explain this (dyslexic? flaky? high on drugs when she wrote it?). It just struck me as odd.

I'm above average on spelling and English however, I'd have a hard time spelling his name so I doubt that is so strange that Leah would as well.(imo)
However, perhaps she was dyslexic, and I thought that to be a possibility when I first saw the story depicted years ago on T.V.
 
I'm still new to this case so forgive me if some of my details are wrong. First, did Leah not have a cellphone or pager she could have used if she was lost? Also I think her time at Bellis Fair is crucial to the case. Did someone see her go into the theatre by herself and follow her out to Elephant and Castle afterwards? Did she sit next to these two men there or did they follow her in and sit next to her? They couldn't find any more witnesses in the mall? And did the bartenders there not notice more what was going on with her and the men? Just wondering it seems like they could of found out a bit more info about her time there.
 
Hi, Cherry!

No; Leah did not have a cell or pager (hard to imagine these days, lol!). She did sit in between two men when she ate before the movie. It appears that one of those men was less-than-truthful when he talked with investigators; that man later moved to Canada, where he still is. To get the best quick-and-dirty on the bulk of the investigation, I would suggest watching the Disappeared episode, 'Soul Searcher'. It's available on You Tube, and covers enough past her initial disappearance that it is very informative. And really makes me wonder why it took so long to investigate her car. ::grumble::

HTH,
Tcat.


Sent from my Lite-Brite modded to run Free BSD.
 
Oh man I just wrote for an hour or so then accidentally hit the delete button. I feel like throwing a tantrum right now.

Anyhow I just wanted to comment as I feel some are reaching with this case, which is fine of course but I just wanted to go over the facts and try to make the most obvious deductions from them. I'll try to be concise here (not my strongest suite).

-That there is no blood in or around the car, not one single drop, tells me that there is no way the car could have had anyone inside it during the crash. We are told that due to where it ended up this car must have been going 30mph. That is actually a significant speed to have a crash at. This vehicle flipped and rolled many times. Now while I can just about accept that someone with great luck might walk away from this crash I cannot believe for a second that there is not a drop of blood from a cut or even a graze. I have been in a car crash and it was alot milder than this and there was blood. Not just a drop either. Just one look at the state of the car tells me that someone would have at the very least been cut in this crash. It is just not credible to me that someone was behind the wheel when this car flew off the road.

-The makeshift curtains that were hanging from many of the windows also strongly imply there was no one driving this car. Someone earlier mentioned that it maybe looked like it was camped in after it crashed. I disagree, the curtains that do remain are there because they are held in place by the doors. The windscreen is missing with no cover over it and everything else is madly jumbled about. It does not look to me like anyone went back to this car after it left the road. And nobody, surely, would be driving around on unknown roads with curtains over windows?

-Considering the two points above I believe Leah had decided to stay the night in her car while staying in the mountains. The money that was found indicates she very likely already stayed in her car overnight elsewhere. The curtains were hung when it became dark so no one could see in and to give Leah a sense of security. Did Leah take her jewelry off when she slept? It would explain why she was not wearing the adored ring if she took it off when she slept. She might have done this as part of a ritual of changing into nightwear/ pajamas.

-During the night I believe someone who had followed her and/or knew where she was pounced. The Unsub might have easily broken glass to get in at the sleeping Leah. From here the Perp either abducts Leah or acts on her in that area. Its less likely he assaults her in her own car as surely there would be more conclusive DNA? (having said that it would be interesting to know what was tested in this case that provided a profile). Either way he has to incapacitate Leah in some way. A gun could easily do this, holding a weapon on her for example while he ties her up. The Unsub then rigs her car to crash unmanned in order to stage her death. And for those doubting the tampering it is actually a pretty specific procedure to accomplish what he wanted (I know this as I talked to the mechanic at the end of my road). The Perp then moves Leah to his vehicle and he can subsequently take her where he wants.

-The information of vital importance is what actually took place within that mall bar with those two guys. It sounds like a very suspicious situation. Is it even possible that the composite given was legit? All it would take is for Leah to mention in passing that she was spending that night on the mountains. They could have easily seen her car and ended up following by car and then approaching by foot. We generally need a fuller picture of who else Leah talked to in Birlington. Also perhaps sex offenders in the area could be looked at? This is a crime very clearly motivated by sexual intent as all money and valuables are left at the scene.

There is something very sad about this story. That this girl went on a trip looking for romantic notions of adventure and joy and found an opportunistic predator. The more I see of man, the more repulsed I am.
 
I was checking that Canyon Creek Road. It's 37 miles or so. That's probably going to take a hour or so give or take driving up that mountain from Bellingham.

I just don't think it's likely that someone from Bellingham would kill her, then be in her car driving for an hour on the road? Way too risky. To long of a time to take the chance of getting caught. Then he drives up this logging road. And what? Sits out there in the pitch black and rigs up her car to drive off the side of the mountain? And how the heck does he even get back home? There would have to be an accomplice who drove another car behind hers. All that way.

It appears she was sleeping in her car. That's why the windows were covered. Again nobody is going to drive it for any amount of time like that all covered up. And I doubt they would set that up after also rigging up the car to run off the road. After it's crashed they would have to hike down the hill to the crash site in the middle of the pitch black forest. That's just getting a little to crazy.

We haven't actually seen the piece of metal. It may not have been rigged up at all like they think. Remember the car has been in a big accident at this point. Who knows where the metal started. It also could have just been a piece rigged up before as a quick repair. I've done hoaky quick repairs many times on my cars when I was young. That's most likely all it was. If someone is going to want a car to run on it's own they are just going to stick something on the gas pedal. After the crash it's going to be someplace else or look like it was thrown there from the crash. Not take all that time to rig up the throttle and also be leaving evidence.

It's a pretty small road. We don't know exactly how fast she was going. It's just a guess on their part. But she's realistically going about the speed you'd go on a streight away. The supposedly rigged up car just happens to be going about the speed she'd realistically be going? So anyway she's going the correct speed. But those turns come up very fast on that road and they are sharp. Very easy to go right off the road if it's dark and you're driving that speed.

Now they say it looks like nobody was in the car when it crashed but they could be wrong. She may have been going slower than they think, plus with all her clothes and things all around her possibly some of that stuff helped to cushion her while it was tumbling around.

Why was her ring taken off? Well she just crashed. Her hand is swollen. So she takes her ring off (and possibly drops it in the dark).

If someone had killed her and gone through all that trouble to stage it they would have gone through some of her things. Especially if they knew she was traveling. They would have found the money. But they supposedly took all this time to do all this but didn't touch or take anything of hers?

I think she just crashed. She was driving at night on a log road, exploring the mountain, possibly looking for a place to 'camp out' in her car for the night. The turn comes up to quick and she crashes.

She covers the broken windows to protect herself from the cold. Took the ring off her swollen finger. She may have eventually wandered off and got lost. It's a big BIG forest. We hear stories all the time about searchers missing bodies and then some hiker finding them years later in the same spot they searched. Shoot she probably had all kinds of food and snacks for travel. For all we know the bears smelled that food from miles away and got her while she was walking all broken up and bruised. She possibly may have been sleeping in her car on the log road, animals found her car, she starts it up with the windows still covered to sleep and drives like that to find a new parking spot, hard to see in the dark night and the windows covered she crashes at the next turn. Sounds plausible.

I think her body is just somewhere out there in the huge forest. She was on a trip to explore and that's what she was doing when she crashed. Just like John Kerouac.

If you look at the map there is a small little subdivision of houses near the road she was on. They are off the main highway there. But the log road swings around back to where it's closer to the backs of these houses. If she had crashed and was hurt she could possibly see a light or two from these houses. Instead of walking around the long way all the way back down the log road it's possible she headed through the forest to reach these houses. Unfortunately the river is in her path. She may have attempted to ford the river so close to reaching these houses and drowned. Her body washing down the river.

By the way I've attached a photo of the road where it starts. Pretty narrow road. On a side note it's really creepy that a person is standing in the middle of the road she went up in the photo. He appears to be taking a picture maybe. That's just erie.

No disrespect but you contest and dismiss all the evidence in the case in being determined to have her walk away in the woods blindly. I have been told that making the kind of adjustment that was made to this car is actually a specific procedure that doesn't occur by 'accident'. I know little about cars but a very experienced mechanic told me this. How does one explain the unidentified prints under the hood as well? You ignore the fact that this car flipped over multiple times and yet not a drop of blood is found. But even if we do assume that she managed to fling herself out of the car safely (this is highly unlikely) then why does she not take her most prized possession that she was never seen without (her mothers ring)? Furthermore why does she not take any cash at all? Its not like cash is going to weigh her down (nor would slipping the ring in her pocket). The only way I can see her wondering off without any of her possessions is if she is suicidal and by all accounts she was far from that during the day. I don't know where you get the idea that the potential Perp was driving around in her car? The evidence seems to suggest that Leah was sleeping in her car and that nobody was driving it, consequently Leah was already up in the mountains when the Perp either snuck up on foot or in a car. She either told people she would be up there that night or someone has stalked her. And the person who rigged the car would not want to go through it for any reason if the motive was sexual assault of some sort, his only concern would be in staging an accident. I don't mean to be sharp, its just that you seem to willfully ignore all and any suspicious clues. If we take you at your word then are we really to think that Leah crashed and then just wondered away to die ostensibly in a kind of amnesia? This just seems absurd to me, more so when you see evidence of tampering and consider the suspiciously detailed composite that the guy in the bar provided.
 
No disrespect but you contest and dismiss all the evidence in the case in being determined to have her walk away in the woods blindly. I have been told that making the kind of adjustment that was made to this car is actually a specific procedure that doesn't occur by 'accident'. I know little about cars but a very experienced mechanic told me this. How does one explain the unidentified prints under the hood as well? You ignore the fact that this car flipped over multiple times and yet not a drop of blood is found. But even if we do assume that she managed to fling herself out of the car safely (this is highly unlikely) then why does she not take her most prized possession that she was never seen without (her mothers ring)? Furthermore why does she not take any cash at all? Its not like cash is going to weigh her down (nor would slipping the ring in her pocket). The only way I can see her wondering off without any of her possessions is if she is suicidal and by all accounts she was far from that during the day. I don't know where you get the idea that the potential Perp was driving around in her car? The evidence seems to suggest that Leah was sleeping in her car and that nobody was driving it, consequently Leah was already up in the mountains when the Perp either snuck up on foot or in a car. She either told people she would be up there that night or someone has stalked her. And the person who rigged the car would not want to go through it for any reason if the motive was sexual assault of some sort, his only concern would be in staging an accident. I don't mean to be sharp, its just that you seem to willfully ignore all and any suspicious clues. If we take you at your word then are we really to think that Leah crashed and then just wondered away to die ostensibly in a kind of amnesia? This just seems absurd to me, more so when you see evidence of tampering and consider the suspiciously detailed composite that the guy in the bar provided.

And just a note on that composite of (iirc) 'Barry'. This composite and story version was told by only ONE of the men who were flanking Leah. The two men did not know each other. One man recalled Leah, her talking about her trip, Kerouac, etc…then Leah finished eating and LEFT. Alone. End of recollection, as far as Dude 1 is concerned. So far, so good.

But then we have Dude 2's story; Dude 2's story has 'Barry', some Mysterious Stranger, come and get Leah. Dude 2 provides a description of this 'Barry' enough to be able to generate a composite sketch.

Here's where my eye starts twitching with regard to the first detective working Leah's case; who does this based on one chance, unimportant encounter? FFS, I couldn't describe everyone at the table at which I ate lunch TODAY, much less any random stranger who they left with. Add a few weeks or months to that? Forget it; I couldn't even tell you what I had for lunch *myself* with a high degree of certainty. If I had been that DT, fricking alarms would have been going off so loudly at that point that I'd still be deaf.

But I digress.

Dude 2's 'Barry' gets ZERO credible hits, or even nibbles. No-one in Bellingham has ever seen 'Barry' before. Hmm.

In the meantime, Dude 2 has sneaked off to live in Canada (a country which, might I add, is similar enough to the US to be comfortable culturally, but which, notably enough, does not extradite if the death penalty is on the table). Dude 2 has now ensured that, even if a body turns up, he won't hang for it. Smart move, Dude 2.

But wait! There's more! A brief investigation into Dude 2's history uncovers the fact that — shocker — Dude 2 has experience as a car mechanic! How coincidental! And the level of experience he has largely guarantees that, unless he has the IQ of a turnip, he possesses the knowledge of how to tamper with a car to get it to accelerate unmanned …not that Leah's car was tampered with, though.

OMGWTFBBQ! WAIT A MINNIT! The original DT didn't even *look* to see if Leah's car had been tampered with. So, now that DT had retired, or donated his brain to Science, whatever, and Leah's disappearance is a 'cold case', the new detective does something unheard of in the annals of investigative work, at least up around Bellingham: he gets off his butt and opens the hood of Leah's car. Umm…spoiler alert: the car has been tampered with. There are unidentified fingerprints on the engine where someone had rigged the car.

What I think happened: Dude 2 (and Dude 1) were told by Leah that she was sleeping in her car mostly. Possibly Dude 2 even recommended a scenic spot. 'Barry' does not exist. Leah left alone, and Dude 2 decided that this was his Big Chance.

I think Leah hung the makeshift curtains so she could sleep. Maybe she left the door unlocked, maybe Dude 2 used a slim jim thingy to open it. Maybe Dude 2 lucked out and caught Leah outside the car, having a cigarette before bed (so as not to gas Bea, her cat). Dude 2 subdues Leah somehow, and crashes her car. Leah is dead (I h8 u, Dude 2), and when the police come around, 'Barry' is invented, LE says 'oh, ok', and Dude 2 moves to Canadialand.

Getting fingerprint/DNA from Canada apparently takes OVER 9000 years without actual charges or a body, so Dude 2 thinks he has gotten away with it, 'cos at the rate this is going, he will die of old age before WA gets their info.

Bear in mind, this is only my opinion for the points that are not established facts. But IMO, our killer is Dude 2, and maybe (probably not, I think he did this alone) a friend of Dude 2, but not Dude 1.

Tcat.


Sent from Telezonia
 
This could be a stretch but I'm just trying to think of what could of happened. Perhaps Leah stopped at a hotel somewhere and took a shower and had her ring off (I say this only because I know that's the only time I take my rings off) anyways she hops back into her Jeep and starts driving. Either she flags someone down or someone flags her down so their car can get a jump. Someone stops so she quickly hides her ring under the floor board "just incase" and steps out of the car (either she's holding her Kitty or Kitty jumps out at this point. This would also explain why her money is still in her car since she thinks that this will only take a minute. Guy pops her hood open, tells her its going to take a minute because he is a mechanic and sees something wrong with the car. Leah, being young and naive trusts him. Guy tells Leah she can sit in his car for a minute because its not safe to sit in her Jeep while he's "fixing" something under the hood real fast. Leah sits in his car and this Guy tweaks her Jeep to make it crash by itself then jumps into his car and kidnaps Leah before she notices what's going on. As far as the blankets covering the windows maybe Leah did that while her car was stalled while she was waiting for someone to flag down to get a jump.

This would explain why her ring is under the floorboard, why her money is still in the car and why there are fingerprints under the hood.
 
I just don't know why there hasn't been an arrest in this case. So Leah was last seen speaking with a man who had car mechanic experience. Evidence showed her car was tampered with. This man also fabricated a false lead with the "Barry" story. This man moved to Canada after Leah's disappearance. Was it determined that his fingerprints did not match the one's under Leah's car hood? And are they still waiting for some kind of test results? TIA.
 
And just a note on that composite of (iirc) 'Barry'. This composite and story version was told by only ONE of the men who were flanking Leah. The two men did not know each other. One man recalled Leah, her talking about her trip, Kerouac, etc…then Leah finished eating and LEFT. Alone. End of recollection, as far as Dude 1 is concerned. So far, so good.

But then we have Dude 2's story; Dude 2's story has 'Barry', some Mysterious Stranger, come and get Leah. Dude 2 provides a description of this 'Barry' enough to be able to generate a composite sketch.

Here's where my eye starts twitching with regard to the first detective working Leah's case; who does this based on one chance, unimportant encounter? FFS, I couldn't describe everyone at the table at which I ate lunch TODAY, much less any random stranger who they left with. Add a few weeks or months to that? Forget it; I couldn't even tell you what I had for lunch *myself* with a high degree of certainty. If I had been that DT, fricking alarms would have been going off so loudly at that point that I'd still be deaf.

But I digress.

Dude 2's 'Barry' gets ZERO credible hits, or even nibbles. No-one in Bellingham has ever seen 'Barry' before. Hmm.

In the meantime, Dude 2 has sneaked off to live in Canada (a country which, might I add, is similar enough to the US to be comfortable culturally, but which, notably enough, does not extradite if the death penalty is on the table). Dude 2 has now ensured that, even if a body turns up, he won't hang for it. Smart move, Dude 2.

But wait! There's more! A brief investigation into Dude 2's history uncovers the fact that — shocker — Dude 2 has experience as a car mechanic! How coincidental! And the level of experience he has largely guarantees that, unless he has the IQ of a turnip, he possesses the knowledge of how to tamper with a car to get it to accelerate unmanned …not that Leah's car was tampered with, though.

OMGWTFBBQ! WAIT A MINNIT! The original DT didn't even *look* to see if Leah's car had been tampered with. So, now that DT had retired, or donated his brain to Science, whatever, and Leah's disappearance is a 'cold case', the new detective does something unheard of in the annals of investigative work, at least up around Bellingham: he gets off his butt and opens the hood of Leah's car. Umm…spoiler alert: the car has been tampered with. There are unidentified fingerprints on the engine where someone had rigged the car.

What I think happened: Dude 2 (and Dude 1) were told by Leah that she was sleeping in her car mostly. Possibly Dude 2 even recommended a scenic spot. 'Barry' does not exist. Leah left alone, and Dude 2 decided that this was his Big Chance.

I think Leah hung the makeshift curtains so she could sleep. Maybe she left the door unlocked, maybe Dude 2 used a slim jim thingy to open it. Maybe Dude 2 lucked out and caught Leah outside the car, having a cigarette before bed (so as not to gas Bea, her cat). Dude 2 subdues Leah somehow, and crashes her car. Leah is dead (I h8 u, Dude 2), and when the police come around, 'Barry' is invented, LE says 'oh, ok', and Dude 2 moves to Canadialand.

Getting fingerprint/DNA from Canada apparently takes OVER 9000 years without actual charges or a body, so Dude 2 thinks he has gotten away with it, 'cos at the rate this is going, he will die of old age before WA gets their info.

Bear in mind, this is only my opinion for the points that are not established facts. But IMO, our killer is Dude 2, and maybe (probably not, I think he did this alone) a friend of Dude 2, but not Dude 1.

Tcat.


Sent from Telezonia


Well put and convincing. I wouldn't argue against any of this. The differing stories and the composite business is all absurdly suspicious.

They have his DNA they need to find Leah.
 
I believe that dude 2's fingerprints were not a
match for the ones under the hood.
LE is waiting on the DNA results from
Dude 2 though.
 
I always want to take pictures of the mall where Leah was last seen but they've completely changed it. The movie theatre is gone and the bar is now a clothing store. I've wanted to drive by where her car was found but my SO thinks I'm a little nuts lol. I hope this case is still being worked on drives me crazy!!
 
Sometimes I wonder if Israel Keyes is responsible for Leah's disappearance. Perhaps he saw Leah's car alone and decided to go take his chance. I kind of doubt it since there are other POIs, but I don't know.
 
Leah's Disappeared episode showed again today in Australia. I really am truly puzzled by this case. My thoughts are leaning towards suicide/her disappearing intentionally.
 
I don't buy suicide or disappearing....scattering clothes, leaving behind money from which she could start a new life....no IMO something way different happened
 

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