WV WV - Leah Hickman, 21, Huntington, 14 Dec 2007 - #1

[Filly]

Hope Leah is found soon. Thank you for keeping this updated. It is so close to the holidays, I pray they have her home for Christmas.

My daughter is in college. Friday night she and her room mate were coming home for Christmas break. My daughters car broke down (it's an old clunker - all we could afford) luckily they made it within an hour and 1/2 drive from home. She was on a busy Interstate. As soon as she called , panic struck me, jumped in the car and sped the whole way. All I could think about was what could happen in that 1 1/2 hours that it took to get to her. We were lucky! My daughter and her room mate are safe and sound.

My prayers go out to this family. Please let her be somewhere safe.

See, and I thought that I was neurotic and overprotective. My daughter complained to my ex husband I called her too much. If she doesn't call me back in a reasonable time I'm frantic. He told me sometimes she forgets to call him back as well and he gives her a few days. No, no, no. A few days? They tell you that the roomie would know if they didn't show up, but my daughter doesn't have the roomies family number nor vice versa. I am so, so, so very sorry for this family. My heart goes out to them and they are in my prayers. Such a beautiful young lady.

 

[Mygirlsadie]

What do you guys think about the sister being involved in this? And is it true that this was her step-sister? If it is her step-sister then she may have killed her out of jealousy & hatred.

 

[Filly]

On Leah's Myspace her friend Ian commented asking her if she had gotten her car fixed. Leah wrote back to him that yes she did. Her mother and step-dad came and helped fix her car. That was on December 13th. On December 11th Ian and Leah again comment eachother and she thanked him for coming to her rescue. Also back in November Ian and Leah had went to the movies together and she fell asleep. Not saying in any way Ian has anything to do with this, but the car being broken down and fixed may hold a clue. Perhaps she got back from MCDonald's and when she tried to start the car again it didn't start? Opportunity for someone to pretend to help her? I'm sorry if this has been covered.

 

[lymom3]

Not too many details here though.



Huntington police said they have found a body in a crawl space that investigators believe is that of a missing Marshall University student.


http://www.wtov9.com/news/14911130/detail.html

 

[drumstick]

The suspect will be someone who knows that building well. I wonder if they have a caretaker/maintenance person. And the "wrapped in plastic". Okay where did the plastic come from? There will be an arrest in this case for sure.

Yep .... renovations to the building were recently made.
I would be looking at those workers that would have known Leah lived there and obviously knew the building.

The plastic .... hopefully they can get some good prints from it.

prayers for Leah's family~

 

[Taximom]

Oh, this is SAD.

It's definitely someone that knows that building.

RIP, Leah.

That one pic on her Myspace of her laying down with her eyes closed kept freaking me out.

 

[LittleRNB]

See, and I thought that I was neurotic and overprotective. My daughter complained to my ex husband I called her too much. If she doesn't call me back in a reasonable time I'm frantic. He told me sometimes she forgets to call him back as well and he gives her a few days. No, no, no. A few days? They tell you that the roomie would know if they didn't show up, but my daughter doesn't have the roomies family number nor vice versa. I am so, so, so very sorry for this family. My heart goes out to them and they are in my prayers. Such a beautiful young lady.

When I read this, I felt vindicated! I am the SAME exact way with my 18 year old college daughter. I asked her jujst yesterday if she remembered the rules on what to do if someone walked up to her and tried to grab her and she repeated the rule to me and said..."We have only been going over this since I was five." She has NO CLUE that this could happen to her. Unfortunately, it can happen to any one of us or our children.
I am so sorry that this young lady is dead and expecially so close to Christmas. Christmas will never be the same for her poor mom. I hope this is an easy one for LE to figure out.

 

[SuziQ]

LittleRNB and Filly, I am with you guys. And I don't care who it is you call, it would be common courtesy to get a call back as soon as possible. Even if you have roomates, you may not even run into each other for days. And you know what? If someone walks up to you that you don't know, be rude. You hurt their feelings? So what. Girls are taught to be too dang nice, IMO.

 

[SuziQ]

Does anyone remember the death and discovery of Mariesa Weber?


http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/25/Tampabay/She_was_reported_miss.shtml


Sounds similar but depends what other evidence LE finds as well as the location of the "crawl space".

I remember that case, it was odd. You'd think they'd notice the smell?

 

[SuziQ]

Police and forensic investigators were still on the scene Saturday morning where a body believed to be that of missing Marshall student Leah Hickman was found. (more at link)

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/homepage/x1287098516

 

[SuziQ]

Official Police Statement:

http://media.herald-dispatch.com/advertising/pdf/211207-policestatement.pdf

 

[SuziQ]

A benefit concert turned tragic Friday night.
Organizers were raising money for the reward fund to help find a 21-year-old Marshall University student when they found out that Huntington Police found a woman’s body Friday night. (more at link)

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/homepage/x808404613

 

[bnhall]

I saw the link on cnn.com this morning and my heart sank.

They were just talking about it on MSNBC, but no new info.

Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think it was her sister. At least, I really hope not.

 

[rebelmom]

I was up last night throwing up. I think I am letting this get to me too much...but hear I am again.

I was wondering...Shouldn't the police have taken some forensic info when she was reported being seen there last? In the beginning. I thought that it should have been treated as a partial crime scene then. Am I confused?

About the maintanence and renovations...it just seemed to me that Skip brushed that off in his press conference. Maybe I was reading him wrong but I don't think that is their major suspect here.

I feel this case is more simple than we are making it. I think it will be easily solved after all the forensic invest. I mean....I am sure it wasn't easy getting her in that space. There has to be dna, pieces of clothing, shoe prints or fingerprints inside that crawl space. I look for a suspect to be named in the next couple of days...unless Christmas delays something.
Also, they will have the sister's fingerprints and dna everywhere in that apartment since she lives there. If it is her (which I hope it is not) they will have trouble proving some of those points. The crawl space shouldn't have any of her info there unless something was up. Again, I hope it is not her, but if so, I bet she would have had help moving her there. Vicker's boyfriend should be looked at too. Also, DNA would probably be a difficult point with them being sisters (similar DNA) but since they were only have half sisters, maybe not.

Come on guys...give me some of your sleuthing....what are you ideas?

Great friends she had!!!! They worked so hard. There persistance found her. The police and media had to be pushed to deeply investigate this case. I can't believe that they did not check there on the first day. This is why the dogs lost her scent in the driveway. She hadn't left!!! I wonder if they took the dogs to the basement. That surprises me that the dogs didn't get this. Oh, well......

Check back later

 

[Talisman]

Was just checking on Leah. I'm at a loss for words. Just praying for those that loved her. Just so damn sad.

 

[Lurker]

Were they sisters by marraige (step) or were they half sisters?

 

[rebelmom]

step sisters

 

[Angelray]

I was up last night throwing up. I think I am letting this get to me too much...but hear I am again.

I was wondering...Shouldn't the police have taken some forensic info when she was reported being seen there last? In the beginning. I thought that it should have been treated as a partial crime scene then. Am I confused?

About the maintanence and renovations...it just seemed to me that Skip brushed that off in his press conference. Maybe I was reading him wrong but I don't think that is their major suspect here.

I feel this case is more simple than we are making it. I think it will be easily solved after all the forensic invest. I mean....I am sure it wasn't easy getting her in that space. There has to be dna, pieces of clothing, shoe prints or fingerprints inside that crawl space. I look for a suspect to be named in the next couple of days...unless Christmas delays something.
Also, they will have the sister's fingerprints and dna everywhere in that apartment since she lives there. If it is her (which I hope it is not) they will have trouble proving some of those points. The crawl space shouldn't have any of her info there unless something was up. Again, I hope it is not her, but if so, I bet she would have had help moving her there. Vicker's boyfriend should be looked at too. Also, DNA would probably be a difficult point with them being sisters (similar DNA) but since they were only have half sisters, maybe not.

Come on guys...give me some of your sleuthing....what are you ideas?

Great friends she had!!!! They worked so hard. There persistance found her. The police and media had to be pushed to deeply investigate this case. I can't believe that they did not check there on the first day. This is why the dogs lost her scent in the driveway. She hadn't left!!! I wonder if they took the dogs to the basement. That surprises me that the dogs didn't get this. Oh, well......

Check back later

Gosh you let this get to you as bad as I do. Some of these cases seem to wrap around me , cant sleep, eat, or hate to even leave the house afraid I will miss something. I really and truely do not this her sister had anything to do with this. My real sister I cant imagine living with, but my half sister is very close to me. I think Leah sister was just so upset that she really had trouble remembering.. I am like that at times even when I am not upset
This is what I think (remember you ask)
I think she did the dishs, got something to eat, packed up some of her stuff to go home for the holidays, even as far as putting some of her things in the car. Maybe the door was ajar because she just plain didnt close it good enough because she was coming back. Right now there is a lot of break ins, people with no money for Christmas, drugs , what have you. I think when she
went back to the house there was someone there by the laundry door, could have been someone she knew and she went down there willing or someone she didnt know that grabbed her and drug her down there. What I do think is it was someone that knew her or knew about the people in the building.
Thats my opinion.

 

[Angelray]

I wonder if they found her cell phone on her or who ever took it with them. Maybe they could check cell phone for finger prints if they find it.

 

[SuziQ]

I also hope it's not the sister. That will rip this family apart. My daughter and my step-daughter are extremely close. So it's hard for me to fathom this happening. However, the person most likely to kill you is someone you know. Harsh as that is, it's the truth.

The thing that bothers me about the sister is, she's too cool and unemotional. Not sure how to explain this. But we all know those people that remain so calm and unconcerned to the point it's odd and frustrating. Falling to pieces is not good, but dear lord, not to the point it comes off as not caring. When Vickers talks about her sisters disappearance, she might as well be talking about a misplaced object. And think about this, her tough military dad and brothers had tears in their eyes and lots of emotion talking about Leah. Leah's mother too. Vickers? Nothing, zip, nada. Does it mean she murdered her sister? No. But it creeps me out to end.

And the details Vickers talks about changed and mirrored questions that cropped up. The cats opening the door was the thing that finally got me suspecting her.