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

[WV_Lady]

The thought is he may have gone back to get his things that were being stored in the laundry room......he knew Leah didn't like him and may have thought she was the reason for the breakup.....he sounds like he had anger issues....it was Leah's idea to have the construction workers get rid of his stuff.....he still had keys to apartment...he just got back from Iraq in Sept.....may have run into her in the laundry room and got very angry. Sounds like a motive to me.

 

[teacherbonnie]

Why Leah and not Jessica? Maybe to get back at Jessica? Who knows. I'm almost embarrassed to guess. We could be so far off even thinking about the ex bf.

Early on we were wondering about Jessica but so many "facts" came out, such as what you've posted, WV Lady, that it seems so very unlikely that she was involved.

 

[WV_Lady]

If infact it was him...my guess is that she was at the wrong place at the wrong time.....and was a victum of his rage...but this has made more sense to me than anything I have read....unless it was a sexual crime gone bad by someone unknown to her...but can't see hiding the body if that is it....

 

[MountainMama]

I thought Leah made her last phone call before she met up with her sister? Are we sure that the sister was clocked back into work or is that the assumption? Like I said, I've been out of touch since Christmas Eve so I've missed a lot.

Something just don't feel right about the ex boyfriend theory. I don't think its possible that it was a case of Leah being at the wrong place at the wrong time, because her body was found wrapped in plastic. So the person who killed her obviously planned to kill her. Unless, maybe he was hiding out in the laundry room, planning to kill Jessica, and maybe accidentally killed Leah instead? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense though, since Leah and Jessica look very different.

This case is so mysterious. I looked at her myspace page and she seems like such a sweet, wholesome girl, and her friends do to. It doesn't seem like she would be involved with someone dangerous.

 

[MountainMama]

One more thing for now. Does Leah's facebook list her address? I can't get on to see it, but I know it doesn't say on her myspace. Sometimes people stalk other people through facebook, it wouldn't be the first time. Still though, the person who killed her obviously knew something about her building. They knew that she and her sister were the only people in the building at the time, and they knew about the crawlspace where her body was hidden. So maybe scratch that.

 

[wv_mom]

OK, something just crossed my mind . . . possibly really dumb (won't be the first time) . . .

Just for a minute . . . wonder if the assailant did not know the building and the laundry room well. Assailant kills Leah. For whatever reason, is concerned about the condition in which she is left. Maybe it is the nature of the injury, maybe considering how to remove body to dump somewhere. Killer hurriedly looks around, maybe opening cabinets/lockers looking for something that would help, finding the storage space. Spots a plastic bag somewhere.

MountainMama's post about someone stalking Leah got me thinking. I guess the big flaw is, why hide the body at all? But I just got to wondering if the manner of hiding it could have been decided quickly, after the crime.

But even with someone who knew Leah and the building well, I still come back to the question of "why hide the body at all?" How it was hidden, where it was hidden, puzzle me far less than why?

 

[rebelmom]

Twisted LPN, yes the crawl space is under the porch. What purpose would the bricks be? Really odd. I think she may have been wrapped in plastic to hender the odor of decomposition. Another theory, someone who cared about her. I have seen, on some of the crime investigaion talk shows, that when someone loves the person they kill, they may wrap the body to protect it. I would still be investigating the sis (and ex-BF) pretty strongly.

Mountain Mama, where can I go to find out the info on the condition of Leah's body?

 

[rebelmom]

I also heard that the apartment had changed owners since Jess's ex-BF lived there and the locks were changed....and that Jessica stayed pretty much every night with her new BF. That would leave Leah alone in that apartment building by herself often. How scary.....

 

[wv_mom]

WSAZ at 6pm covered visitation prior to Leah's funeral, which was scheduled for 7:30 pm:

http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/12916027.html#

 

[concernedperson]

From reading, although they say no suspects, I am feeling they know a little more. LE said they didn't want to get false confessions. So, keeping everything very close to their vests.

 

[ChevyTX]

YEA!!! I can finally stop snooping and can post... I ve been keeping up with a couple threads on here and this one has been grabbing my attention. I am really impressed with this websleuths U all have such big beautiful hearts. I also feel as if they know more but time will tell.

 

[Bobbisangel]

I would think if LE think this was a random killing they would warn the community to be careful. On the other hand, a lot of the time LE doesn't want to panic a community so they don't tell them anything about a killer on the loose.

I can see the ex coming for his belongings and Leah telling him that they aren't there anymore. Him getting upset and Leah telling him that she had them thrown out. Him telling her to show him where they had been and her going down to the laundryroom to prove to him that nothing was there. He may have just lost it and killed her. The plastic bags could have been left in the laundryroom by someone else and he just grabbed one or two and wrapped her in them and shoved her into the crawlspace that had held his clothing. That way he could get the heck out of dodge before she was found.

Was the ex back in that area and had he ever contacted Jessica about his things? Maybe he took their breakup alright and didn't bother about his belongings...who knows. If his belongings had been in a narrow crawlspace he must not have had much.

The killer could have even been someone who came by to look at one of the empty apts and discovered Leah alone. We will probably never know why her body was wrapped and put into the crawl space instead of leaving it where he killed her. Unless we are killers it is hard to get into the mind of one.

 

[rebelmom]

I am a little confused as to what you guys are talking about when you reference the crawl space as a locker and why BF belongings may be there? Did I miss something? All crawl spaces that I have seen, mostly in WV, are spaces under the house that someone can crawl inside to do work on pipes, heating ducts, insulation, etc. They have a dirt floor. You crawl through them to do work under the house. I have never heard of one used for storage. Is this one different? I know that the LE said it could be entered from different areas but my house's can be also. I have lived in 4-5 homes with crawl spaces like I described above but none that were used for storage. It is usually moist, dirty and cold inside. (Someplace that I could difinitely see someone hiding a body since it would be accessed infrequently.) Can you help me understand the difference in this one? I think that I am confused in my visual here?

 

[christine2448]

YEA!!! I can finally stop snooping and can post... I ve been keeping up with a couple threads on here and this one has been grabbing my attention. I am really impressed with this websleuths U all have such big beautiful hearts. I also feel as if they know more but time will tell.

Hi, I'm a newbie, and have been reading through the posts for the last few days.

This is really a nice site, not just this thread but others included. Its a shame to have to have sites like this, but great that people pull together at times like this.

The lurkers are coming out Welcome!

I always say out of all bad things something good can come and one good thing about some of these cases is long time lurkers are drawn out and more times then not a new WS friend is found for someone.

 

[WV_Lady]

my first post here. i have some information that might shed some light on this case. i know all of this information to be facts and thought it might help with some speculation.

-jessica (sister) has a job that requires her to punch in and out for lunch. there are time punches for when she left and when she returned to work. leah's last cell phone call was after jessica returned to work.

-jessica is generally a very shy and introverted person. not a "people person" so to say. she would generally be very nervous in interview type situations as had been taking place on the networks. she was actively looking for leah (posting fliers, making phone calls, etc.) up until her body was found. she has not been at her job since leah was discovered missing.

-there is an ex-boyfriend of jessica's that lived with her in that apartment for 2 years. she broke up with him a few months ago. he still has keys to the apartment. he never came and got his stuff from the apartment and it was being stored in the laundry room up until a couple weeks ago when leah told the people working on the building to throw it out.

-the crawl space where leah was found was not just an open area. there were actually small compartments with doors lined up on one side. they were about 18 inches wide. i don't know how deep. she was found basically shoved into one of these spaces wrapped in some sort of plastic.

i truly hope the sob that did this will rot in hell. it makes me physically ill to think of what might have been done to leah. i pray for her family dealing with this. it's incomprehensible to think of what they are going through.

Post #45 above helped clear up some questions for me

 

[Truthful Lies]

Saw a very good friend of mine last night who's lived in Huntington most of her life. Asked her if she could add anything for us about this case...she didn't know Leah. All she could add was locations. Apparently there's a retirement home behind the apartments - that would mean lots of visitors in the area. Also, don't forget about drugs. Very common there, just like anywhere else. Unless someone has a steady, reliable dealer they have known a long time, very iffy. I think they need to look into that...depending on the toxicology reports.

 

[Taximom]

Welcome, twistedLPN and ChevyTx!

Don't most apartment buildings offer some type of locked storage in the basement? I know this was just a 4-unit building, so maybe they did build something into the crawlspace area.

I still don't understand how dogs and LE missed finding her if she was right under the porch. The bricks might have just been holding the plastic down.

 

[teacherbonnie]

If she "was shoved into one of these spaces wrapped in plastic" where are these bricks we are hearing about? I visualize "upright" not horizontal.

 

[Taximom]

Hmmm, maybe the bricks were stacked between her and the opening? That would prevent anyone seeing her body wrapped in bags at first glance?

Just thinking out loud...

 

[teacherbonnie]

Well, that could be.

I was just reading on wsaz and I don't get this concern about a "false confession." I think it's pretty rare, isn't it? I think they are quiet for other reasons.