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

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wv_mom said:
Say, for example, husband & wife fight & he takes off in a fury. She goes out and finds someone run over in the road. She panics, thinking that he has done this. She attempts to conceal the body to protect hubby. Hubby knows nothing about the situation.

In my fictitious example, you have one person who caused the death of another. You have a different person hiding the body. There is no coordination between them. If you tried to figure it out, you would be trying to match up a death that might have been accidental with a deliberate concealment of the body. The timing, motives, and all that would actually be those of two different people. If you tried to assign the whole event to one person, the actions might seem really inconsistent.

I can't think of a way to parallel that in this case. I am just wondering if we are trying too hard to tie the entire situation to a single person's thought processes. Jessica_fletcher_wv's remark that (not necessarily that she was the perpetrator, but that she KNEW she wasn't just "missing") made me think, what if someone had done something and someone else suspected, but had not committed, the act? Two different sets of actions, harder to interpret.

Sorry, I guess I'm rambling.
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It was a very intriguing ramble if my opinion counts lol. Makes me sit back and think.:waitasec:

Happy New Year Everyone!
 
jessica_fletcher_wv said:
I've got a few questions that I've been too shy to post until now. Maybe some of you have answers. :waitasec:
  1. If Leah had so many messages that her phone was filled up by 6:00 p.m. on 12/14, why was it 4:00 p.m. on 12/15 before anyone went to her apartment to try to find her?
  2. Did anybody else notice in the Greta interview (when Leah was still missing) the sister switching between past and present tense when talking about her? That's what made me think she might have known what happened to her (not necessarily that she was the perpetrator, but that she KNEW she wasn't just "missing").
Okay, this is obviously all theory and conjecture, but that's all we've got for now I guess! Happy New Year to everyone and my prayers are still with Leah's friends and family.
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can you please post the interview??
 
http://www.wxii12.com/news/14844515/detail.html

High Point....womans body found in craw space under building on 12/3/2007....Her name was Sara Small Mitchell age 47...but can't find anything else on it....hmmmm???? Can't find another thing about this. The Amtrak Station is about 6 blocks from where Leah lived. Just a thought.
 
TiaDaxxy1980 said:
can you please post the interview??
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Sure. This is the one I read--from CNN (SORRY! I said Greta, but I've got them all confused now!). Keep in mind this was obviously BEFORE her body was found. Also, I apologize for the length, but maybe there's a clue in there somewhere!:

From http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0712/20/ng.01.html

BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. A mysterious disappearance of a 21-year-old coed from Marshall University, Leah Hickman. Please help us find Leah Hickman. We need to get her back before the holidays. Where is she?

Joining us by phone, a very special guest from Huntington, West Virginia, Jessica Vickers. She`s the sister of the missing student, Leah Hickman. Ms. Vickers, thank you for joining us.

JESSICA VICKERS, MISSING STUDENT`S SISTER: Thank you.

BROOKS: Tell us -- tell us what`s going on right now in Huntington. Did you just go to the -- were you at the vigil tonight?

VICKERS: Yes, I was. It was actually pretty great. I was surprised at how many people showed up and showed their support us and for Leah.

BROOKS: Now, when was the last time you saw Leah?

VICKERS: I had come home for my lunch break on Friday. It was between 3:30 and 4:00 o`clock. And she was at the house just doing dishes. And after I left, that was the last time I`ve seen her.

BROOKS: So she was doing dishes at 4:00 o`clock, and then we hear that she may have gone to McDonald`s...

VICKERS: Right.

BROOKS: ... and then came back. And Sergeant Williams from the Huntington police said the back door was open. Is that normal, for the back door of the apartment to be open?

VICKERS: Actually, we leave it unlocked if we`re doing laundry. And I have two cats and they`re kind of ornery, and they`re able to open the back door, so... (PRESENT TENSE)

BROOKS: Yes.

VICKERS: ... it`s not completely unusual...

BROOKS: OK.

VICKERS: ... but of course, in light of the circumstances...

BROOKS: Yes. Now, again, it`s something I have to ask. And we had a caller call in, and Sergeant Williams said that there`s no history. But how was -- right now, what was her mental state? Was there any depression? Had she ever been treated for depression, anything at all like that?

VICKERS: Nothing recently. I mean, she`s been pretty happy. We had gone to the mall earlier that day and just hung out and did sister things... (PRESENT TENSE)

BROOKS: Now, you said "nothing recently." Had she been treated for depression in the past?

VICKERS: In her high school days, but I think it was just, you know, high school blues.

BROOKS: This was just a phase you think she was going through?

VICKERS: Yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to thank all of Leah`s friends for all the hard work they`ve done. And I want to thank everyone that`s calling me and -- and (INAUDIBLE) their prayer chains and just thank everyone that`s praying for us for strength.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. Where is Leah Hickman? I want to go right back out, joining us by phone, a very special guest, Jessica Vickers. She`s the sister of the missing student, Leah. Jessica, again, do you know anyone that she was having any problems with, anything at all like that?

VICKERS: No, honestly, everybody loved Leah. She`s a great, great girl. (PAST TENSE)

BROOKS: Yes. And what about any relationships? Any problems with any relationships, any men at all?

VICKERS: No, she had just been dating -- dating around, just going on a few dates with some people, nothing really serious yet. So... (PAST TENSE)

BROOKS: And this was totally out of character for her, it sounds like.

VICKERS: Yes, completely.

BROOKS: I want to go out tonight to Bethany Marshall, joining us from California. She`s a psychoanalyst and author of "Deal Breakers." Bethany, from what you`re hearing, it doesn`t sound like this is the kind of woman that would have just walked away.

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Oh, no. No, not at all. You know, sadly, women between the ages of 18 -- or 16 and 21 are often at the greatest risk for kidnapping or abduction, and it`s because of their youth and sexual attractiveness. And you were talking about searching the sex offender registries. What we know from research is that the perpetrators of these types of crimes, which, again, are usually sexually motivated, are most often white males living with a family, own a family van, have a normal job and have been observing the victim.

BROOKS: Jessica, what is the family doing at this time?

VICKERS: We`re making as many phone calls to as many places as we can, participating in as many interviews and that sort of thing as we possibly can. We had the candlelight vigil this evening. A lot of Leah`s family came in from Spencer, West Virginia...

BROOKS: Right.

VICKERS: ... about an hour-and-a-half away, to be here tonight. We`re doing a benefit concert tomorrow evening with some local bands.

BROOKS: OK. Well, I`ll tell, our -- your -- everyone here at the NANCY GRACE show, your thoughts -- our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
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WV mom your thoughts are very interesting. You and WV Lady might need to drop a hint to LE. Where is High Point?
 
High Point, NC about 4 1/2 hours away driving....don't know by train..
Couldn't find anything else about the woman there...even searched Google.
 
I think someone has asked this, but the transcript makes me think of it again . . . where were the cats?
 
Also, searched on ["crawl space" homicide body], didn't find anything that jumped right out as far as similar fact pattern. Did find one where family lost touch with victim, kept getting text messages for a month after last conversation. They finally demanded a voice call & text messages stopped. They reported missing, body was later found in crawl space. There was an arrest, so I am not suggesting the same killer.

The cell phone got my attention. I keep asking 'why hide Leah's body?' If there were thoughts of texting to conceal the death (not sure why anyone would do that, still a big WHY?) . . .
 
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbc...005/-1/news1604

Also found this....must not have been her home...they had to release a pic of her and her diabetic bracelet to identify her...but was ruled a homicide.

This death has really gotten to me for some reason...just like the sorority women in Tallahassee (Ted Bundy) when we lived there and the little girl in Lake City he murdered as well. Maybe the difference is that they don't seem to be drug related...not that they deserve to die either, but when you play with fire........especially in the drug arena.
 
SuziQ said:
Dang, the link isn't working. Was it in archives? You might have to copy and paste it.
Click to expand...

Still had it in my cache...


Police ID woman found dead under home

From Staff Reports
Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007 updated 8:56 am


HIGH POINT -- Police today released the identity of a woman found dead in the crawl space under a High Point home earlier this month.

Sara Smalls Mitchell, 47, was found dead Dec. 3 at 908-B Newlin Place, according to a news reelase. The case was ruled a homicide after an autopy was done a day later.

Police did not state how Mitchell died. There was no identification with her when she was found, and police released a photo of her watch and a diabetic bracelet in an effort to identify her.

Police ask anybody with information about the death to call Detective Jerry Thompson at 887-7864 or Crimestoppers of High Point at 889-4000.
 
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...VOL-?SITE=WVHUN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Police are awaiting the results of laboratory work in their investigation of a Marshall University student's death.
Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook declined to say what kind of testing was conducted. Holbrook said more information could be released later this week.
Police have released few details as they investigate the death of Leah Hickman. The 21-year-old journalism major was last seen Dec. 14. Investigators found her body in a basement crawl space in the Huntington apartment building where she lived on Dec. 21.
No arrests have been made and police have not released a cause of death.
One question that Holbrook said he hopes to answer soon is whether the murder was random or Hickman was targeted.
"I think you can make commonsense inferences," he said. "If we felt like there was a major problem there, we would be very obligated to warn people. But at the same time, we've got to be careful not to allow the statements we make - or not make - to send a message that we're not looking at a certain place or we are looking at a certain place."
 
jessica_fletcher_wv said:
Still had it in my cache...


Police ID woman found dead under home

From Staff Reports
Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007 updated 8:56 am


HIGH POINT -- Police today released the identity of a woman found dead in the crawl space under a High Point home earlier this month.

Sara Smalls Mitchell, 47, was found dead Dec. 3. The case was ruled a homicide after an autopy was done a day later.

Police did not state how Mitchell died. There was no identification with her when she was found, and police released a photo of her watch and a diabetic bracelet in an effort to identify her.

Police ask anybody with information about the death to call Detective Jerry Thompson at 887-7864 or Crimestoppers of High Point at 889-4000.
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It is really creepy that Leah and Sara were both found in crawl spaces within a couple weeks of each other. I hope that LE in both cities are connecting and looking at these cases. Maybe the killer was unknown to both of them although the way LE is talking about Lesh's case it seems that they suspect someone but just aren't saying anything yet. Maybe not though.
 
wv_mom said:
Also, searched on ["crawl space" homicide body], didn't find anything that jumped right out as far as similar fact pattern. Did find one where family lost touch with victim, kept getting text messages for a month after last conversation. They finally demanded a voice call & text messages stopped. They reported missing, body was later found in crawl space. There was an arrest, so I am not suggesting the same killer.

The cell phone got my attention. I keep asking 'why hide Leah's body?' If there were thoughts of texting to conceal the death (not sure why anyone would do that, still a big WHY?) . . .
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OK, sick person there! To know you killed someone and text the family pretending to be the victim.....creeeeeeepy!:eek:
 
That is interesting about the other woman found dead in her crawlspace. Maybe there's some psycho handyman at work.
 
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