KS KS - Randy Leach, 17, Linwood, 15 Apr 1988

[ChaCha]

In the spring of 1988, 6’2” 220 lb., 17 year old Randy Leach of rural Linwood, KS was looking forward to his high school graduation and spending the summer contemplating his next life move atop his brand new John Deere Lawn Tractor. No long range plans, no pressing matters to attend to, just a summer doing what he loved to do, restoring his ‘pride and joy’ 1966 Mustang, mowing lawns and hanging out with friends. Sweet.

But that was not in the cards.

On April 15, 1988 while attending a pre-graduation party at a friend’s rural home with 100 other people, Randy and the family car, a gray 4-door, 1985 Dodge 600 sedan disappeared. As fast as Houdini could escape a milk can, Randy was gone, never to be heard from again, and the investigators and rumor mill went to work.

Let’s back up. Early in the evening of April 15th as Randy was readying to leave, his father, Harold gave him a twenty to stop by the K-mart in Lawrence to pick up a $15 bottle of water glass wax to put on his new tractor to hold the paint. That and the money he already had on him gave Randy approximately $50 to $60 in his pocket when he left the house. With a goodbye and a “don’t be out too late” from Harold, Randy walked out of the house and drove down the drive.

The next thing we know, it is approximately 6:45 PM, Randy and his friend Steve Daughtery are cruising around Linwood (pop. 300) and stop at Stout’s Corner, the local quickie mart, where Randy bought $3 worth of gas, two candy bars and 2 cans of Pepsi, Steve purchased a six-pack of beer.

URL: http://www.randyleach.com/ Great website with all info

Find Randy Leach Group on Facebook - Join us in support of Finding Randy

Crime Wire BTR 2/098/2011 at 8pm with guest host Anne Bremner, Dennis Griffin and Susan Murphy-Milano

More information at Crime Wire

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Randy's case was briefly mentioned on Nancy Grace America's Missing. Clip here:

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/crime/2011/02/08/ng.americas.missing.02.08.hln

 

[ChaCha]

Written by Kim Kolton taken from "It’s all done with smoke and mirrors" Jan 30, 2011 (I was asked to post for Crimewire by Kim) Updated Fri May 13, 2011

In the spring of 1988, 6’2” 220 lb., 17 year old Randy Leach of rural Linwood, KS was looking forward to his high school graduation and spending the summer contemplating his next life move atop his brand new John Deere Lawn Tractor. No long range plans, no pressing matters to attend to, just a summer doing what he loved to do, restoring his ‘pride and joy’ 1966 Mustang, mowing lawns and hanging out with friends. Sweet.

But that was not in the cards.

On April 15, 1988 while attending a pre-graduation party at a friend’s rural home with 100 other people, Randy and the family car, a gray 4-door, 1985 Dodge 600 sedan disappeared. As fast as Houdini could escape a milk can, Randy was gone, never to be heard from again, and the investigators and rumor mill went to work.

Let’s back up. Early in the evening of April 15th as Randy was readying to leave, his father, Harold gave him a twenty to stop by the K-mart in Lawrence to pick up a $15 bottle of water glass wax to put on his new tractor to hold the paint. That and the money he already had on him gave Randy approximately $50 to $60 in his pocket when he left the house. With a goodbye and a “don’t be out too late” from Harold, Randy walked out of the house and drove down the drive.

The next thing we know, it is approximately 6:45 PM, Randy and his friend Steve Daughtery are cruising around Linwood (pop. 300) and stop at Stout’s Corner, the local quickie mart, where Randy bought $3 worth of gas, two candy bars and 2 cans of Pepsi, Steve purchased a six-pack of beer.

URL: http://www.randyleach.com/ Great website with all info

Find Randy Leach Group on Facebook - Join us in support of Finding Randy

Crime Wire BTR 2/098/2011 at 8pm with guest host Anne Bremner, Dennis Griffin and Susan Murphy-Milano

More information at Crime Wire

 

[Satch]

Here is another website about Randy's case:

http://timesupblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/randy-wayne-leach-still-missing.html

Something tells me that he was slipped a spiked drink at the graduation party, perhaps even by someone he knew. (i.e the teens experimenting with drugs.) Randy may not have been told the truth about what was in the drink. Additionally, alcohol and chocolate from the candy bars he may have eaten earlier could have intensified the effects of the possible drugs.

That could have happened , or Randy may have been made a scapegoat as part of a premeditated plan to cover up for someone else's crimes.

Devastating and heartbreaking. Randy seems like a very cool easy-going guy, who tragically, even if for a few minutes to hours on that day, got mixed up with the wrong crowd and likely met with fatal consequences.

Satch

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2014/nov/15/randy-leach-still-missing-after-26-years-kbi-case-/

For the first few years, Harold and Alberta Leach kept hoping their missing son, Randy, would come home. Twenty-six years have passed since the high school senior and the family car vanished from a graduation party, but the Linwood parents still want to find their only child.

They’re desperate to know whether law enforcement left no stone unturned in the search for Randy, in part because they’ve felt for years that investigators were secretive, refusing to keep them abreast of developments. But law enforcement agencies refuse to release the records, citing an ongoing investigation, even the broad outlines of which they decline to reveal...

The Leaches’ desire for information is only stronger since they learned earlier this year that law enforcement, including the KBI and the FBI, had had a suspect in the 1990s who died in prison four years ago. That suspect, Eric Montgomery, also had been a suspect in two 1990 homicides that occurred seven miles from the Leaches' home.

 

[Sleuthster]

I just saw the tjworld article and must confess I had not heard of Randy's case before. So am I understanding correctly that his car was not found either? It's extremely rare for a person to go missing and their car goes unfound also. Usually it's found in a parking lot or side of a road or something. It makes me wonder if he went off the road somewhere driving home.

 

[perfectingpink]

I would like to know about the car, also.

It looks like the two links above, concerning pages for Randy, are no longer available, however I just found this one (have not read through it yet) where they are hoping to get his story going again.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/102481423232241/

 

[Sleuthster]

I have joined the fb group and they sent me a message on fb asking that I ask y'all (and anyone else) to join the group too. They are trying to get the number of members up because they said it looks better to the media which they are trying to get Randy's story out there.

 

[perfectingpink]

Can this thread be moved or an announcement made in order to try to reach more traffic?

 

[bessie]

Randy Leach, age progressed photo

http://www.missingkids.com/poster/NCMC/721790/1

More links:

The Charley Project

Namus

What happened to Randy Leach

What happened to Randy Leach (continued from p1A)
Lawrence Journal-World June 26, 1988

---

Mystery remains with missing man
Basehor Sentinel
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

[...]

About 6:30 p.m., Randy left the family's driveway and turned east toward Linwood. He had about $50 after his dad gave him $20 for the wax. He was wearing a blue T-shirt, Levi's and white tennis shoes.

During the course of the evening, Randy picked up Steve Daughtery, an older acquaintance, and drove to De Soto, where his 1966 Mustang was being restored. The car was a graduation gift from his parents. He later stopped at Stout's Convenience Store in Linwood and purchased two candy bars, two bottles of soda and $3 worth of gasoline.

Randy reportedly arrived at the bonfire about 9:30 p.m. It was a pre-graduation party for schoolmate Kim Erwin and was given by her mother, Annie Erwin. The Erwins had just moved to the area from Kansas City, Kan. About 100 people attended the bash where a punch spiked with grain alcohol reportedly was sold for $3 per cup; refills were free.

By various accounts, Randy, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound teenager, was too intoxicated to walk straight between the time he arrived and the last time he was reported seen between 1:15 a.m. and 2 a.m. No one saw Randy or the Dodge leave.

Meanwhile, Alberta and Harold slept soundly through the night, and Randy missed his 12:30 a.m. curfew, a rarity. About 6 a.m., Alberta woke up, pulled back the curtains and peered out the kitchen window. The car was gone.

cont. at the link

---

 

[bessie]

Bizarre events surrounding the disappearance of Randy Leach
By Phil Cauthon
Monday, October 2, 2006

[...]

Steve Daugherty, one of the last people certainly seen with Randy the night he disappeared, showed police in March of 1989 a severed foot in a tennis shoe on the banks of the Kansas River. He said he found it while strolling. Police searched the area for other remains but couldn't find any. They concluded the foot was not Randy's. Daugherty, in his 30s when Randy disappeared, has since died.

Internal police reports about the Randy Leach case began showing up in the Leaches' mailbox. Harold Leach said he doesn't know the source of the documents but believes they came from sympathetic law officers convinced the investigation was being botched by authorities.

cont. at the link

---

Stranger than Fiction
By Sarah Benson
Monday, October 2, 2006

[...]

What is known is that the night he disappeared, he went to a bonfire party in Leavenworth County at the Erwin's, a family who was new to the area.

Many people saw him there, and they report that he was having trouble walking. Annie Erwin - the mother of the high school senior hosting the party - saw Randy just after 2 a.m.

"The first time I saw him I said 'Oh my God, what's wrong with him?' I said 'You guys better keep an eye on him', because I didn't like the way he was acting. He was just stumbling. But when you looked at him, he didn't look drunk," Erwin told the Journal-World for a June 26, 1988, article. "I never saw Randy with a drink in his hand while he was out here."

cont. at the link

---

Timeline of Randy Leach's disappearance
By Phil Cauthon
Monday, October 2, 2006

 

[bessie]

The Disappearance of Randy Leach
complete archive of articles from Lawrence Journal-World

 

[ginestra]

Could he be Steve Hicks, hit and run unidentified victim in Hattiesburg, Ms Dec 1998? I wonder if Randy had b- blood, as this guy did.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/649umms.html

 

[ginestra]

Randy went missing in 1988, and the unidentified found in 1998. There is a 10 year gap, I need my eyes checked.

 

[perfectingpink]

I was with you for a minute!

 

[perfectingpink]

I just received this PM on FB:

If you have time it would be greatly appreciated to do any, or all of the following. This family needs help, and we have to raise hell to get it. Please help if you can.

1.Email or call KBI asking about Randy's investigation. Ask what they are doing about the new findings in the case.
2.Email or call the Leavenworth County Attorney asking why he is doing nothing about the case, and why Randy's parents can not have his records. Randy was a minor when he went missing. They should have at least been informed Randy's record's were sealed.
3. Email or call the Attorney General of Kansas asking the same things listed on #2.
4. Make a complaint with the FBI regarding the handling of this case.
5. Contact the Inspector General for the Department of Justice (Michael Horowitz). This would be a great help if people would take the time to do it.
6. Ask your family members to do these things as well.
This is a critical time for this case. The media are covering it. This is for the family and the people that were wrongly accused.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/102481423232241/

 

[Sleuthster]

Yeah I'm not really sure now who is running this fb group and they refuse to say who they are on the page. I've also gotten this message on fb. They told me that they needed more people for the media to continue picking it up but now it seems like they're trying to get the records and or have people bombard the FBI with calls about this case??? I'm confused.

 

[perfectingpink]

Yeah I'm not really sure now who is running this fb group and they refuse to say who they are on the page. I've also gotten this message on fb. They told me that they needed more people for the media to continue picking it up but now it seems like they're trying to get the records and or have people bombard the FBI with calls about this case??? I'm confused.

My understanding is that the KBI investigated a few individuals and Randy's name came up during the investigation (some claims of one of the questioned individuals being at fault in Randy's disappearance) and the KBI will not release the reports stating they are confidential and no useful info can be obtained from them. I believe a judge also found this to be his opinion, however when your child is missing it would be hard to swallow.

 

[Tulessa]

Bumping for Randy...........

 

[Jilllian]

I just received this PM on FB:

If you have time it would be greatly appreciated to do any, or all of the following. This family needs help, and we have to raise hell to get it. Please help if you can.

1.Email or call KBI asking about Randy's investigation. Ask what they are doing about the new findings in the case.
2.Email or call the Leavenworth County Attorney asking why he is doing nothing about the case, and why Randy's parents can not have his records. Randy was a minor when he went missing. They should have at least been informed Randy's record's were sealed.
3. Email or call the Attorney General of Kansas asking the same things listed on #2.
4. Make a complaint with the FBI regarding the handling of this case.
5. Contact the Inspector General for the Department of Justice (Michael Horowitz). This would be a great help if people would take the time to do it.
6. Ask your family members to do these things as well.
This is a critical time for this case. The media are covering it. This is for the family and the people that were wrongly accused.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/102481423232241/

I think it would be really helpful if the FB page admins included all the phone numbers and email addresses for people to contact. People will be more willing to help if the contact info is right there in front of them.

What an odd case this is! I hope this case is solved while the parents are still alive. Heartbreaking.