KY KY - Randy Sellers, 17, Visalia, 16 Aug 1980

[EdgarAlicePoe]

The Map is a farce. It was thought to be in one direction for 38 years and then suddenly, a park ranger says "hey guys, its been upside down the entire time..." Sure. Right. And the students of Towson University that spent days shaking the out of some dirt (their methods looked GREAT-sigh) looking for zipper pulls or grommets from his work boots was ridiculous. Donald Leroy Evans NEVER met Randy Sellers. His vague description of a young man he claimed to have killed in NoKy was: black shirt, jeans, work boots. Huh. Yeah. Can't imagine ANY ONE else could fit that description. Donald Leroy Evans was a simpleton who asked that his name be legally changed and he be addressed as "Hi Hitler," in all court proceedings. Because he was such a Phi Beta Kappa that he thought that's what the Nazi's were saying. And lets not forget that he took credit for killing 70 people across the country (NONE OF WHICH HAPPENED) and was only convicted of killing black, female sex workers, which he strangled by the way. We KNOW who did it and this screwing around with looking for him in Kincaid Lake Park is the biggest waste of time on earth.

 

[agapoyesoun]

So very sorry that your loved one has not been found. I am thinking of you. x

 

[EdgarAlicePoe]

So very sorry that your loved one has not been found. I am thinking of you. x

OH, you are so sweet. I am not a family member. I don't believe any of Randy's family members are on this site. But thank you.

 

[Richard]

Randy Lee Sellers

Randy, circa 1980; Age-progression to age 49 (circa 2011)

• Missing Since 08/16/1980
• Missing From Visalia, Kentucky
• Classification Non-Family Abduction
• Sex Male
• Race White
• Date of Birth 09/06/1962 (58)
• Age 17 years old
• Height and Weight 5'9, 149 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A black shirt, blue jeans and work shoes.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Randy has a birthmark on the crown of his head, a scar above his left eye and a surgical scar on his right knee. He has a scar on his left elbow, reportedly from an old fracture. A crooked letter "R" is tattooed on his forearm. Randy wore a beard on his chin at the time of his disappearance. Four of his teeth had apparently not erupted by the time he went missing, and he may have a crown on one tooth.

Details of Disappearance

Randy was picked up by Kenton County Police Department officers on August 15, 1980, the night prior to his disappearance. He got into a fistfight with another individual at the Kenton County Fair in Independence, Kentucky and charged with disorderly conduct and public intoxication. The officers believed he was under the influence of drugs. According to them, Randy struck one of them after he was put in the squad car.

The police dropped Randy off approximately one mile from his family's home in Visalia, Kentucky. Some reports state that Randy provided unclear directions to his home and other reports claim that the officers dropped him off at the location as a favor to Randy. He never arrived home that evening and has not been heard from again.

Authorities initially believed Randy had drowned; footprints near the Licking River matched a set of hiking boots owned by one of his relatives, and there were marks indicating someone had slipped and fallen into the water. A search of the river turned up no evidence, however. Investigators now believe the footprints were left by people searching for Randy.

Donald LeRoy Evans, a former drifter sentenced to death for the murder of a young child in Mississippi, claimed he picked up Randy along Kentucky Route 177, shot him in the head, and buried his body in Kincaid Lake State Park in Pendleton County, Kentucky in 1980.

Evans also claimed he was responsible for additional unsolved cases, including the death of Kimberly Dawn McClaskey, who was 17 years old when she disappeared from Illinois in 1983. Her skeletal remains were found in 1989, but not conclusively identified until 2006.

Authorities searched Kincaid Lake State Park for Randy's body in 1994, but nothing was located. Evans has never been charged in connection with either case and police are not sure if he was involved. They called his claims "credible," however.

He drew a crude but accurate map of the park, and the park is also near to where Randy's mother was visiting a friend the night of his disappearance. His mother believes Randy hitched a ride with Evans to the park in hopes of getting to see her.

After receiving additional tips, investigators began conducting fresh searches for Randy in 2006. No clues have been found as of yet, however. Randy's disappearance remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency

• Kenton County Police Department 606-356-3895

Source Information

• The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• Kenton County Police Department
• The Lexington Herald-Leader
• Child Protection Education Of America
• The Peoria Journal-Star
• NewsLibrary
• America's Most Wanted
• The Kentucky Post
• NamUs
• River City News
• Randy Lee Sellers – The Charley Project

 

[MadMcGoo]

You’ve not been forgotten Randy.

 

[mlhenn]

Randy Lee Sellers – The Charley Project

Updated July 28, 2021


Details of Disappearance
Randy was picked up by Kenton County Police Department officers on August 15, 1980, the night prior to his disappearance. He got into a fistfight with another individual at the Kenton County Fair in Independence, Kentucky and charged with disorderly conduct and public intoxication. The officers believed he was under the influence of drugs. According to them, Randy struck one of them after he was put in the squad car.

The police dropped Randy off approximately one mile from his family's home in Visalia, Kentucky. Some reports state that Randy provided unclear directions to his home and other reports claim that the officers dropped him off at the location as a favor to Randy. He never arrived home that evening and has not been heard from again.

Authorities initially believed Randy had drowned; footprints near the Licking River matched a set of hiking boots owned by one of his relatives, and there were marks indicating someone had slipped and fallen into the water. A search of the river turned up no evidence, however. Investigators now believe the footprints were left by people searching for Randy.

Donald LeRoy Evans, a former drifter sentenced to death for the murder of a young child in Mississippi, claimed he picked up Randy along Kentucky Route 177 and drove him to Kincaid Lake State Park in Pendleton County, Kentucky. They drank beer at the park together, then Evans shot Randy in the back of the head and buried his body in a shallow grave at the park.

Evans also claimed he was responsible for additional unsolved cases, including the death of Kimberly Dawn McClaskey, who was 17 years old when she disappeared from Illinois in 1983. Her skeletal remains were found in 1989, but not conclusively identified until 2006.

Authorities have searched Kincaid Lake State Park for Randy's body multiple times, but nothing has been located. Evans has never been charged in connection with either case and police are not sure if he was involved. They called his claims "credible," however. He drew a crude but accurate map of the park, and the park is also near to where Randy's mother was visiting a friend the night of his disappearance. His mother believes Randy hitched a ride with Evans to the park in hopes of getting to see her.

Investigators have also heard tips that officers with the Kenton County Police Department were involved in Randy's disappearance. Each time they receive any tips implicating the department, they ask the Kentucky State Police to investigate it. So far, the state police haven't deemed any of those tips credible.

Randy's disappearance remains unsolved.

 

[Richard]

Over 41 years missing...

Randy Lee Sellers, age 17
Missing since 16 October 1980

LINK:

Family of Randy Sellers speaks for the first time in cold case disappearance

 

[franker]

There are some True Crime type websites that are looking into this as well as some local people.

If it was Cops (which I kinda believe) I don't know how much of a coverup there was or if it is still ongoing.

I knew close family members of 2 of the Cops who were allegedly implicated - never discussed it with them so that doesn't matter very much.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Happy Birthday Randy!

 

[spartanx]

I think the police have something to do with randy's disappearance... if they hit them how eagerly are they going to do him a favor? If he really hit them, they should have taken him to the police station and then be prosecuted and punished by a judge... the homeless man who supposedly drank beer with him is surely a drug addict and alcoholic. I don't think he killed him like that, just in cold blood, but over the years have passed surely has passed away...
rest in peace

 

[Richard]

Randy Sellers had gone missing on 16 August 1980, and the case went cold with no further clues or information until about 1996 or 1997 when convicted murderer (and confessed serial killer) Donald LeRoy Evans told authorities that he had murdered Randy and buried him at Kincaid at Lake State Park in Pendleton County, Kentucky.

I posted specifics about Evans on the first page of this thread. He was indeed about six bricks short of a full load - in my opinion. But certain bits of information that he provided about his confessed murder of Randy, and of other murders he claimed to have committed, seemed to fit what investigators knew of the crimes.

Evans did provide a hand drawn map, which I saw and could compare with the alleged murder site area. It was crude, but accurate in many details. Unfortunately, no body or forensic evidence was found during searches of the area.

Evans was initially tried and convicted of the murder of a little 10 year old girl in Mississippi. He was sentenced to death and sitting on death row when he decided to confess to other murders, starting with one he claimed to have committed in a Florida motel. Florida authorities were initially skeptical of him and his confession, but he told them to go to a specific room, enter the closet and turn facing the room. He said that his full hand print would be found in the upper right corner of the opening, and it was, in fact, found there.

Evans was transferred from Mississippi to Florida for trial on charges of first degree murder. He was convicted and sentenced to death. It was when he was on Florida's death row that he made even more confessions, including his claim of murdering a boy in Kentucky in 1980. He did not know the name, but did provide many details - some of which were known to fit Randy's case.

Was Evans a liar? Probably, since many Serial Killers are also serial liars. And some of his stories were exaggerated. But he did have information which he willingly gave to Kentucky State Police investigators. He even called from his Florida Prison to try and help them with their search of the park.

Those phone calls were taped, and I heard some of them. His demeanor would vary from one phone call to another, sometimes he was calm and cool, and at other times agitated. But one thing that came across consistently was that he wanted them very much to find Randy's body.

Was he giving accurate and truthful information - or might it all have been something he dreamed up? He was eventually transferred to a Federal Prison and died there before Randy's body was found and his case closed.

 

[Richard]

Search wraps up for remains of teen who disappeared from Kenton County nearly 40 years ago. Video from 2019:​

Search wraps up for remains of teen who disappeared from Kenton County nearly 40 years ago

The case has never been ruled a homicide. It’s filed as a missing persons case.

www.fox19.com

 

[doublestop]

Her Son Vanished After a 1980 Run-In With Police. She Wants Answers.
A new article on Randy's disappearance in the New York Times. (May be behind a paywall, but I was able to read it.)

 

[doublestop]

Randy before his disappearance.

 

[doublestop]

Randy had a younger brother, Tyran Cotton, who was 13 when Randy disappeared. He later killed himself jumping off of a bridge, presumably still distraught from Randy's disappearance. Their mother lost both of her sons.

 

[Pennysmom1]

July 29, 2021

‘They’re still desperate for answers:’ Search for Randy Sellers continues nearly 41 years later

Detectives say they cannot rule out any theories in the case. And there are a lot of them.

www.fox19.com

The Surviving Parents Coalition: Wanda Cotton

Randy Lee Sellers

Left and Center: Randy circa, 1980 Right: Age Progressed to age 49 Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance Missing Since: August 16, 1980 Missing From: Visalia, Kenton County, Kentucky Classifica…

rcccmcc.com

Randy Lee Sellers - Kentucky Missing Person Directory

Details and Pictures of Randy Lee Sellers, Missing since August 1980

www.missingin.org

 

[Caring1]

 

[MontanaMan]

Bumping for Randy

It is now 2025, and still nothing in regard to Randy Sellers. I have to say, I am very disappointed that this case has not been resolved. I still have a very hard time accepting the fact that Kentucky State Police don't find the 'murdered by cop' theory credible. It sounds extremely credible to me. If they don't find it credible, does that mean that they never bothered to even look into that theory? As investigators, we have a responsibility to investigate every theory, imho. Whether it seems credible or not, I might add.

Too many locals seem to know exactly who was involved in Randy's disappearance and likely, subsequent murder. I have a very hard time believing that Donald Evans picked up Randy, took him to a very secluded and out of the way location, like Kincaid State Park, where he murdered Randy and buried his body. How would Evan's know where Kincaid was in the first place? It just does not sound plausible to me, though some of the details that Evan's shared were somewhat accurate. For me, about the last person I am going to believe is a convicted serial killer. We know they have a tendency to be liars much of the time. Also, nothing was ever found at Kincaid, though multiple groups and authorities have searched it, over and over.

I am still convinced that Randy's disappearance was the result of 'murder by cop'. I mean, that has been the word on the streets of Kenton County, for many, many years now. That, seems much more credible and believable to me and I think there has to be some truth to it. I do not know who the two to four officers were that were involved in Randy's disappearance, but have they even been investigated? I am loathe to say it, but I fear I must; we have all heard of this happening before with police and those the police consider 'problem people'. There is the cop in Florida, who murdered multiple people and got away with it for years, because no one bothered to investigate.

We have to keep in mind, that police will often bend over backwards to protect one another. Is that the case here, possibly? Why then, do Kentucky State Police find the 'murder by cop' theory totally not credible? Have they actually looked into it? Randy has now been missing since 1980 and it is 2025! We still don't have the answers we need, and I think it is becoming much more clear why that is. The two to four officers involved, MUST at least be investigated and cleared. Or, convicted. One or the other. This charade has gone on long enough. Let's bring Randy home.

 

[Richard]

... I have a very hard time believing that Donald Evans picked up Randy, took him to a very secluded and out of the way location, like Kincaid State Park, where he murdered Randy and buried his body. How would Evan's know where Kincaid was in the first place? It just does not sound plausible to me, though some of the details that Evan's shared were somewhat accurate. For me, about the last person I am going to believe is a convicted serial killer. We know they have a tendency to be liars much of the time. Also, nothing was ever found at Kincaid, though multiple groups and authorities have searched it, over and over...

it is certainly true that most serial killers are also serial liars. Donald Leroy Evans fits both of those categories.

One has to consider, however, a couple of factors in regard to Evans and his statements. After he was tried and convicted of murdering a little girl in Mississippi - he confessed to the murder of a woman in a Florida motel. Florida investigators did not believe him in spite of the many details he gave them. It wasn't until he told them to go into the closet of the motel room in question, turn toward the room and look for a full hand print in the upper corner. They did and found Evans' handprint as described. He was subsequently prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to death for murder.

It was after that and while Evans was on death row in Florida that he confessed to the Murder of Randy Sellars, offering many accurate details about Kinkaid Park. He knew a number of specific things, but did not know or remember Randy's name.