WA WA - Leah Roberts, 23, Whatcom Co, 13 Mar 2000

[HollywoodBound]

I found pictures of the area where Leah's car went off the road. One picture still has debris from her car. You need to scroll down about half way on the link to get to the pictures:
http://audreymayherron.expage.com/id46.html
I wasn't expecting a paved road so it appears much more traveled then I assumed.

 

[HollywoodBound]

I found pictures of the area where Leah's car went off the road. One picture still has debris from her car. You need to scroll down about half way on the link to get to the pictures:
http://audreymayherron.expage.com/id46.html
I wasn't expecting a paved road so it appears much more traveled then I assumed.

 

[reb]

i don't see the cheshire cat...?

as for her kitten, if leah crashed & it got lost, it probably would have just kept wandering until it either died & got eaten or learned to survive out there in the woods.. i don't know how a young domesticated cat would do in a situation like that...

 

[HollywoodBound]

This is the Cheshire cat she drew and pointed an arrow at it. I think it was with the note on a separate sheet of paper.

 

[HollywoodBound]

I have another question this time about how LE determines whether a sighting or witness is credible. The following is taken from Leah's Unsolved Mysteries page:
"An anonymous tipster called investigators a few days after the disappearance and said his wife had definitely seen Leah at a Texaco gas station in Everett, about 30 miles from Seattle. She appeared, he said, to be confused and disoriented. Cops consider the sighting valid - but before they could get more information from the man, including his name, he panicked and hung up."

To me the man who called seemed the opposite of credible. I mean he's with his wife when he sees her why is he so panicky and why did he not call back or write LE without leaving his name.

From what I've read LE very much feels this is a credible sighting even though they don't have his name and he hung up on them. They do know it was a Texaco and in the town of Everett, I wonder if LE got the security tapes from the day he saw her and they feel it's Leah on the tape?

 

[EdinburghLass]

The other reason they may say he is credible is perhaps because of some details he may have given. Maybe she had some distinguishing features that he noted or something similar.

If they had the tapes, you would think they would release them so that people could be aware of what Leah last looked like?

 

[reb]

i thought that was odd too.. why did the guy call and not the wife- since he said it was his wife who saw her? and why hang up, what was he afraid of? was he involved in something illegal (selling dope or something) and didn't want the police to have his contact info or talk to him any more? was he afraid the police was think he was involved? i mean,, why on earth would you bother to call in the first place.....?

 

[HollywoodBound]

i thought that was odd too.. why did the guy call and not the wife- since he said it was his wife who saw her? and why hang up, what was he afraid of? was he involved in something illegal (selling dope or something) and didn't want the police to have his contact info or talk to him any more? was he afraid the police was think he was involved? i mean,, why on earth would you bother to call in the first place.....?

When I first read the article I assumed the man was with his wife when she saw her. Now I see the man is just saying his wife saw her which I guess means not him. I can't imagine why the wife wouldn't call unless she felt it was not Leah but her husband jumped all over it and called himself.

On the Unsolved Mysteries site and others they list a bunch of theories including she hitchhiked after the accident and ran into foul play, or she hit her head and now is living on the streets, or the car was being driven by unknown individuals and Leah was not in it. None of the theories include the one that popped into my head the first time I read this story and that is she went into the mountain after the accident for unknown reasons. I wonder why this does not seem to be a theory ever mentioned. Any ideas?

As far as the accident being staged. Authorities believe the car was traveling over 30 mph when the accident occured. Could she really have staged an accident with the car going that fast? I would think she would of had to put it in gear and roll it like gardenmmom said.

The unknown driver theory seems plausible but would this person really snag clothing to the side of the road where the accident occured which made the jogger investigate what is down the embankment. Seems to me that the last thing an unknown driver would want is the car to be found right away, it's just evidence, the unknown driver can not get the car back or they would have to answer for Leah's whereabouts.

I also question how she would be well enough to put a marker on the side of the road, cover the broken windshield, and then hitch a ride but would not take her mother's engagement ring and her money.

What do you all think?

 

[reb]

you mean, after the accident she just wandered into the woods & did of exposure? that seems possible too. i wonder how much of the woods was searched in that area. but i am thinking if someone was injured and desperate, they would probably go up to the road and try to get help- get a ride with the next person that came along. if she wandered off in the woods then she may have had a worse injury & been really out of it... or maybe if she was in the car for a few days she was dehydrated & trying to find water....?

 

[2luvmy]

The website regarding desolation point indicated that there was not water around and it had to be packed in. I wonder if she got in the wreck and just figured I'll hike the rest of the way and then comeback to the car later and somethig happened to her along the way.

However, the thousands of dollars left in the car baffles me. I don't get that.

 

[HollywoodBound]

Kerouac's book refers to abandoning a middle class life to live mountaineering and hiking which could be why she left the things she did. To me though none of the theories quite add up given the rest of the evidence. It does seem like she wanted the car to be found. I still wonder what role the kitten played in this. Was it hurt in the accident, in which case she could have had extreme guilt feelings. It rained a lot and there was a big lake there so water wouldn't have been a problem the day of the accident but it would if she started traveling up the mountain.

 

[mattsmom]

I wonder if the blankets covered the broken windows not only to keep rain out but to keep the kitten in. The kitten may have bolted away at some point and Leah may have taken off after it. I don't know how remote or rugged that territory is but I keep remembering how easily Garrett Bardsley (and other scouts) got lost in dense forest. If Leah had no survival training and was chasing a cat she may have become lost. That could explain her leaving the money behind.

I don't know what to think about the way she spelled Kerouac as Ker-O-Wack in the note. She either found inspiration to live in his writings or she found him ironic like I do since his own love of life didn't stop him from drinking himself to death (really no disrespect meant here though).

I haven't read "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac but does April 23 mean anything in that book? If not then why does the note have that date on it?

http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?acf7449c3e.jpg

 

[reb]

wandering off the find the kitten, leaving the $ behind.. wow, that's a great theory- hadn't thought of that. i really wish there was more info about if people searched the woods thoroughly, or not.

 

[HollywoodBound]

After writing 'ker o wac' in the note it looks like she made a 'sp?' so maybe she truly couldn't spell it (it is a tough one), or the spelling meant something.

April 23 doesn't match up with anything I can think of. I wonder if April 23 was her intended day to return, it's about 6 weeks from her departure date of March. Or it could just mean something to who the note was writen to.

I read more about the accident itself. The jeep took out a lot of small trees and other vegetation when it rolled down the embankment. The brush around this area was extremely thick to the point where one would have to fight through it just to walk. LE said there is no indication she tried to make a path through the thick brush so they think she went up the embankment where the car came down.

They did bring in dogs but I have not read they followed a scent, rain and time passing may have hampered that.

My feeling is that she was alone with the cat in the car when the accident occured and walked back up the embankment with the cat, intentionally leaving her stuff, and was not thinking clearly. The kitten was small and there was cat food in the car so even if she had left it I can't imagine it venturing very far and it was no where around.

I originally thought the jacket and other clothing snagged at the road was for someone to notice and find the car but it also could be she did that so she could find the car again. Or perhaps it indicates that if she saw a passing motorist she was going to tell them where the accident happened and to look for the marker she left, which suggests she had no intention of getting in a car with anyone to show them herself (ie she had other plans).

Now after she gets to the road that's a mystery. My feeling, with no evidence to support it, is that she headed back the way she came and possibly intended to return to the car. What ever happened after that caused her not to return to the car. Maybe she was going back to an area she had previously seen while driving around the cascades but who knows.

 

[HollywoodBound]

I haven't read "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac but does April 23 mean anything in that book? If not then why does the note have that date on it?

http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?acf7449c3e.jpg

I just realized Easter was April 23rd in 2000. She asks the roommate to help someone with Easter preparations and then mentioned the date.

 

[HollywoodBound]

the note that leah left for her roomate-

http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?acf7449c3e.jpg

Did anyone notice on the note she left for her roommate there are sections that look like they have been cut out after the note was scanned? One cut out area on the left about the $100 she owes looks like it could be Lee's last name but on the others I can't guess what it would be. The other cut areas are after 'fun for the children' and 'give Peter my laptop'. Just seems odd.

Another thing about the note is she included the year 2000 on it. If I was writing a note to a roommate because I was taking a trip I might include the day/month especially if the roommate might not find it right away but the year I couldn't imagine including unless I was planning on being gone for more than a year. I wonder if that's just me and other people write years on notes?

Couple other things I read. The note was on Leah's own dresser which is why the roommate didn't see it right away. The kitten's name was 'Be' as in "She'll Just Be'. Prior to the accident Leah was at a bar and was talking to a guy for a while. They questioned him after the accident but he got a lawyer so they couldn't continue.

 

[reb]

HB-- where are you finding this info?

 

[WhiteWolf]

Did anyone notice on the note she left for her roommate there are sections that look like they have been cut out after the note was scanned? One cut out area on the left about the $100 she owes looks like it could be Lee's last name but on the others I can't guess what it would be. The other cut areas are after 'fun for the children' and 'give Peter my laptop'. Just seems odd.

Another thing about the note is she included the year 2000 on it. If I was writing a note to a roommate because I was taking a trip I might include the day/month especially if the roommate might not find it right away but the year I couldn't imagine including unless I was planning on being gone for more than a year. I wonder if that's just me and other people write years on notes?

Couple other things I read. The note was on Leah's own dresser which is why the roommate didn't see it right away. The kitten's name was 'Be' as in "She'll Just Be'. Prior to the accident Leah was at a bar and was talking to a guy for a while. They questioned him after the accident but he got a lawyer so they couldn't continue.

I live in Whatcom County and have camped off the Canyon Creek Road. Do you have the name of the bar and the man's name that Leah talked to?

 

[HollywoodBound]

HB-- where are you finding this info?

Reb: If you go to the http://www.findleah.org link there is a link under Leah's pictures called PowerPoint Presentation. If you click and download the presentation (only takes a minute or two) there is a lot of info not found on the web. A bunch of newspaper articles regarding Leah are included, some are hard to read because of the print size. That's where I got most of the info on Leah, some info on the accident itself is from Audrey Herron's site.

WhiteWolf: The part about the man in the bar is in the article with the date 4/11/2000 on it and it's the 3rd to the last paragraph. It does not include his name and only said 'a bar' not the name of it. Did you live there when this happened? Did you hear anything?

 

[WhiteWolf]

Reb: If you go to the http://www.findleah.org link there is a link under Leah's pictures called PowerPoint Presentation. If you click and download the presentation (only takes a minute or two) there is a lot of info not found on the web. A bunch of newspaper articles regarding Leah are included, some are hard to read because of the print size. That's where I got most of the info on Leah, some info on the accident itself is from Audrey Herron's site.

WhiteWolf: The part about the man in the bar is in the article with the date 4/11/2000 on it and it's the 3rd to the last paragraph. It does not include his name and only said 'a bar' not the name of it. Did you live there when this happened? Did you hear anything?

HollywoodBound, I've lived here 40yrs. I don't get the Bellingham Herald paper so I didn't hear of Leah's disappearance at the time. I think I saw a flier about her later on, but I didn't get the detail about her going off the Canyon Creek Road. I can't read the powerpoint presentation (PDF file) on Leah's website because I have WebTV.

Canyon Creek Road is north off of the Mt. Baker Highway, and is partially paved for the first 4-5 miles then it turns to gravel. Most of the road is one lane with turnouts for cars to pass going opposite directions. I don't see Leah finding the Canyon Creek RD at night because the Mt Baker Highway is a very dark highway without any street lamps, and the CCRd isn't well marked. There is a bar called the Frosty Inn on the MBH not far from the CCRd cutoff. I wonder if that was the bar?