Randy Wayne Leach: Still Missing
February 9, 2011 by Dennis Griffin
Filed under My Blog
Randy Wayne Leach and his car, a 1985 gray Dodge 600, disappeared from Linwood, Kansas on the night of April 15/16, 1988, following a pre-graduation party at the home of Kim Erwin in rural Linwood. He was 17 years old.
According to his family, Randy, an only child, wasn’t selfish or self-centered. He was always willing to help others and do what he could for neighbors, friends and family. He was an upbeat, clean-cut and normal boy.
Although Randy never acted like he cared for school, his grades didn’t show it. He was always an honor student, or honorable mention as a B-student. He never had to study much to keep up.
His senior year could have been finished with an early out in January, but his parents, Harold and Alberta, talked to him and he decided to enjoy his last semester of the senior year. For a graduation present, his parents bought him the car of his dreams—a restored 1966, cherry-red Mustang.
Randy planned to earn some money mowing grass the next summer and help around the home doing odd jobs and possibly going to a trade school of some kind. He made no long-range plans, just wanting to enjoy the summer.
The day before Randy disappeared, he and his dad purchased a brand new John Deere lawn tractor for Randy’s summer jobs. Randy took the new mower and mowed four and a half hours on a contracted job in the afternoon. He came home then and mowed the family’s front lawn.
When Randy got ready to go out on April 15, 1988. His dad asked him if he had enough money. He said that he had enough, but if he dropped by Wal-Mart or K-Mart, he would like to get a bottle of water glass wax to put on his new tractor to hold the paint. The cost was around $15. Harold gave him a twenty. That gave Randy a total of approximately $50 to $60. He left in the family car, a gray 1985 Dodge 600, four-door sedan with license plate number LVJ 8721. The time was approximately 6:45 p.m.
Randy eventually went to Linwood and rode around town with Steve Daughtery. When later interviewed, Steve said he bought a six-pack of beer, but Randy declined to have any. The two drove to DeSoto at about 8:30 p.m. They went to the body shop where Randy’s Mustang was being restored. Randy took Steve to show off his car. The man at the body shop said that they were drinking beer and offered some to Randy, but Randy turned it down again.
By 9:30, Randy and Steve were back in Linwood, where Randy dropped Steve off. Randy went to Stout’s Corner, a convenience store. Four or five people reported having talked to Randy there. They all said he was joking and acting normal. He bought two candy bars, two Pepsis, and $3 worth of gas. It was Randy's habit of putting back into the vehicle the gas that he thought he would use in an evening. Therefore, the family didn’t think he planned to travel very far.
Randy went to the party between 9:45 and 10:00. Randy's cousin and others who were at the party said Randy could hardly walk. The cousin later stated that Randy didn't smell of alcohol and he didn't think Randy was drunk.
So what happened to Randy in the 30 or so minutes from when he was acting normal at the convenience store and when he was observed at the party barely to walk? One story that subsequently circulated is that someone put a drug called Thorazine in Randy’s drink at the party. However, it turned out that the person suspected of spiking Randy's drink wasn't at the party.
A friend of Randy who arrived at the party at midnight, later said he was around Randy off and on. He didn’t see him drink anything, but Randy wasn't acting right.. At one point, he said, “Randy, what’s wrong?” Randy said, “Man, I don’t know what’s wrong.”
Another friend, James Burns, reported helping Randy to his car at 1:30 a.m. Unable to find the car keys, Randy laid down in the front seat. James went with his brother, John Burns, to give a girl a ride home who'd had too much to drink. When they returned between 2:00 and 2:10 a.m., Randy and his car were gone.
However, two other people said they saw Randy at the Erwin house as late as 2:15, waiting in line to go to the bathroom. Mrs. Erwin said she told him to go outside, claiming she didn’t want him to fall in the house and hurt himself.
At 6 a.m., Randy’s mom awoke to find Randy missing. The panicked parents were barefoot in the driveway, when Harold spotted Steve Daugherty drive by their house on Highway 32. Harold later said that it seemed odd because it was so early Saturday and Daugherty was only driving, “about 10 miles per hour,'” where the posted speed limit was 55 mph.
After Harold and Alberta reported Randy missing, a massive air, river and ground search was launched. But neither Randy or the car were ever found.
Following Randy's disappearance, rumors swirled. According to one of them, there was another young man with Randy when he stopped at the convenience store at 9:30 p.m. The man was identified by witnesses as Jim Hadle - possibly spelled Hadley - who was Steve Daugherty’s roommate. Hadle was reportedly seen sitting in Randy's car. Word got back to the Leach family that both Daugherty and Hadle were drug users who had spent time in jail. Harold Leach contends that investigators never talked to Hadle. And that when Hadle later came to their house, he denied even knowing Daugherty. Both Hadle and Daugherty subsequently passed away, supposedly of natural causes.
As time went by, Internal police reports about Randy's case began showing up in the Leaches' mailbox. Harold says he doesn't know the source of the documents, but believes they were from sympathetic officers who were convinced the investigation was botched.
In 1993, a man purporting to be a "research journalist" offered his assistance to the Leaches and spent several months without pay interviewing partygoers and others who might have known something about the case. The man went by the names of Terry Martin and Lee Harper. Martin/Harper pooled information with Leavenworth County Sheriff's Detective Dawn Weston, whom had been assigned to review the case.
Executing warrants issued by the assistant Leavenworth County Attorney, Weston arrested three men for the alleged kidnapping and murder of Randy Leach. The men were quickly released. The sheriff explained, "She was a new investigator and overzealous, so to speak. It didn't pan out when the evidence was double-checked by the county attorney."
As of this writing, Randy Wayne Leach remains missing and the case is cold. Someone still alive knows what happened to him on the night of April 15/16, 1988. If you are that person or know who is, it's time to step forward and help bring resolution to the Leach family.
If you have any information about this case please contact Leach family spokesperson Cindy Hutchison at cindy.hutchison@yahoo.com.
Molly Anne Bish
January 14, 2011 by Dennis Griffin
Filed under My Blog
A few minutes before 10 o'clock on the morning of June 27, 2000, Magi Bish dropped her daughter Molly off at the local swimming hole, Comins Pond, in the town of Warren, Mass. The 16-year-old Molly, a high school junior, had just started a summer job as a lifeguard there the week before.
The parking lot was empty, except for a dump truck dropping off a load of sand. Magi, watched her daughter walk toward the beach. She then waited for the dump truck to drive out before driving away. But when swimmers arrived twenty minutes later, the only traces of Molly were her water-bottle, sandals, a police radio and an opened first aid kit. Molly had vanished, and for Magi and her husband John, a nightmare like no other began.
The only lead the police had to work with was a man Magi remembered having seen when she dropped Molly off the previous day. He had been sitting alone in a white vehicle in the parking lot. Nervous over his presence, Magi waited around for about 20 minutes until the man drove off.
The ensuing search for Molly became the most extensive in Massachusetts history. Molly's story was told on America's Most Wanted, 48 Hours, Court TV, Unsolved Mysteries, Larry King, Nancy Grace and other national and local media outlets.
But in spite of everyone's best efforts, Molly's fate remained a mystery for three long years. And then in June 2003, the search for Molly came to a heartbreaking end when 26 of her bones were found scattered on the side of a mountain only five miles from her home. Molly was buried on her 20th Birthday.
Investigators believed Molly's killer was probably a local with intimate knowledge of the area. However, no arrests were made and the case went cold.
And then in January, 2009, a suspect surfaced, 60-year-old Rodney Stanger. He was a longtime resident of Southbridge, Mass., located just a few miles from Warren. Stanger had moved to Florida the year after Molly disappeared. Neighbors say he was an outdoorsman who was known to hunt and fish in the area around Comins Pond. And he had access to his brother's car, which was same type that Magi had seen the day before Molly disappeared. He also matched the composite sketch of the driver of that car.
Stanger was brought to the attention of the authorities when the Massachusetts State Police got a call from the sister of Stanger's live-in girlfriend, Crystal Morrison. The sister told police that Crystal had hinted to her that Stanger was involved in Molly's murder. On February 25, 2008, just days after the conversation between the sisters, Crystal was found stabbed to death in their mobile home. Rodney Stanger was charged with the murder.
On October 28, 2010, under a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors, the now 62-year-old Stanger was sentenced to serve 25 years in a Florida prison for second-degree murder of Crystal Morrison, and concurrent sentences for burglary of a dwelling and battery. The chances of Stanger ever breathing free air again are slim.
On the Molly Bish Foundation Website is this message from Molly's parents, Magi and John Bish:
"We will find... the person that harmed her. It's been a journey, a story of love and loss, but we are still hopeful and we want Molly to know we'll never give up."
If Rodney Stanger is in fact Molly's murderer, let's hope sufficient evidence can be developed to charge and convict him. The Bish family's journey needs to come to an end. And Molly is entitled to justice.
Note: Molly's case will be profiled on the Discovery ID Channel on January 17 under the title "Murky Waters," and on Crime Wire on January 18.
Jared Hillman
December 31, 2010 by Dennis Griffin
Filed under My Blog
Jared Hillman and son Kendall
On August 9, 2009, 23-year-old Jared Hillman was found dead of a gunshot wound to his head in the woods behind his father's home in Hickory, Mississippi. A .40-caliber pistol was gripped in the young man's lifeless hand. The authorities quickly determined that Jared had taken his own life. The Army Reservist who had served in Iraq and returned home only three weeks before his death, was chalked up as one of the 309 military suicides reported last year. In addition to any possible depression over his military service, Jared was also in the process of ending a failed marriage. And that could have contributed to his desire to kill himself.
On the flip side, Jared had a powerful reason for wanting to live: Kendall, his two-year-old son from a previous relationship. He had gained temporary custody of the boy in February and was scheduled to be awarded permanent custody during an uncontested hearing the next week. According to family and friends, Jared was eagerly awaiting the court appearance and looking forward to getting on with civilian life. So there was a reason for Jared's family to have been shocked when he died, apparently by his own hand..
There were other causes for skepticism as well. And they had to do with Jared's estranged wife, Amanda. Jared and Amanda were married in May 2008, shortly before he deployed to Iraq. Upon his return home on July 19, 2009, Jared confided to his friends that while he was away Amanda began having an affair with Meridian, Mississippi police officer Derek Thomas. He said he didn't want the marriage to end, but Amanda said she wanted to be with Derek, and in fact left Jared and moved in with Thomas. Jared and Kendall took up residence with Jared's aunt, Kim Busbea.
Busbea, says that after the separation the relationship between Jared and Amanda was stormy, with frequent arguments. And Jared also had multiple confrontations with Derek Thomas, with threats being made on both sides. At one point Jared told his aunt that he suggested to Thomas that they meet somewhere and settle their differences man to man. He said he wasn't afraid of Thomas and knew how to handle himself.
Another cause of concern to Jared's family was the matter of his $400,000 life insurance policy. Joe Hillman had originally been the beneficiary. But Jared replaced him with Amanda prior to going to Iraq. Days prior to his death Jared told his aunt that he was going to remove Amanda from the policy. Was Amanda aware of that? Busbea doesn't know. But she feels it is entirely possible that during the heat of an argument Jared might have made his intentions known.
And the sequence of events on the night of Jared's death set off additional alarm bells. Jared spent the day of August 8 at his father's. He mowed the lawn, ate dinner, and got Kendall bathed and ready for bed. At some point he removed the .40-caliber pistol from his father's gun cabinet and slipped out of the house unnoticed.
At 8:22 p.m., Jared’s grandmother, Cherry Todd, answered the telephone. It was Amanda. She said, "Granny, you need to call the sheriff’s office. I was talking to Jared, and he said he was going to kill himself and I heard a click,” Mrs. Todd said Amanda told her Jared was behind his father's house.
“I just panicked,” Todd said. “I ran out in the yard to see if he would hear my voice.” She told Jared’s father, who also began searching for his son. There are more than 100 acres of thick woods behind the home, making the search a monumental task.
Mrs. Todd said Amanda called a second time 10 minutes later, again telling her to call the sheriff’s office.
The troubling question here is why didn't Amanda call 9-1-1 herself and then call the Hillman residence? If Jared's life was at stake, that would seem to have been the fastest means of getting medical and law enforcement personnel on the scene.
After Amanda's initial call, Joe Hillman and a friend began searching the woods, yelling for Jared and calling his cell phone. The sheriff's department was called and officers arrived on the scene at around 10 p.m. The search continued until about 12:30 a.m. And at dawn, dozens more family members and friends gathered to renew the hunt.
Kim Busbea said that during the break she called Amanda at 5:44 a.m. Amanda told her she had not heard anymore from Jared. Busbea said, “I asked her what was the last thing Jared had said to her, and she said, ‘He said something about having a .40-caliber pistol and wanted to know if I would take care of Kendall if something happened to him.’ ”
Around 9:30 a.m., the search ended with Busbea’s husband and others finding Jared’s body beside a tree. He had a bullet wound to the right side of his temple, and the gun was in his right hand with his finger on the trigger of the weapon.
As soon as Jared’s body was found, Busbea called Amanda and told her Jared was dead. “She really didn’t say anything,” Busbea said.
Because the family knew Jared had been speaking on his cell phone to Amanda prior to his death, they scoured the area for the phone, but couldn’t find it. And it wasn't present when the coroner emptied Jared’s pockets.
The state medical examiner's office conducted an autopsy, after which Jared's body was cremated. When his father went to the mortuary to pick up his son's belongings, the missing cell phone was mysteriously among them.
Authorities passed off the reappearance of the phone as nothing more than the coroner's failure to find it earlier. But when the family was able to obtain and examine the phone records, more questions arose.
First was a "private call" listed at 8:15 p.m. that lasted two minutes. After that, there was a series of calls answered by voice mail until another "private call" was answered at 11:13 p.m. That call was placed from Amanda's phone and lasted just under five minutes. If Amanda's earlier calls to Mrs. Todd were accurate, this call was made and answered well after Jared was dead.
Seeing that call upset Joe Hillman. "How in the hell can my son be dead and answer his cell phone?" he said. "Either he wasn't dead, or somebody else had the telephone."
Records also show there was a 5:56 p.m. call from Derek Thomas' phone to Jared that lasted 46 seconds.
Although Jared was distraught, Hillman questioned whether his son would kill himself, especially since he was going to soon have permanent custody of Kendall.
Coroner Danny Shoemaker said from everything authorities saw, Jared's death appeared to be a suicide. He said no time of death was determined. When asked about the nearly five-minute conversation that took place on Jared's phone at 11:13 p.m., he replied, "That's news to me."
In a September 19, 2010 article, The Clarion-Ledger printed an email it had acquired that Amanda had written to the Army on Oct. 14, 2009:
"Someone told me that they thought someone had sad (sic) something about his benefits. I plan to put this aside for Kendall (his son) if there is anything, but I knew that no one has contacted me yet. ... If you have any information, it would be appreciate."
That same article reported that before the end of 2009 Amanda received $400,000 as the beneficiary of Jared's life insurance policy.
Kim Busbea adopted Kendall in June, 2010. She says that contrary to Amanda's statement in her email to the Army, Kendall has not seen a penny of that money. Over the summer she filed a lawsuit against Amanda and Derek Thomas seeking to get the insurance money for Kendall. She alleges that Kendall suffered an alienation of affection due to the affair between Amanda and Thomas.
The suit says in part:
Jared made his wife the beneficiary "with the understanding that, should he die, the insurance proceeds would be used for the care and benefit of his minor child. It is inconceivable that, given Defendant Hillman's affair, that he would want his life insurance proceeds going to (his wife) with not a penny being used for the benefit of his minor child."
In addition to Kim Busbea's lawsuit, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the case. Joe Hillman said he wants authorities to thoroughly investigate and find the truth, even if they conclude his son committed suicide. "All I've ever wanted is the truth."
We at Crime Wire hope Joe Hillman's wish comes true. It will be very difficult for him to find closure until his unanswered questions are addressed and the lingering doubts can be put to rest.
