A college student, inspired by Jack Kerouac, leaves on a cross-country trip and never returns.

Two photos of Leah Roberts, a young caucasian woman with short blonde hair.

Leah Roberts

Missing:

Gender: Female
DOB: 7/23/7
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 130 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Sandy blonde
Defining Characteristics: She has a beauty mark on her right upper lip and a surgical scar on her right hip
Remarks: Last seen 3/00

CASE DETAILS

In March of 2000, two people jogging on Mount Baker in Washington State noticed a piece of clothing dangling from a tree branch. When they investigated, they found that an SUV had plunged over a steep embankment. There were no signs of anyone, or any indication that someone had been injured. A passport, money, and some clothing were found inside the car.

An officer looks into a car that has crashed. The back seat is littered with personal belongings.

Was Leah in the car when it crashed?

Police traced the jeep to missing 23-year-old college student, Leah Roberts. Nine days earlier, Leah had left her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, without telling anyone where she was going. Suzie Smith was a friend of Leah’s:

“Leah is just a very awesome person. Everybody that meets her likes her. Very personable, great smile. But, you know, she was kind of private also. Definitely.”

When Leah was in her early 20s, her mother died unexpectedly. Then Leah was in a near-fatal car accident, and, finally, after a long illness, her father died. Leah’s brother, Heath, thinks these events deeply affected his sister:

“I think that all of those things together had the cumulative effect of making Leah even more introspective and probably more aware that, although she didn’t know what she wanted to do, I think she was unhappy that she wasn’t achieving it.”

A closer look at the personal belongings in the back seat, including shoes, clothes and books.

Why would Leah leave everything behind?

Leah found comfort in the writings of Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation author who wrote about the free-spirited road trips he took across America. Leah’s favorite was called The Dharma Bums.

It’s a story that encourages the reader to leave behind the materialism of modern life. Part of that book takes place at a forest fire lookout on Desolation Peak, near Mount Baker in Washington State. Another of Leah’s friends, Jeannine Quiller, confirmed that Leah had mentioned the location to her:

“From the last conversation that we had, we were talking about Dharma Bums and about how Kerouac was up on Desolation Peak, just taking in all the beauty around him.”

It appears that Leah Roberts secretly decided to turn her dream into a reality. Just three months before she was to graduate from college, she packed up most of her cherished belongings and her cat Bea, and took off for Desolation Peak, 3,000 miles across the country.

Leah’s family and friends filed a missing persons report and checked bank records for any activity on her account. She had made several cash withdrawals, tracing a route towards the West Coast.

It took her only three days to get to Oregon. Leah’s sister Kara decided to see what she could find at her sister’s house. On Leah’s dresser, Kara discovered a cryptic note:

“Leah’s note said, ‘I’m not suicidal. I’m the opposite. Remember Jack Kerouac,” and that might be part of her trip.’

A dog leads two officers through dense foliage.

A search team found no evidence

Five days later, Leah’s SUV was discovered in Mount Baker National Forest near Desolation Peak. But Leah was nowhere to be found. Authorities estimate that the car was traveling about 40 miles per hour when it plunged over the embankment. Sgt. Kevin McFadden of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office said that the driver was most likely injured:

“With the speed that the vehicle was traveling and the amount of damage to the vehicle, you would anticipate some type of injury to the person inside. At least some type of evidence to indicate contact damage, that the person had been inside the vehicle.”

But there was no blood inside the SUV or in the surrounding area. Sgt. McFadden said that investigators wondered if Leah had even been in the car when it went over the edge:

“There’s nothing to indicate the wheel was tied and that it was pushed off the road. We couldn’t find any marks on the back that indicated anybody had pushed it to where it was. If you had somebody driving the vehicle and they jumped out, you would have taken your life into your own hands trying to jump out of the vehicle at that speed.”

A officer in a polo shirt and wearing medical gloves holds up a ring.

Sgt. McFadden found Leah’s ring

To make things even more confusing, blankets had been placed in the car’s shattered windows. To Sgt. McFadden, it appeared that someone used it as a shelter after the accident:

“We brought in dogs, we brought in search and rescue, and did a complete grid search up and down the road. But they weren’t able to find any indication that anybody had left that vehicle.”

The SUV was carefully examined at a police garage. It was full of Leah’s personal belongings: a large amount of cash, an empty cat carrier, and Leah’s mother’s diamond engagement ring. Leah’s roommate, Nicole Bennett, remembered the ring:

“As long as I’ve known Leah, she has worn her mother’s engagement ring. It was her most prized possession. And when we discovered that the ring had been found in the car, it was definitely, for me, a bad sign.”

There are several theories about the disappearance of Leah Roberts. According to Sgt. McFadden, she could have caught a ride with the wrong person after the accident.

“You can’t rule out foul play when you don’t see somebody for over a year, but there’s no evidence to indicate that that has happened. We did process the vehicle for your typical evidence, hairs and fibers and blood, but there was nothing to indicate that happened.”

She could be living somewhere with no memory of who she is or where she came from.

Or, perhaps Leah Roberts was inspired by her favorite author, Jack Kerouac, and left her former life behind in one final, dramatic gesture. Leah’s sister doesn’t think so:

“I can understand Leah’s needing to get away and find some peace within herself, but considering the loss that our family’s experienced, it’s difficult for me to think that she would leave us open for another loss like this.”

One week after Leah’s car was found, a man called police to report that his wife had just seen Leah at a gas station 30 miles from Seattle. He didn’t give his name, but said Leah appeared confused and disoriented. Before police could get more information, the caller hung up.

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