Talking about the Adam Hecht case in earlier threads has made me think of Leah Roberts. Remember her? Her case was profiled on the later UM segments. She was the college student who was really into the writings of Jack Kerouac who embarked on a road trip. Later, her Jeep was found crashed in the woods, but it appeared as if someone had been living out of it. In addition, several thousand dollars were found in the pockets of her pants and cat food was spread out, but there was no sign of Leah.

Many think that she simply walked away from her life, as one of the characters in her favorite Kerouac novel did. Others think that something more macabre happened to her. What do you think?

This is another tough one. I really do think that she might have very well just said to heck with it and walked away wanting to start over. However it does trouble me how she would leave thousands of dollars behind. However the thousands of dollars still being there tells me that it probably wasnt a robbery or anything.

I'm not sure... If she were leaving to start a new life, you'd think she'd take all of her money with her.

You know, it was seven years ago tomorrow that Leah left on her cross-country trip, never to be seen again. I've been thinking about her disappearance quite a bit since Cricci posted this question. I really feel bad for Leah. In the months before she disappeared, she lost both parents and was involved in a pretty serious car accident. Maybe she did go off to start a new life and leave all the bad karma (or whatever) behind. But how easy would it have been for her to break off all contact with her siblings? I know my brother and I became a lot closer after our parents passed away. I just think family would be tremendously hard to give up, and, from all accounts, she had a good relationship with her brother and sisters before she left on her trip. Wouldn't she eventually contact them when she got settled into her new life? I wish missing persons cases like this one would get more media attention, but there aren't many venues for that anymore.

CRicci, good idea for a poll, but I would have included 2 additional options: suffering amnesia, and accidental death. I don't think she staged her own disapperance. While some people do dramatic things like that, I can't see someone like Leah doing it: I certainly don't think she would do that to her brother and sister after they had lost their parents recently and Leah had been in the serious car accident.

I do believe she made it out of the car alive, at least initially. As to what happened after that, it is alot less clear. The reason I believe she made it out of the car alive is that no blood or anything was in the car, or no other obvious signs of death. I think the experts may have overestimated how fast she was driving. I'm not an expert in the field, but 40 mph seems pretty fast for that type of terrain.

I do believe she suffered some sort of amnesia: as to what happened after that, I don't know. It is possible that she was pegged as vulnerable due to the amnesia, and was abducted.

extremely interesting case, great pick for vol 13 CD ;)

Well the car crash has to be considered a factor here in that it could've impaired her judgment and caused her to wander off into the wilderness only to die due to exposure. The other thing you can consider is her somewhat carefree "David Stone" like personality. I don't know anytime you take a young person and plop them out into the elements without any clear plan I really begin to not like their chances of survival. The wilderness can be a dangerous place at any time of year especially if you are not experienced as far as spending time in the elements. I think Leah Roberts most likely died to to exposure and police have yet to find her body.

Well I definitely think she walked away from her life..she already had in fact. I think she may have suffered some sort of mental trauma and impaired memory from the car crash or I think she would have tried to contact her family by now. I think she could still be alive and not know who she is. It is quite a compelling case because its hard to know whether she would have returned home by now had she not been possibly impaired by the car accident. I wonder if there have been any sightings of her (other than the one mentioned in the segment). Her family has a website about her disappearance:

http://www.findleah.org/