Many of the "missing person" and "unexplained death" cases featured on Unsolved Mysteries have one thing in common that always seems to drive me crazy.

Usually, not always, but usually the victim will tell a family member or close friend that they have recieved death threats or that they are afraid that somebody is going to try and kill them. All too often, the loved ones interviewed on the segment say that they didn't want to be too nosey or might not have taken them seriously or other lame reasons as to why they didn't pay much attention to that.

Like in the case of the beauty contestant, Tami Leapert (who vanished off the face of the earth in the early 80's), in the UM segment, she asks her mother, "What would you say if I told you that someone was trying to kill me?" While her mother obviously wanted to know more, she didn't do much. And later in the interview, she said that she should have taken Tami and hidden out in some secret location even though Tami didn't tell her what was going on.

I obviously don't know all the major details of this case, and the dozens of other cases featured on the show where loved ones didn't do much when they heard their friend/family member was fearing for their life, but I do know one thing for sure - If one of my loved ones ever told me that they feared for their life or had recieved any kind of death threat, I sure as hell wouldn't crawl into a hole and mind my own business. I would ask and bug them and not let them leave until they told me absolutely EVERYTHING about what was going on. Also, I would not let them out of my sight. Even if the friendship suffered with me trying to get all the information, I would risk it. I would never forgive myself if I had to look back and wonder what I could have done to help them or help prevent their dissapearence or murder. It's just common sense.

Has this ever bugged anyone else? They have shown many cases like this where death threats didn't seem to be taken too seriously. And why, I'll never know.

I see what you mean.

Recently I saw the case of Annette Burnside, who within a year of marrying her husband Jim, constantly was given death threats from Jim, not only towards her, but to her family. Her mother made it clear that she was very aware of them. Later, when they had children, Jim threatened both Annette and the children, even telling his older daughter to her face that he, her own father, would kill her if Annette ever left. Annette's mother knew that as well. Finally, after Annette DID leave and took the girls to another state, Jim made good on his promise that "the divorce would never see its final day", by shooting Annette's co-worker and stabbing Annette repeatedly with a butcher knife, right in the middle of a parking lot in broad daylight. Thankfully, he was arrested four years later.

But yeah, some threats are idle but some, like this one, needed to have been taken VERY seriously, and we still have the stigma in our society to "mind our own business", and that's a shame.

That's another perfect example, Composite Sketch. I couldn't agree more. My heart went out to Annette's mother in the interview on that segment, but another part of me was asking her why she couldn't have done anything sooner to help. ANYTHING.

Sometimes the problem is too complex for relatives being able to do something about it.

Usually the wife believes his husband wouldnt do something so terrible and return to him no matter what her parents say.

Police take seriously this kind of threats only when there are proofs of them being made (notes, etc) and when the offender does something that police could take for a crime usually is too late.

I see both sides of this issue. I've definitely seen cases where I wondered why the family members or friends didn't do more.

On the other hand, it's easier to recognize signs of danger in hindsight. Human nature is such that it's hard to imagine that something that terrible will happen to you or someone you know.

Case in point: I remember watching an episode of American Justice where a wife is killed by someone hired by her husband. (Fred Tokars, if anyone is interested.) They interviewed one of the wife's sisters, and her response was rather illuminating. In this case, he hadn't been physically threatening her. The family knew that he was a jerk. They didn't like him. But as the sister explained: "You just don't think that things like that will happen to your family."

And one from Unsolved Mysteries, the case of Anita Green. She was being threatened by her husband, and she dismissed the threats as "just talk." She was murdered. Her friend Michelle Samit investigated the case for a book, and found herself threatened as well. In her interview, she mentions that she started to dismiss his comments as "just a man talking," until she remembered, "That's what Anita said. And she's dead." I think that's the right attitude to have, but her friend was killed before she saw things that way.

Btw, Annette's story always seemed particularly sad to me. I never understood why she returned to her old job when she was clearly in danger. Though I do sympathize with a desire to not allow someone to change your routine.

Now that I've written several paragraphs, :eek: I'll end by saying that I hope people will take threats more seriously, but I certainly sympathize with those who suffer tragedy and realize too late that there were warning signs all along.

I've been trying to find out more info on tami leppert, but can't seem to find much in the way of search engines, the only useful info I was able to come across was on the doe network. Also, can't find much info on a missing person named Scott Allen Brown and the circumstances on his disappearance. has anyone ever heard of him? By any chance was there ever a segment on his disappearance? If anyone has any links that contain some detailed info on either one of these cases, please let me know.