Tami Lynn Leppert

[XCalibur]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

I wonder why Tami's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against serial killer Christopher Wilder for a million dollars, and that Tami's mother claims that a man resembling Wilder had come to their home in an effort to let him photograph Tami. He did the same ruse (modeling) with other victims and suspected victims.

I just wonder what the odds are Wilder was actually responsible for Tammy's disappearance. For the longest time, I thought his whereabouts for much of 1983 were not known. But apparently he did move to the area shortly before Tammy's disappearance. His known murder spree covered a relatively short span of time, just two months in early 1984. I doubt he started then and he had been known to have sexual misconduct incidents dating all the way back to the 60's I think.

Still it would seem like pretty long odds he'd just happen upon Tammy that day at the bank parking lot. I just wonder if he was known to frequent that immediate area or was known to be close by that day and how far he lived from where Tammy was last seen?

And Wilder was known to abduct his victims and keep them with him for awhile, so that would fit Tammy apparently making a couple of scared sounding phone calls to her home. But I can't remember how he disposed of his victims

On the other hand I still think there is just as good a chance the guy who picked her up from her Mom's house that day was involved as well. Without a body though impossible to know. I do think Tammy was the victim of foul play though and is no longer with us.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by XCalibur

On the other hand I still think there is just as good a chance the guy who picked her up from her Mom's house that day was involved as well. Without a body though impossible to know. I do think Tammy was the victim of foul play though and is no longer with us.

I think this guy was ruled out by law enforcement. The UM segment makes it seem like he abandoned her in the middle of nowhere, but in reality, he let her out at a convenience store that had a payphone (and IIRC gave her a couple hundred dollars). We know she was at this store because she made 3 phone calls to her aunt's business and left 3 voicemails. Her aunt was out of town, but her business was a half a mile south of where the male friend dropped her off. According to this website, she was last seen about .2 miles south of the gas station where she was dropped off. IMO, she tried calling her aunt's business 3 times because it was in the area, and when no one answered, she headed out in that direction. I think she was picked up by someone. What's never made any sense to me is that her friend dropped her off at around 3 o'clock in the afternoon of July 6th, 1983. She was not reported missing until July 11th.

ETA: Tammy also called a friend of hers that owned a video store near where she was dropped off. He too did not answer. My best guess is that the cops verified that these phone calls took place after her male friend had dropped her off, which is why they ruled him out as a suspect.

[XCalibur]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

I think this guy was ruled out by law enforcement. The UM segment makes it seem like he abandoned her in the middle of nowhere, but in reality, he let her out at a convenience store that had a payphone (and IIRC gave her a couple hundred dollars). We know she was at this store because she made 3 phone calls to her aunt's business and left 3 voicemails. Her aunt was out of town, but her business was a half a mile south of where the male friend dropped her off. According to this website, she was last seen about .2 miles south of the gas station where she was dropped off. IMO, she tried calling her aunt's business 3 times because it was in the area, and when no one answered, she headed out in that direction. I think she was picked up by someone. What's never made any sense to me is that her friend dropped her off at around 3 o'clock in the afternoon of July 6th, 1983. She was not reported missing until July 11th.

ETA: Tammy also called a friend of hers that owned a video store near where she was dropped off. He too did not answer. My best guess is that the cops verified that these phone calls took place after her male friend had dropped her off, which is why they ruled him out as a suspect.

That makes sense then. I always got the impression it was a bank she was dropped off at. I'm not sure why the segment didn't mention the calls, almost like they wanted viewers to think that this guy who picked her up may have been involved because it did paint a picture that their relationship was tenuous at best.

I'm not surprised she wasn't reported missing for several days. I got the impression her mom and other adult family members had little supervision over her life, that she did pretty much what she wanted when she wanted to and with whoever. of course she was 18 at the time but I get the sense it was probably like this through most of her teen years. Her mom seemed like more of a bestie and a modeling agent when she needed a mother instead. And the segment doesn't even mention her father so God only knows what his story was. That's why it was hard to muster a lot of sympathy for her mom. I think this kind of lifestyle created for her may well have led to her death. This probably is a dream upbringing for most kids but not really good as it rarely turns out well in the long run.

But that's a discussion for another day. I am curious to know how far away Wilder lived from where she was dropped off and if he may have been involved. Sadly we may never have known the truth. I don't think she ran off though or she would have surfaced by now.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by XCalibur

But that's a discussion for another day. I am curious to know how far away Wilder lived from where she was dropped off and if he may have been involved. Sadly we may never have known the truth. I don't think she ran off though or she would have surfaced by now.

Wilder lived about two hours south of Cocoa Beach. What I can't wrap my head around is her family filing the million dollar lawsuit against him in 1984, and claiming that he would come over to their house and ask about doing photo shoots with Tammy...only to then drop the lawsuit and walk back the claims. Was it a scam to get money?

[tvscript124]

Originally Posted by XCalibur

That makes sense then. I always got the impression it was a bank she was dropped off at. I'm not sure why the segment didn't mention the calls, almost like they wanted viewers to think that this guy who picked her up may have been involved because it did paint a picture that their relationship was tenuous at best.

I'm not surprised she wasn't reported missing for several days. I got the impression her mom and other adult family members had little supervision over her life, that she did pretty much what she wanted when she wanted to and with whoever. of course she was 18 at the time but I get the sense it was probably like this through most of her teen years. Her mom seemed like more of a bestie and a modeling agent when she needed a mother instead. And the segment doesn't even mention her father so God only knows what his story was. That's why it was hard to muster a lot of sympathy for her mom. I think this kind of lifestyle created for her may well have led to her death. This probably is a dream upbringing for most kids but not really good as it rarely turns out well in the long run.

But that's a discussion for another day. I am curious to know how far away Wilder lived from where she was dropped off and if he may have been involved. Sadly we may never have known the truth. I don't think she ran off though or she would have surfaced by now.

To your point, I just finished watching "Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing" on Netflix.

For those who have not seen it, it relates to Tami Lynn's story in that it involves pushy parents who encouraged their kids to become YouTube stars, including a nightmare of a mom that sexually abused the kids and did stuff that you'd never get away with on a TV or movie shoot (it's on video) because it's YouTube and unregulated. The other moms in the miniseries swear they didn't know--but they weren't allowed to be at the shoot. RED FLAG. What happened to those kids absolutely wrecked them. And that was YouTube where this stuff is pretty much a free-for-all (although YouTube demonetized the original channel that all this took place on). The entertainment industry may have guidelines in place, and there are child labor laws and sexploitation laws, but there's still so much that goes on. None of the kids in the Netflix series ran off or disappeared, but one of them was estranged from his mom thanks to Tiffany Lewis the Momager-from-hell who got sued, the FBI got involved but didn't prosecute because they didn't think they could win, and Tiffany's daughter is still doing videos but her former friends and family say she's being exploited. She has the equivalent of an OnlyFans page!

I'm not sure if Tami Lynn's mom pushed her to be the family cash cow or a child star or not. It's really not clear. I'm also not sure if Tami Lynn was suffering from schizophrenia combined with drugs from that party or if she really did see something criminal.

Bottom line: Hollywood can be an ugly business for child stars, it's the reason the Jackie Coogan Laws were passed regulating what is and is not allowed with kid actors. And becoming that famous that quickly can warp people's perspective. Suddenly all that matters is the fame. Even if Tami was supervised except for that party, you don't know how good that supervision was.

The mom says in the segment, "well, she was going to California for three months and that's as far away from me as you can get, so she really didn't run away."

I understand the argument, but that brings up the whole "bestie/momager" angle you mention. She's still in this pressure cooker of an industry and something happened at a party where she went by herself and you don't know why her behavior changed. That is sweeping the issue under the rug. WHY would you be OK with her going to California without family when you had to hospitalize her for mental health for 72 hours and she thought her food was poisoned? This makes no sense to me. Maybe they didn't know how to deal with potential schizophrenia and thought "everything will be fine now," but that's no excuse either. Even if someone is 18, they are still your child and you are still responsible for them. They're not adults yet. And for many parents, that feeling of responsibility does not stop when the child turns 18 or 21.

[bigted12]

Originally Posted by tvscript124

To your point, I just finished watching "Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing" on Netflix.

For those who have not seen it, it relates to Tami Lynn's story in that it involves pushy parents who encouraged their kids to become YouTube stars, including a nightmare of a mom that sexually abused the kids and did stuff that you'd never get away with on a TV or movie shoot (it's on video) because it's YouTube and unregulated. The other moms in the miniseries swear they didn't know--but they weren't allowed to be at the shoot. RED FLAG. What happened to those kids absolutely wrecked them. And that was YouTube where this stuff is pretty much a free-for-all (although YouTube demonetized the original channel that all this took place on). The entertainment industry may have guidelines in place, and there are child labor laws and sexploitation laws, but there's still so much that goes on. None of the kids in the Netflix series ran off or disappeared, but one of them was estranged from his mom thanks to Tiffany Lewis the Momager-from-hell who got sued, the FBI got involved but didn't prosecute because they didn't think they could win, and Tiffany's daughter is still doing videos but her former friends and family say she's being exploited. She has the equivalent of an OnlyFans page!

I'm not sure if Tami Lynn's mom pushed her to be the family cash cow or a child star or not. It's really not clear. I'm also not sure if Tami Lynn was suffering from schizophrenia combined with drugs from that party or if she really did see something criminal.

Bottom line: Hollywood can be an ugly business for child stars, it's the reason the Jackie Coogan Laws were passed regulating what is and is not allowed with kid actors. And becoming that famous that quickly can warp people's perspective. Suddenly all that matters is the fame. Even if Tami was supervised except for that party, you don't know how good that supervision was.

The mom says in the segment, "well, she was going to California for three months and that's as far away from me as you can get, so she really didn't run away."

I understand the argument, but that brings up the whole "bestie/momager" angle you mention. She's still in this pressure cooker of an industry and something happened at a party where she went by herself and you don't know why her behavior changed. That is sweeping the issue under the rug. WHY would you be OK with her going to California without family when you had to hospitalize her for mental health for 72 hours and she thought her food was poisoned? This makes no sense to me. Maybe they didn't know how to deal with potential schizophrenia and thought "everything will be fine now," but that's no excuse either. Even if someone is 18, they are still your child and you are still responsible for them. They're not adults yet. And for many parents, that feeling of responsibility does not stop when the child turns 18 or 21.

When it comes to this case there is a very important common denominator.

It's that everyone, friends, family and people she worked with all say that before she went to that hollywood party she was healthy, fun loving and normal.... so what happened?

Theres a pivot here, some people claim that she saw some satanic hollywierdo stuff... but how would that make her question her own mother and her cooking? which she seemed to believe was poisioned?

Some people look to blame her mother, but how would that cause her freak out on set? or have her beliveing that someone was watching her outside in a mirrored windowed van?

So that leaves us with mental illness right? but mental illness doesn't appear that fast. it's pretty much overnight, after that party..

the only logic explaination is that she took some drug that really messed with the chemicals in her brain. sometimes all hit off a drug is all it takes.

[tvscript124]

Originally Posted by bigted12

When it comes to this case there is a very important common denominator.

It's that everyone, friends, family and people she worked with all say that before she went to that hollywood party she was healthy, fun loving and normal.... so what happened?

Theres a pivot here, some people claim that she saw some satanic hollywierdo stuff... but how would that make her question her own mother and her cooking? which she seemed to believe was poisioned?

Some people look to blame her mother, but how would that cause her freak out on set? or have her beliveing that someone was watching her outside in a mirrored windowed van?

So that leaves us with mental illness right? but mental illness doesn't appear that fast. it's pretty much overnight, after that party..

the only logic explaination is that she took some drug that really messed with the chemicals in her brain. sometimes all hit off a drug is all it takes.

Okay, that theory holds up. You can't underestimate how drugs can mess up your brain.

See, this is one of the cases I mentioned on another thread where there are all kinds of ways you can look at the case and draw your own conclusions.

[bigted12]

Originally Posted by tvscript124

Okay, that theory holds up. You can't underestimate how drugs can mess up your brain.

See, this is one of the cases I mentioned on another thread where there are all kinds of ways you can look at the case and draw your own conclusions.

I think it depends somewhat, there are cases that people will come to a conclusion no matter how much the evidence points to them not being right.

It's like the case of cindy james, i think it's almost impossible for someone to straight out say that she either did it to herself or that someone stalked and killed her and these are the cases that will always be talked about more because they are never open and shut.

This case in my opinion, the case of tammy lynn leppert, only has one realistic scenario. a funny loving normal girl who everyone adored doesn't change other night unless theres a reason. her bizarre paranoid even schezophrenic behaviour had to be drug releated because it affected pretty much all those she came into contact with.

Someone else mentions one of the first members of fleetwood mac who went to a german woodstock like a event and just one hit off some wierd LSD like drug was never the same again and spent the rest of his life with mental health problems.

thats exactly what happened to tammy.

[blacksymbiote]

I still think there was trouble within the home. Only her mother and Wing ever reported any of these mental disturbances. I didn't know Curtis also had a son who went missing too. https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fi...0vbKfa5IdqVZZw

[bigted12]

Originally Posted by blacksymbiote

I still think there was trouble within the home. Only her mother and Wing ever reported any of these mental disturbances. I didn't know Curtis also had a son who went missing too. https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fi...0vbKfa5IdqVZZw

Not true,

it was her friend who reported that she came home from that party "a completely different person" and "acting strange"

on the set of scarface we're told she "freaked out"

The last time anybody saw her was in the car when she had an "episode" and just stormed off..

Various friends of hers have said that something happened to her at that party and it clearly did.

We have no real evidence that something bad was taking place in the home, when she returned back from that party, her mother took her to a clinic who kept her in for 72 hours. the mother and the stepbrother guy did the UM episode...

hardly the actions of guilty people and a terrible home life... again, before this party she was the fun loving all american girl. so what happened?

the party is key, some of suggested she saw some satanic type stuff.. but how would that make her act like she did?

the only rational answer is a drug that messed with her brain chemstry and the 70s and 80s are full of similar events.

[XCalibur]

Originally Posted by tvscript124

To your point, I just finished watching "Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing" on Netflix.

For those who have not seen it, it relates to Tami Lynn's story in that it involves pushy parents who encouraged their kids to become YouTube stars, including a nightmare of a mom that sexually abused the kids and did stuff that you'd never get away with on a TV or movie shoot (it's on video) because it's YouTube and unregulated. The other moms in the miniseries swear they didn't know--but they weren't allowed to be at the shoot. RED FLAG. What happened to those kids absolutely wrecked them. And that was YouTube where this stuff is pretty much a free-for-all (although YouTube demonetized the original channel that all this took place on). The entertainment industry may have guidelines in place, and there are child labor laws and sexploitation laws, but there's still so much that goes on. None of the kids in the Netflix series ran off or disappeared, but one of them was estranged from his mom thanks to Tiffany Lewis the Momager-from-hell who got sued, the FBI got involved but didn't prosecute because they didn't think they could win, and Tiffany's daughter is still doing videos but her former friends and family say she's being exploited. She has the equivalent of an OnlyFans page!

I'm not sure if Tami Lynn's mom pushed her to be the family cash cow or a child star or not. It's really not clear. I'm also not sure if Tami Lynn was suffering from schizophrenia combined with drugs from that party or if she really did see something criminal.

Bottom line: Hollywood can be an ugly business for child stars, it's the reason the Jackie Coogan Laws were passed regulating what is and is not allowed with kid actors. And becoming that famous that quickly can warp people's perspective. Suddenly all that matters is the fame. Even if Tami was supervised except for that party, you don't know how good that supervision was.

The mom says in the segment, "well, she was going to California for three months and that's as far away from me as you can get, so she really didn't run away."

I understand the argument, but that brings up the whole "bestie/momager" angle you mention. She's still in this pressure cooker of an industry and something happened at a party where she went by herself and you don't know why her behavior changed. That is sweeping the issue under the rug. WHY would you be OK with her going to California without family when you had to hospitalize her for mental health for 72 hours and she thought her food was poisoned? This makes no sense to me. Maybe they didn't know how to deal with potential schizophrenia and thought "everything will be fine now," but that's no excuse either. Even if someone is 18, they are still your child and you are still responsible for them. They're not adults yet. And for many parents, that feeling of responsibility does not stop when the child turns 18 or 21.

I see what you're saying, but as far as the law is concerned yes she is an adult at that point. I'm obviously not saying that's a magic age where someone no longer needs their family or parents. In fact more often than not people that age do. I think its pretty clear Tammy needed help from her family despite her being 18 at that point. Help that she may never have gotten.

Of course, we still don't know with absolute certainty what happened to Tammy, and my assessment of her home life might be totally off. Maybe her mom was better than I think and she was just a spoiled brat who ran away and to hell with what anyone thought about it or who missed her and decided to leave her family wondering what happened to her. But everything we know points the other way. And I suspect that's exactly what happened to her.

As for the party where she allegedly changed almost overnight, that may be so. Like I said this kind of lifestyle can be fun for a season but the drawbacks can come later on and that might be what happened in Tammy's case. Jon Benet Ramsey also comes to mind she had a very similar childhood I suspect to Tammy and tragically met her demise a lot younger. But children should never be put in situations where there is any hint of sexualizing them period. Even if people have good intentions I think it rarely turns out well.

But the party is another thing where there are a ton of unknowns. It just mostly raises more questions than it answers: who was at the party? Was anyone from the party questioned? Who invited her to the party she had to have known someone there? Can anyone there be tied to the area where she disappeared around the time? Was anyone at the party connected with any of the known money laundering investigations they claim were going on? We simply don't know and none of these questions were really answered in the segment or any other source so far as I know. So its impossible to say how this might have effected her or whether it had any connection to her death. We can speculate the authorities may have looked into these things but there is no way to know for sure.

I personally would wager while the party might have effected her badly, it might not have had any connection with her death. I think its more likely some random scumbag saw a sick opportunity ana abducted her and it was a sexually motivated homicide. Might or might not have been Chris Wilder, but I'm fairly certain there were other serial killers active in that area at the time as well. Sadly its unlikely we will ever know the truth. Especially if it was Wilder who is long dead.

[XCalibur]

Originally Posted by bigted12

Not true,

the only rational answer is a drug that messed with her brain chemstry and the 70s and 80s are full of similar events.

Wouldn't they have tested her for any kind of drug like that when she was taking to the clinic? There was no mention of her being under the influence of any kind of drugs.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by blacksymbiote

I still think there was trouble within the home. Only her mother and Wing ever reported any of these mental disturbances. I didn't know Curtis also had a son who went missing too. https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fi...0vbKfa5IdqVZZw

That...certainly complicates things.

[bigted12]

Originally Posted by XCalibur

Wouldn't they have tested her for any kind of drug like that when she was taking to the clinic? There was no mention of her being under the influence of any kind of drugs.

The thing is this was 1983, I'm not even sure what type of clinic it was, but an all america beauty queen who on the surface of it, i mean physically looks fine, gets taken to this clinic or whatever it was and was more than likely told by the mother "she's not been feeling herself"

She was only 18, i mean this was a different time, would they have done drug tests on her?

And if they did, would the tests have shown LSD in her system? her mother wouldnt have taken her to hospital the second she arrived home right? she'd have had to see her strange behaviour over the space of at least 24 hours or so to then to be worried enough..

I mean do we know how long the mother waited to take her to get looked at? even if they did do drug testing, it could have been out of her system

But when it comes to this case, peter green comes to mind, a member of fleetwood mac, went to germany while on tour, went to some woodstock like event in bavaria and just ONE hit of LSD there and was never the same again, he was in and out of mental hospitals all his life, paranoia...

Mick fleetwood said "just one tab and he never came back"

it's the only reasonable explaination, because nothing else can make a person change overnight.

[dynoguy88]

Information about all of this was provided in both the segment and articles online. It was the incident where she broke the window with the baseball bat that prompted her mother to check Tammy in to the Brevard County Mental Health Center for a complete physical and psychiatric evaluation. Doctors found no alcohol or drugs in her system. She was then placed under observation for 72 hours before being released to go home.

I don't sense any drug use being her problem. Her paranoia went off and on for several months. Her breakdown and response on the set of Scarface was a huge red flag in hindsight, especially when she ended up talking to the police and suddenly doing a 180 and apparently never revealing she thought her life was in danger. Her thinking her relatives were trying to poison her was something that should have been taken more seriously as well.

In the end, while I do believe fully that she had some psychotic break (or multiple ones over time), her fate ended up being nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time and she was the victim of foul play. Whomever picked her up after being dropped off at the Glass Bank killed her and disposed her somewhere in the bay.