The Leibling

[Mastermind]

This was the case about the shrimp boat named "The Leibling" that disappeared off North California(?). Allegedly the father may have kidnapped his children on the boat and may be living in another country.

Any update on this case? Did they find wreckage of the boat? Any trace of the father and his children?

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by Mastermind

This was the case about the shrimp boat named "The Leibling" that disappeared off North California(?). Allegedly the father may have kidnapped his children on the boat and may be living in another country.

Any update on this case? Did they find wreckage of the boat? Any trace of the father and his children?

I spoke with someone who knew the boys a few years ago and she said none of them had ever been found.

Also in an old thread someone apparently close to the case posted this:

I have heard that just short of Port Orford Mike called ahead to the other two boats and told them that he was having battery trouble and would catch up to them. He then said theres a tug in tow in front of me and I have to move. That was around 23:30 that night. Nothing was ever found except the net. The coast guard thought they saw it off of the California coast. They were so sure they dropped a life boat in the fog. 3 months later a boat was ran aground between Gold Beach and Port Orford that had been running drugs from a barge 7 mile out. That is were the net was found.

Thats what I know.
Uncle Rodger

[TracyLynnS]

See page 3 in Jeremy Bright's thread. Here's one of the posts. I haven't read further yet to see if there's more info in that thread regarding the leibling.

A pair of segments aired on the television show ``Unsolved Mysteries'' Wednesday have produced a flood of calls and some possible leads into the disappearance of an Oregon youth and the disappearance of a fishing boat off the Oregon coast in 1986.

``Unsolved Mysteries'' filmed four segments in Oregon last summer involving cases in Medford, Myrtle Point and Port Orford. One case, involving former Medford resident and alleged embezzler Steven Cox, was solved after the segment on his case aired in December. He was arrested a short time later in Nevada as a result of a tip from someone who had seen the show.

Wednesday night, the show aired a segment on the disappearance of Jeremy Bright of Myrtle Point, who was last seen at the Coos County Fair Aug. 14, 1986. Also aired Wednesday was the case of the missing fishing vessel Liebling, which reportedly sank off the south coast of Oregon with five crew members on board Aug. 27, 1986.

David Rajter, a teleconference administrator for the show, said the ``Unsolved Mysteries'' toll-free line received about 40 calls on both cases Wednesday night and some additional calls Thursday morning.

``Some look promising but we won't know until we begin to follow up with the police,'' Rajter said.

Coos County Sheriff's Lt. Bob Green said his office also received a number of calls on Jeremy Bright, who was 14 when he disappeared from the county fair in Coquille in 1986.

``We received several calls both last night and this morning,'' Green said. ``Two or three look promising so we're going to follow up on those.''

Bright was separated from his sister at the Coos County Fair and was last seen in Myrtle Point the evening of Aug. 14. No trace of the boy has ever been found, but local rumors, protrayed in the show, say Bright may have been murdered or killed accidentally and then buried.

A suspect in the case emerged a few days before Wednesday's show aired. Terry Lee Steinhoff of Myrtle Point, who was sentenced Tuesday to a minimum of 10 years for the stabbing death of Patricia Morris, was a former baby-sitter for Bright and allegedly was at a party rumored to be the last place Bright was seen alive.

Green confirmed that Steinhoff had been interviewed in connection with Bright's disappearance and that his name continues to surface in the investigation, but there are no hard facts or evidence linking him to the case.

The Liebling case involves the disappearance of ``Red'' Dixon, his three sons and another deckhand off the Oregon coast Aug. 27, 1986.

Dixon was reportedly taking his boys, ages 6, 14 and 18, on a fishing trip when the boat allegedly sank in calm seas off Port Orford. Also on board was deckhand Mike Georgen. Dixon was supposed to return the boys to their home in Crescent City, Calif., where they lived with his former wife, Pamela Straight.

The boat sank in an area where other boats were operating but no trace, no debris and no diesel spill ever was sighted. The vessel never has been located.

One theory, mentioned in the show, suggested that Dixon took the boat and his boys to South America, where they may be living today. Family and friends of Georgen say he would not have gone along with a plan to take the boys from her mother.