450:, became involved in Leah's case after being contacted by Kara. Caison, with the help of a network of volunteers called Community United Effort, specializes in keeping cases alive in the media after official efforts have exhausted all leads. On the fourth anniversary of Roberts's disappearance, Caison organized a caravan across the country, following her route west to Bellingham, to raise awareness about not only the Roberts case but other disappearances. It has become an annual event.
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originally brought in. After deciding to re-examine the vehicle, investigators pried open the Jeep's hood and found that a wire had been cut, allowing the car to accelerate without anyone having depressed the gas pedal. This discovery confirmed early suspicions that no one had been in the car when it left the road, and thus it had been purposely wrecked. The detectives also found a fingerprint under the hood of the Jeep and male
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sat on each side of her at the restaurant's counter. The men recalled talking with Leah about
Kerouac and her planned road trip. One of the men claimed that Leah had left with a third, whom he heard her call Barry, and provided a description for a police sketch of the man. However, neither the other man nor any other customer who had been in the restaurant at the time could corroborate the third man's existence.
409:, who had become involved because Roberts had crossed state lines. They found her mother's engagement ring, which Roberts wore constantly, under a floor mat inside the vehicle. Roberts's friends in North Carolina said that she treasured the ring for the connection it offered to her late mother and that she would never have taken it off voluntarily. After this discovery, the investigation stalled.
335:, noticed articles of clothing at the side of the road next to a slight curve at the top of a slope. Some pieces of clothing had been tied to the trees and branches at the roadside. In the woods below, at the bottom of a steep embankment, the couple discovered Roberts's severely damaged Jeep and called the police. Roberts was not present at the scene.
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Near the theater was the mall's only sit-down restaurant, where Heath and Kara believed that Leah might have gone for a meal. In the restaurant, police interviews with two customers yielded information about Leah. Both men indicated that they had met Leah in the restaurant on March 13, where they had
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On the morning of March 9, 2000, Leah talked on the phone with Kara about her uncertain future plans. The conversation ended with the understanding that the two would see each other soon. Later, in the early afternoon, Roberts and her roommate Nicole agreed to do some babysitting together the next
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Kara and Heath
Roberts flew to Bellingham to assist investigators. They visited the crash site, and, with the assistance of the sheriff's office, created a flyer that they posted around town in Bellingham. They also went into local businesses to ask if business owners and customers had seen Leah.
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Blankets and pillows were hung inside the windows of the Jeep, suggesting that it may have been used as a shelter after being wrecked. Roberts's passport, checkbook, driver's license, clothes, guitar, CDs, and other belongings were found scattered in the surrounding woods. Bits of cat food and a
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These new leads led investigators back to the man who had claimed
Roberts left the Bellis Fair restaurant with the third man she called "Barry." As no one could corroborate this witness's statements, police fingerprinted and DNA tested him to rule out his involvement in her disappearance. The
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In 2006, Mark Joseph of the
Whatcom County sheriff's office, the detective who had originally investigated the case, passed his files on to two younger detectives. While reviewing the case, one of them noticed that the car and its contents had not been fully processed for evidence when it was
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On March 14, Roberts's sister, Kara, and roommate Nicole searched
Roberts's room. Many of Roberts's clothes and her kitten, Bea, were missing. Kara and Nicole also found a note reading, "I'm not suicidal. I'm the opposite," that mentioned Jack Kerouac and included a drawing of the
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small cat carrier were found in the vehicle, confirming that
Roberts had taken Bea on the trip with her, although the cat has never been found. Valuables, such as $ 2,500 in cash and jewelry, were also left behind, suggesting that robbery had not been the reason for the accident.
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Against the wishes of her older siblings, Roberts dropped out of NCSU only months before completing her degree. Afterwards, Leah learned to play the guitar, took up photography, and adopted a pet kitten she named Bea. She also began spending time in local
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By the time Leah was 22 she had lost both of her parents and here she is on the verge of graduating from college and I think she just really felt lost and didn't have a lot of direction and I feel like she took this trip as a soul-searching trip.
146:, but few leads have emerged. In the summer of 2005, volunteers from a North Carolina missing-persons awareness group organized a caravan across the country to raise awareness for her case and others. The caravan has since become an annual event.
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determined that the Jeep had been traveling at nearly 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) when it went off the road and down the slope. The contents of the vehicle were tossed around inside, consistent with a multiple
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shopping mall. This ticket suggested that Leah may have spent a few hours in the city after arriving at the beginning of the day following the five-to-six-hour drive from where she had bought gas in Oregon.
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The next day, Roberts missed the babysitting appointment. By the end of March 11, Roberts was still absent, and her friends and family had been attempting to contact her. On March 13, Kara reported Leah
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in 2005. "I really don't know how I would have made it through the past five years without her," Kara told the host. "We're just trying to, you know, keep Leah's face out there as much as possible."
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footage from the gas station, which showed her alone and apparently in good condition, although several times she peered out into the parking lot while waiting for her transaction to be completed.
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over
Roberts's bank accounts, she was able to access her sister's financial records. Kara discovered that Roberts had withdrawn several thousand dollars on the afternoon of March 9, and that her
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Roberts had left Durham unexpectedly, leaving only rent money and a note for her housemate suggesting she might return in a few weeks. She said she wanted to take a road trip like that of author
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Among her belongings, her siblings found a box of mementos from the trip that established more clearly when Leah had arrived in the city: a ticket stub from a March 13 afternoon showing of
120:. Several years after her disappearance, police examined the car's starter motor and found that it had been tampered with, indicating the vehicle may have been crashed intentionally.
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over the previous four days. There have been no reported sightings of her since. On March 18, her car was discovered wrecked and abandoned at the bottom of a hill off a road in nearby
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233:, writing poetry about the meaning of life, and making new friends. With one, Jeannine Quiller, and with her roommate, Nicole Bennett, Roberts discussed the idea of emulating
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ran a segment on the case that generated some new tips for investigators and reports that
Roberts had been sighted elsewhere in the U.S., but nothing that proved credible.
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for a field program, Roberts's father died. She decided to continue with the program. Since she was leaving the country and no longer had living parents, Leah granted Kara
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to help it heal. Leah later told Kara that she felt "born again" after her recovery. In the spring of the next year, just three weeks before she was scheduled to leave for
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During her sophomore year, her mother died suddenly from heart disease. Soon after, in the fall of 1998, Leah was involved in a serious car accident that resulted in a
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were missing. Because
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288:'s grin. Along with the note, Kara and Nicole found a bundle of cash totaling approximately a month's worth of Roberts's share of rent and expenses.
158:. She has a sister, Kara, and a brother, Heath. When Leah was 17, her father was diagnosed with a chronic lung illness. Roberts began college at
390:. After disclosing this information, he seemed to panic and hung up before identifying himself. Police nevertheless consider the tip credible.
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witness's fingerprint did not match the one discovered under the hood of the Jeep, but the results of the DNA sample have not been disclosed.
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sheriff's office to report a sighting. He claimed that his wife had seen
Roberts, disoriented and confused, wandering around a gas station in
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a semester short of graduation. Her older siblings recall that she seemed lost and directionless at that point in her life.
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Based on the path that the car had taken through the trees and the extent of damage to the vehicle, investigators from the
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Early on the morning of March 18, 2000 in Washington State, a couple jogging along Canyon Creek Road, a side route of the
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For two weeks in April 2000, police searched for Roberts near her Jeep's crash site. Dogs trained to sniff for corpses,
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315:. The last activity on Roberts's bank accounts was a gas purchase shortly after midnight on the morning of March 13 in
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that could find the metal rod in her leg, and helicopters were used in the search but no new evidence was discovered.
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531:"The Legacy of Leah Toby Roberts and the 'On the Road to Remember Tour' with the CUE Center for Missing Persons 2014"
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756:"Retiring Whatcom County deputy was involved in many notorious cases"
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Roberts's disappearance has been covered on the television shows
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Leah Toby Roberts was born on July 23, 1976 in the suburbs of
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Investigators continued to examine the Jeep, joined by the
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A few days after the Jeep was discovered, a man called the
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Whatcom County Sheriff's Office page on Leah Roberts case
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721:"10 years later, missing person case remains open"
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503:List of North Carolina State University people
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190:. Surgeons implanted a metal rod next to her
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299:had been used to pay for a motel room near
108:(born July 23, 1976), left a restaurant in
847:Missing person cases in Washington (state)
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311:after she reached I-40's western end in
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877:History of women in Washington (state)
872:March 2000 events in the United States
862:21st century in Durham, North Carolina
477:aired an episode on the case in 2011.
90:Disappearance after cross-country trip
867:History of Whatcom County, Washington
417:on an article of Roberts's clothing.
355:Search efforts and witness statements
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782:Jerome, Richard (August 1, 2005).
754:Jensen, Peter (January 15, 2010).
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719:Schwarz, Becca (March 26, 2010).
98:5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
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366:at the theaters in Bellingham's
241:and going on a road trip to the
594:. Season 3. February 21, 2011.
529:Gore, Donna (August 17, 2014).
160:North Carolina State University
129:North Carolina State University
508:List of people who disappeared
16:2000 U.S. missing persons case
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66:March 13, 2000 (aged 23)
453:Caison and Kara appeared on
118:North Cascades National Park
425:Case coverage and awareness
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852:2000 in Washington (state)
842:2000s missing person cases
442:In 2005, Monica Caison, a
319:. Police later recovered
178:Challenges during college
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202:over her bank accounts.
882:Women in North Carolina
596:Investigation Discovery
466:Investigation Discovery
340:Washington State Patrol
857:2000 in North Carolina
823:Help Find Leah Roberts
401:Examination of vehicle
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156:Durham, North Carolina
114:Durham, North Carolina
110:Bellingham, Washington
69:Bellingham, Washington
55:Durham, North Carolina
761:The Bellingham Herald
291:Since Kara still had
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735:on February 19, 2015
661:, November 25, 2005"
495:United States portal
327:Discovery of vehicle
669:. November 25, 2005
333:Mount Baker Highway
218:– Kara Roberts, on
104:On March 13, 2000,
632:Unsolved Mysteries
436:Unsolved Mysteries
433:television series
301:Memphis, Tennessee
137:Unsolved Mysteries
725:Foothills Gazette
293:power of attorney
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162:(NCSU) in nearby
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591:Disappeared
474:Disappeared
368:Bellis Fair
143:Disappeared
63:Disappeared
836:Categories
729:Lynden, WA
514:References
444:Wilmington
313:California
297:debit card
196:Costa Rica
150:Background
47:1976-07-23
237:novelist
827:Facebook
481:See also
431:Lifetime
345:rollover
694:WRAL-TV
388:Seattle
384:Everett
266:to the
264:missing
168:Spanish
164:Raleigh
80:Missing
789:People
634:. 2014
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95:Height
76:Status
71:, U.S.
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192:femur
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802:2015
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448:cold
243:West
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415:DNA
407:FBI
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