Tammy Lynn Leppert | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Tammy Lynn Leppert February 5, 1965 |
| Disappeared | July 6, 1983 (aged 18) Cocoa Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Status | Missing for 40 years, 9 months and 18 days |
| Occupation(s) | Child/teen actress and model |
Tammy Lynn Leppert (born February 5, 1965 – disappeared July 6, 1983) was an American actress, model and beauty queen who went missing under mysterious circumstances at the age of 18.
Tammy Lynn Leppert was born in Rockledge, Florida, on February 5, 1965. She began participating in beauty contests when she was four years old, competing in nearly 300 beauty pageants and taking home about 280 crowns. Leppert was employed primarily as a model throughout her adolescent and teenage years,[1] appearing on the cover of CoverGirl magazine in October 1978.[2]
Just before her disappearance, Leppert appeared in the film Scarface (1983) as the girl who distracts the lookout car during the bloody chainsaw scene. Before that, among other minor roles, she played a party girl in Little Darlings (1980) and a participant in a boxing match in Spring Break (1983). Reportedly, Leppert's legs, hips and torso were used in the main poster for the latter movie. It is also claimed she had plans to go to Hollywood in 1983.[3] Leppert had a lead role playing herself in a film called Cover Girl Behind the Scenes.[4]
After the Spring Break shoot was finished, Leppert went unaccompanied to a party one weekend. According to her close friend, Wing Flannagan, she came home from the party "a different person". After performing her role in Scarface, Leppert suddenly returned home after the fourth day of filming. Her mother assumed that Leppert had been afraid of being murdered by someone, and that she had become overtaken by this delusion. Her mother felt obliged to have her examined by a doctor, but after 72 hours in a medical center, Leppert was released and there seemed to be no signs of drug or alcohol use according to doctor statements.[5]
Leppert was last seen in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on July 6, 1983. She was reported to have worn a blue denim shirt decorated with flowers, along with a matching skirt, a gray purse and sandals.[6][7] Some agencies have stated that Leppert left without shoes or money.[8] A male friend told authorities that he had an argument with her while driving her from her home in Rockledge and had later "left her [...] in a parking lot."[6] Although he is the last person believed to have seen her, he is not considered a suspect. However, Leppert's mother has claimed that her daughter was "afraid" of him.[1]
After Leppert's disappearance, Cocoa Beach Detective Harold Lewis received two telephone calls from a woman claiming that she was still alive. In the first call, the woman said that Leppert would make contact when the time was right. During the second call, she said that Leppert was doing what she always wanted: going to school to become a nurse.[9]
At the time of her disappearance, Leppert was between 5 ft 0 in (1.52 m) and 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) and weighed between 105 and 115 pounds (48 and 52 kg). She had curly blonde hair and hazel eyes.[1][7][8] It is also speculated that she may have been three months pregnant.[8]
| External image | |
|---|---|
 Age progression of Leppert to age 48 |
Christopher Wilder, an Australian-born serial killer linked to the murders of twelve women across the continental United States, was active in Florida at the time of Leppert's disappearance; his modus operandi was to lure women with the promise of photographing them for magazines. Leppert's family sued Wilder but eventually halted the process, as some had doubts as to whether he was involved. Wilder was killed in a shootout with police in 1984. Authorities have not linked Wilder to Leppert's disappearance.[10]
Another person of interest was John Crutchley, a convicted kidnapper and rapist who was suspected of killing as many as thirty women. Crutchley committed suicide in prison in 2002.[1]
Leppert's mother theorized that her daughter could have been murdered due to her knowledge of local drug trafficking. She said Leppert exhibited signs of paranoia, as she was cautious when consuming food and would not drink from open containers. She had also allegedly filed a report to police.[1]
Several age progressions have been created to show what Leppert may have looked like if she were still alive, by forensic artists Danny Sollitti, Diana Trepkov and those from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).[6][8] Profiles detailing the case have been created by the Doe Network, National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NaMus) and the NCMEC in hopes of generating leads from tips.[6][7][8] Leppert's DNA profile has since been processed, but her dental records and fingerprints have not been accessed by local police.[6] It is believed that her dental information had been acquired at some point, but that poor record keeping resulted in the data being lost.[1]
According to NaMus, the following unidentified decedents have been ruled out as being the remains of Tammy Leppert.
| Name | Location | Date | Age estimation | Cause of death | Circumstances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harris County Jane Doe | Hockley, Texas | April 30, 1984 | 25–35 | Not stated | A decomposed white female found buried in a shallow grave. It is believed she died about six months before she was found.[11] |
| Alleghany County Jane Doe | Alleghany County, Virginia | November 18, 1985 | 20–49 | Not stated | A partial skeleton of a white female discovered by a hunter. The subject had been estimated to have died eight months before.[12] |
| Slidell Jane Doe | Slidell, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana | June 19, 1986 | 20–30 | Homicide | A pregnant female disposed of in Lake Pontchartrain.[13] A weight had been tied to her body as an attempt to hide the body.[14] |
| Chesterfield County Jane Doe | Chesterfield County, Virginia | August 7, 1986 | 20–35 | Probable homicide | A severed torso and leg believed to have belonged to a white female found inside of a dumpster. The victim wore a rubber bracelet on her ankle. She had died within two months to a few days of discovery and there was evidence that she may have been kept in a freezer or a similar device to preserve the remains.[15][16] |
| Pinal County Jane Doe | Pinal County, Arizona | January 7, 1987 | 21–35 | Not stated | A decomposed body of a white female found in a desert area. She had died months before.[17] |
| Knox County Jane Doe | Knoxville, Tennessee | June 1, 1987 | 21–30 | Self-defense | A white woman killed in the process of an attempted robbery. She was intoxicated at the time of her death. She was identified in 2021 as 27-year-old Tena Marie Gattrell of California.[18][19][20] |
| Anaheim Jane Doe | Anaheim, California | August 30, 1987 | 15–19 | Homicide | A skeletonized body of a white female believed to be a teenage runaway. She had died about six weeks before her discovery.[21] The victim was identified in 2018 as 20-year-old Tracey Hobson, an unreported missing person from Anaheim.[22] |
| Stafford County Jane Doe | Stafford County, Virginia | February 3, 1991 | 30–45 | Homicide | A female of an unknown race with Hispanic characteristics found skeletonized in a wooded area. She had died between the years of 1989 and 1991, most likely within nine months.[23] She was previously speculated to have been of African descent and at a younger age, between thirteen and eighteen.[24] The victim was later identified as Marta Haydee Rodriguez, 28.[25] |
| Fairfax County Jane Doe | Centerville, Virginia | December 6, 1993 | 26–39 | Homicide | A white woman with Hispanic characteristics found by construction workers in 1993. She had decayed teeth and had died between the years of 1987 and 1992. In 2022, Fairfax County Police Department, partnered with Othram, identified Fairfax County Jane Doe as Sharon Kay Abbott Lane. Lane was believed to be 34 at the time her remains were found.[26][27][28] |
| Harris County Jane Doe | Channelview, Texas | October 28, 1994 | 20–40 | Undetermined | The partial skeleton of a white female believed to have died between two and seven years before her discovery in a wooded area.[29][30] |
| Waller County Jane Doe | Waller County, Texas | March 10, 1997 | 20–35 | Not stated | A skeleton of a white female with Hispanic characteristics found underneath brush on a private property. She had died between the years of 1990 and 1996.[31] |
| Stafford County Jane Doe | Stafford, Virginia | November 7, 1998 | 28–45 | Not stated | A partial skeleton of a white female wearing her hair in braids found under leaves near a cemetery.[32] She had died within eight months preceding the discovery of her remains.[33] |
| Newport News Jane Doe | Newport News, Virginia | June 6, 2014 | 25–45 | Not stated | A female of an unknown race with Hispanic characteristics was discovered mummified underneath a sheet.[34] |
The television program Unsolved Mysteries profiled Leppert's disappearance in the season five premiere in September 1992.[35]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Little Darlings | Party Girl | Uncredited |
| 1983 | Spring Break | Boxing Contest Girl | Uncredited |
| 1983 | Scarface | Distraction at the Lookout Car | Uncredited; final film role |
