WV WV - Leah Hickman, 21, Huntington, 14 Dec 2007 - #2

Sure isn't much to continue here. Grumble, grumble. :( I just can't even imagine what her family is going through.
 
How does one person murder another person and leave no evidence behind uless they are a pro and even pro's get caught! I wonder how good that LE is about collecting forenic evidence?
 
Its WV. The State Troopers out here have a very bad reputation. I recently had to rip them a new one; on tape in public had to actually file a complaint. It really boiled down to lack of training which I'm sure the "newbie" will get. My parting words as I left the station? Just find Leah and prosecute who murdered her, fgs.
Because we are all waiting for justice for her. Mark my words, from that end of the state to this; they know that online they are known as the keystone cops. Sad, but I do have to agree. I'd like to say something better or nice, but my dealings with them, has been an eye opener and I'm not surprised that nothing has happened in her case. I'm not sure they could prosecute unless they had all the evidence from a to z in front of them. They just cannot operate or function cohesively as a unit. Or lets say an intelligent unit. I have one alert set up and I get emails about her fund once in awhile or about the grant in her name or thngs like that. I get nothing about any active case. I think it's a cold case. No one could even look me in the eye when I lambasted them about finding Leahs killer. I couldnt help it; it was my parting remark. "Just find her, Damn it." I slept better that night. just that night tho.
CT
 
I totally feel your frustration, chronictonic. It's a shame and scary that a KILLER is still out there. That same person could do it again because they've already done it once. What's to keep it from happening again?

:(
 
I'm not surprised that LE doesn't have a clue. Why in the world don't they call in for help! This murder needs to be solved. I wonder if they even checked for fingerprints on her skin. Was she raped or did they ever say?
 
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/multimedia/x1727602098/Gallery-Leah-Hickman

Gallery: Leah Hickman

Jun 13, 2008 @ 08:09 PM

Herald-Dispatch.com

Marshall University student Leah Hickman was killed Dec. 14, 2007, the last day of classes before winter break. The cause of death was listed as strangulation.
Hickman's body, which was stuffed into a crawl space beneath her apartment in Huntington, was not found until a week after she was last seen. Police have made no arrests in the case.
 
:mad: I was just thinking about her and wondering what was going on. Thanks, wv mom.
 
Bumping for Leah. I can't believe this case hasnt been solved yet. I thought they were close months ago?
 
I never dreamed this case go this far without a cuff/stuffed and caged ....

Sad day for Marshall U..

Need a bunch of parent's & student's asking the "men in the green" some tough question's about WHY?????????
 
I thought it would be resolved by now too. It doesn't seem to be that hard of a case to me. Makes me wonder just how hard LE has worked to find the killer. I certainly hope it isn't on the back burner now.
 
I don't understand the "big picture" here. OK, I realize that many local police departments may not have the 'ultimate tech' resources that could be very valuable in a case like this. I realize that sheriff's departments may not have these resources. I understand that the WV State Police may have to perform work for a large number of local agencies that cannot do these same tests.

With that said, I am still shocked. If someone commits a horrible, violent crime, they might escape punishment because they ran away. They might escape because they came up with an alibi. They might escape by destroying evidence.

But to escape punishment because no one had time to evaluate the evidence that was collected . . . that really bothers me.

And it seems like a circular situation. The fewer cases that are prosecuted, the bolder people are likely to become. Wouldn't this result in more cases and a still bigger backlog?

I don't understand. I am horribly disappointed in our system. I wish there was a way to hold someone accountable.
 
Hello Peep's.. I dont know if i ever missed any new developments but last i remember was that the suspiscion was on the current or ex bf of her sisters and i think he also lived in that same appartment prior to leah and wasn't there even some talk about her own sister maybe knowing or even having something to do with it .I think it was something along the lines of leah maybe threw out his left over clothes and maybe he just snapped as they didn;t like one another anyways ,,Is that where the suspiscion still lies on that guy or did i miss some major developments..
 
Hello Peep's.. I dont know if i ever missed any new developments but last i remember was that the suspiscion was on the current or ex bf of her sisters and i think he also lived in that same appartment prior to leah and wasn't there even some talk about her own sister maybe knowing or even having something to do with it .I think it was something along the lines of leah maybe threw out his left over clothes and maybe he just snapped as they didn;t like one another anyways ,,Is that where the suspiscion still lies on that guy or did i miss some major developments..


I believe that they were looking at the sister's ex-boyfriend but how hard they looked at him...who knows. It just doesn't seem that LE is trying very hard to solve this case. Whoever murdered Leah had to have known about the crawl spaces where people stored belongings. That would cover people who had lived there before...that had seen Leah there....friends or people that she knew that were aware of that space...those workers that were there the day she was murdered, etc. There must have been some evidence left either in her apt or on or around her body. It just sounds like LE isn't putting their all into this case. I wonder how often her family contacts LE to find out how the case is going. It's important that family's do that at least every week.
 
I haven't gone back and read all the posts, so let me apologize in advance if I am asking questions that have already been answered.

If she was strangled, wouldn't there be DNA under her fingernails the authorities could link to the murderer? It would seem to me that during strangulation, it would be difficult for the killer to avoid being scratched or clawed by the victim.

What type of DNA evidence do the authorities have? Was she sexually assaulted as well?

Just curious. It would seem to me, if they could develop a profile, it wouldn't be difficult to collect DNA samples from a small pool of "good" suspects (i.e., people connected to her in some way that knew about the crawlspace) just to rule them out.
 
I haven't gone back and read all the posts, so let me apologize in advance if I am asking questions that have already been answered.

If she was strangled, wouldn't there be DNA under her fingernails the authorities could link to the murderer? It would seem to me that during strangulation, it would be difficult for the killer to avoid being scratched or clawed by the victim.

What type of DNA evidence do the authorities have? Was she sexually assaulted as well?

Just curious. It would seem to me, if they could develop a profile, it wouldn't be difficult to collect DNA samples from a small pool of "good" suspects (i.e., people connected to her in some way that knew about the crawlspace) just to rule them out.

I had to refresh my memory on this case but to answer a couple of your questions....Yes, Leah was strangled and no, there was not a sexual assault. LE has some mitochondrial DNA but it hasn't been identified publicly. I really thought there would have been an arrest by now.
 

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