TN TN - Anna 'Francis' Leatherwood, 45, Sevierville, 20 May 1966

charleyproject.org/cases/l/leatherwood_anna.html
doenetwork.org/cases/3617dftn.html
findthemissing.org/cases/13801

Anna Francis Leatherwood

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Leatherwood, circa 1966

• Missing Since 05/20/1966
• Missing From Sevierville, Tennessee
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Age 45 years old
• Height and Weight 5'0 - 5'3, 155 - 165 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A white house gown.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Graying brown hair, blue eyes. Leatherwood may go by her middle name, Francis. She wears eyeglasses and she has a vertical Caesarean section scar on her abdomen.

Details of Disappearance

Leatherwood was last seen in Sevierville, Tennessee on May 20, 1966. Her husband was abusive and she had repeatedly left him, but her husband would always convince her to reconcile and return to him.

On the day of her disappearance, Leatherwood was staying at her cousin's home and her husband came and brought her back to their residence. When they arrived at the house, Leatherwood's leg was bruised and swollen and she was limping. Their children were there and saw her injury, and her husband said he would take her to the doctor in the morning.

Leatherwood's children left late that night and never saw their mother again. Her husband stated he did take her to the doctor, parked the car and went inside to wait in the waiting room, but she never arrived for her appointment and never checked in with the receptionist.

She left her purse behind, and within a week her husband had sold many of her belongings and burned the rest. Within six months he had filed for divorce and put their home up for sale, and after seven years he had her declared legally dead and cashed in her life insurance policy.

Authorities believe Leatherwood was probably murdered by her husband, but her body was never found and no charges have been filed against anyone her disappearance.

http://charleyproject.org/case/anna-francis-leatherwood


https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/13801/

It sure sounds like Anna’s husband had something to do with her disappearance but I can’t shake how much she reminds me of Annandale Jane Doe.

I agree. And the vertical c-section scar matches.

I decided to go ahead and submit Anna as a possible match to Annandale JD. I'll let you all know if I hear back.

Anna Frances Leatherwood – UNSOLVED APPALACHIA

Circumstances updated.

Anna Frances Leatherwood – The Charley Project


Anna Frances Leatherwood

Anna, circa 1966

Details of Disappearance
Frances was last seen in Sevierville, Tennessee on May 20, 1966. Her husband, Berlin Leatherwood, was abusive and she had repeatedly left him, but Berlin would always convince her to reconcile and return to him. On the day of her disappearance, Frances was staying at her cousin's home and Berlin came and brought her back to their residence. When they arrived at the house, Frances's leg was bruised and swollen and she was limping. Their children were there and saw her injury, and her husband said he would take her to the doctor in the morning.

The couple's children left late that night and never saw their mother again. Berlin stated he did take her to the doctor, parked the car and went inside to wait in the waiting room, but Frances never arrived for her appointment and never checked in with the receptionist.

She left her purse behind, and within a week Berlin had sold many of her belongings and burned the rest. Within six months he had filed for divorce and put their home up for sale, and after seven years he had her declared legally dead and cashed in her life insurance policy.

Authorities believe Frances was probably murdered by her husband, but her body was never found and no charges have been filed against anyone in her disappearance.

I am very confused about this case. Post #6 above from Unsolved Appalachia contains details of a case with a husband called Coy Leatherwood and a wife who would have been 32 in 1966. The details of this case given in other reports have a husband called Berlin Leatherwood and a wife who is circa 45 in 1966. I assume the Appalachia report is for a different couple. Then it gets really odd. There are many records on Ancestry for Rockford Berlin Leatherwood married to Frances Anna (nee Flynn). This seems to be the right couple for various reasons;

• residence in Sevierville
• up to 8 children, all who would have been adult or late teens in 1966, explaining why they left the home.
• appearing in 54 family trees, some of which have the wife dying in 1966.

And this is where it gets odd. Although some of the trees have Frances Anna dying in 1966, others (the majority) have her dying 2 May 1996 in Blount County, Tennessee. I have no idea what is correct and matters are complicated by the possibility of other Berlin Leatherwoods. There is a single draft card record with a slightly different DoB (6 days off compared with Rockford Berlin) from 1940 in Sevierville, and there are directory entries for a Berlin Leatherwood in Sevierville from 1993 to 2002 (years after Rockford Berlin Leatherwood died in 1989).

Any thoughts?

alb1on said:

I am very confused about this case. Post #6 above from Unsolved Appalachia contains details of a case with a husband called Coy Leatherwood and a wife who would have been 32 in 1966. The details of this case given in other reports have a husband called Berlin Leatherwood and a wife who is circa 45 in 1966. I assume the Appalachia report is for a different couple. Then it gets really odd. There are many records on Ancestry for Rockford Berlin Leatherwood married to Frances Anna (nee Flynn). This seems to be the right couple for various reasons;

• residence in Sevierville
• up to 8 children, all who would have been adult or late teens in 1966, explaining why they left the home.
• appearing in 54 family trees, some of which have the wife dying in 1966.

And this is where it gets odd. Although some of the trees have Frances Anna dying in 1966, others (the majority) have her dying 2 May 1996 in Blount County, Tennessee. I have no idea what is correct and matters are complicated by the possibility of other Berlin Leatherwoods. There is a single draft card record with a slightly different DoB (6 days off compared with Rockford Berlin) from 1940 in Sevierville, and there are directory entries for a Berlin Leatherwood in Sevierville from 1993 to 2002 (years after Rockford Berlin Leatherwood died in 1989).

Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

I too am very confused and I’m the one who shared the divorce decree. I’m no longer seeing the divorce decree at the link I provided. I am assuming it has since been removed or I found it elsewhere and forgot the link for it. It definitely sounds like something I would do.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
She's been ruled out as being any of these unidentified remains. Annandale Jane isn't one of them.

UP5211 09/30/1968 Will IL
UP6259 04/22/1981 Lawrence OH
UP8913 12/20/1976 Carbon PA
UP5556 05/30/1976 Virginia Beach VA
UP6661 02/03/1991 Stafford VA
UP6796 11/18/1985 Alleghany VA
UP12683 06/06/2014 Newport News VA

alb1on said:

I am very confused about this case. Post #6 above from Unsolved Appalachia contains details of a case with a husband called Coy Leatherwood and a wife who would have been 32 in 1966. The details of this case given in other reports have a husband called Berlin Leatherwood and a wife who is circa 45 in 1966. I assume the Appalachia report is for a different couple. Then it gets really odd. There are many records on Ancestry for Rockford Berlin Leatherwood married to Frances Anna (nee Flynn). This seems to be the right couple for various reasons;

• residence in Sevierville
• up to 8 children, all who would have been adult or late teens in 1966, explaining why they left the home.
• appearing in 54 family trees, some of which have the wife dying in 1966.

And this is where it gets odd. Although some of the trees have Frances Anna dying in 1966, others (the majority) have her dying 2 May 1996 in Blount County, Tennessee. I have no idea what is correct and matters are complicated by the possibility of other Berlin Leatherwoods. There is a single draft card record with a slightly different DoB (6 days off compared with Rockford Berlin) from 1940 in Sevierville, and there are directory entries for a Berlin Leatherwood in Sevierville from 1993 to 2002 (years after Rockford Berlin Leatherwood died in 1989).

Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

I agree the names are very confusing. When Anna went missing they were from Sevierville, Tennessee. I found an obituary for a Shirley Leatherwood from Sevierville, Tennessee and it says "She was preceded in death by her husband Berlin Leatherwood; step sons Boyd and Dwight Leatherwood" Could this be him, perhaps he remarried. Do we know the names of Anna and her husbands children's names?
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/shirley-leatherwood-obituary?pid=178948836

Where did they live? If his solution was to burn things, that’s probably what he did to her. Maybe not at the house but Sevierville was very rural at the time.

within a week her husband had sold many of her belongings and burned the rest.

From what i can gather from Ancestry is Frances Anna Flynn married Rockford Berlin Leatherwood in 1935 making her only 14 at the time. They had 3 children, possibly 4. Berlin died 1989.

I found this: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
This unidentified lady was located in Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, April 28, 1968.

May 30 2023

''Anna Francis Leatherwood​

Anna Francis Leatherwood. (NamUs)
Anna Francis Leatherwood. (NamUs)
Leatherwood’s case is one of the more peculiar listings in the NamUs database. Her profile says she went missing from Sevierville on May 20, 1966, at 45 years old, however, the circumstance notes do not list any information on when she was last seen.


If she were found today, Leatherwood would be 102 years old. When she went missing, she was estimated to be between five feet tall and five foot-three inches and 160 pounds. She had deep brown hair with some gray mixed in and blue eyes. The NamUs profile added that she was last seen wearing a white house gown and that she did not drive.

Photos of her linked to her profile show Leatherwood with and without glasses.

A request was made to Sevier County Sheriff’s Office for more information about the circumstances of her disappearance, but the sheriff’s office has not yet responded.''

I live in Sevier County... When i first moved here, i dated a girl who is part of the Leatherwood family.
She said that it was fairly well-known in her family that Berlin (went by Rock) was a real mean drunk and used to beat on his wife pretty regular, and also killed her.
He also did construction, and was building a church.
The morning after he brought her home, he went to the construction site early and did some concrete work before the rest of the crew got there (foundation, im assuming).
According to the story i was told, thats where he disposed of his wife, and shes still there.

tattoobenzo said:

I live in Sevier County... When i first moved here, i dated a girl who is part of the Leatherwood family.
She said that it was fairly well-known in her family that Berlin (went by Rock) was a real mean drunk and used to beat on his wife pretty regular, and also killed her.
He also did construction, and was building a church.
The morning after he brought her home, he went to the construction site early and did some concrete work before the rest of the crew got there (foundation, im assuming).
According to the story i was told, thats where he disposed of his wife, and shes still there.

Click to expand...

Wow! I wonder if any authorities ever heard of this information and bothered to inquire within?