TN TN - Kaitlynn Abree Ledbetter, 25, wooded area w/o shoes, Overton Co, 2 May 2021

If she left her phone behind, has it been checked to see if she had contacted someone to come get her?
Does she have a boyfriend?
Are we allowed to discuss the father?
 
If she left her phone behind, has it been checked to see if she had contacted someone to come get her?
Does she have a boyfriend?
Are we allowed to discuss the father?

I think these are questions that we assume LE has followed on but with this case I’m not sure. Other than her knowing well worn pathways, I hope they aren’t buying that this girl left like that.
 
Are we allowed to discuss the father?
AFAIK, Kaitlyn's father has not been officially listed as a POI in her disappearance.

I think these are questions that we assume LE has followed on but with this case I’m not sure. Other than her knowing well worn pathways, I hope they aren’t buying that this girl left like that.
Good point. IMO we (the general public) would typically assume LE has carefully researched all of these areas. However, from reading the various media reports regarding her disappearance it's not clear to me how much effort the sheriff's office has used here. Slow response times, combined with limited searches and potentially losing cell phone evidence doesn't fill me with confidence that a complete and thorough investigation is being done here. I hope I'm wrong about that. MOO.
 
Noting that the argument was between Kaitlynn and her father's girlfriend, per CP:

Details of Disappearance​

... At 5:30 a.m. the day of her disapearance, she and her father's girlfriend argued and Ledbetter jumped out her bedroom window and ran into the woods. She has never been heard from again.

[...]

I just found Kaitlyn's case today from this article. This doesnt sound good at all.

Also, per the article above:

On that morning her father, Scotty Ledbetter, told police that after getting in an argument with his girlfriend, Kaitlyn jumped out of her bedroom window and ran off into the deep woods.
 
I recommend EVERYONE watch this interview with Kaitlynn's aunt and sister. They tell us what they believe happened. It's much different than the supposed window incident.

I checked with @Sillybilly to make sure this was ok to post, and their reply was,
"We generally allow interviews with family members so YES, go ahead and link to it and specify that the source is approved on a one time basis only (so not blanket approval for the podcast)."
Thank you sillybilly for letting us bring this here for discussion.

Unraveling Tennessee 5: Kaitlynn Ledbetter, What Did She Find Out? - YouTube
 
On that morning her father, Scotty Ledbetter, told police that after getting in an argument with his girlfriend, Kaitlyn jumped out of her bedroom window and ran off into the deep woods.
Since the only eyewitness we have is her father, his statement of Kaitlyn jumping out the window and running into the woods may (or may not) be true. MOO

His GF, who also may have been a witness, died shortly afterwards in that house fire, so we're left with only Scotty's statement in Kaitlyn's disappearance.

Question: If her father was involved in some kind of serious domestic argument with his GF, would he have noticed the details of how Kaitlyn supposedly left the house?

IMO, the 'argument with his girlfriend' must have been a violent or possibly life-threatening one to force Kaitlyn to jump out a window seven feet above ground, dressed only in pajamas, without her phone, and then run into dark woods.

I've never seen any details released by the media or by LE describing this 'argument', so we don't know for certain what was going on in the house that morning. I could see Kaitlyn jumping out a window like this if she was being physically threatened in some way, but again, without details about this early morning argument, and with her father being the only witness, it's difficult to know for certain if Kaitlyn's exit from the house actually took place as her father described.

I've also never read much, if anything, about the relationship between Kaitlyn and her father. Do we have any verified details about that?

All of the above is MOO.
 
Thank you for the link, Krimoney. There's information here that is new to me or it's been so long I've forgotten! MOO

Noting:

Kaitlyn Ledbetter was a quiet 26-year-old woman. She lived with dad and his girlfriend. She worked and stayed out of trouble until a cool May morning in 2021.

[...]

Terri Loftus knew Kaitlyn well because she was the long time girlfriend of her son Dustin. It's been 18 long months–and every day feels like another nail in Kaitlyn’s coffin.

“She’s missed her birthdays, her family’s birthdays, special occasions, no sound has come from her. Nothing. And I still don’t understand why she would have jumped out the window with that argument. Why didn’t she go out the front door? So nothing about it really makes any sense,” said Loftus.

And this isn’t a place for a walk in the woods, far from it.

“Some of the roughest terrain, that area of Hilham is where Jackson County, and Clay County and Overton kind of converge. And it's nothing but hills and hollers and steep declines. And it's not something that I would even be happy about doing if I had the gear that I needed to do it,” said Erik Hammock.

Erik Hammock got involved in this case not as a friend or a relative, but as a citizen of Overton County who felt law enforcement had failed this young woman. That Kaitlyn Ledbetter deserved better.

[...]

FOX 17 News’ Dennis Ferrier: “You feel like law enforcement has failed this family?”

Hammock: “Big time. I don’t know of any excuse. It could be given to me to say that we waited over nine months to do a search.”

[...]

There’s more: the original detective on the case who later left the Overton County Sheriff’s Department apparently lost evidence. Because the new detective told the family they no longer had critical texts from Kaitlyn around her time of the disappearance.

“I’m not even sure what all he did lose? And I don't know that they know what he lost. You know what I mean? If you don’t have a good evidence log, and evidence goes missing. How do you know what’s supposed to be here?” said Hammock.

FOX 17 News was unable to connect with Overton County Sheriff John Garrett. We made numerous attempts. We had lots of questions. Those questions remain unanswered.

[...]
 
Indeed. When I saw the MSM report about the detective in the case possibly 'losing' evidence it makes me wonder how important this case is to the Overton County sheriff's office. Also, the fact that the sheriff apparently isn't returning media phone calls doesn't give me a great deal of confidence regarding the importance of this investigation. I hope I'm wrong about that.

IMO something about the events as described by Kaitlyn's father doesn't exactly add up. It's possible the scenario he laid out (Kaitlyn jumping out a window, no shoes, dressed in pajamas, no phone, at 5:30AM, and running into the woods) is accurate, but it still seems unlikely anyone would do that unless they were in some type of imminent danger. MOO.

If Kaitlyn wasn't directly involved in this 'argument' between her father and his GF, why would she feel it necessary to exit the house as described by her father?

Unfortunately we may never know what really took place since her father's version of the story is the only one we have.

Was there any history of DV within this family before this incident?
 
Please remind me: Was the girlfriend ever seen alive after Kaitlynn went missing? Maybe seeing her demise is why Kaitlyn ran away (IMOO)
AFAIK, the only references we have per MSM indicate Crystal was present in the home at the time Kaitlyn supposedly went missing, and then later died in the house fire a couple of months later. I'm not aware of any other MSM references to her.
 
Was autopsy performed on Crystal?
Was the spot where Kaitlynn got out of the woods somewhat easily predictable?
Any relationships between that shady cop and her father?
 
Was autopsy performed on Crystal?
Was the spot where Kaitlynn got out of the woods somewhat easily predictable?
Any relationships between that shady cop and her father?
It's been a while since I reviewed this case, but I don't recall seeing an autopsy report on Crystal. I would be logical to assume one was done however. It was reported in MSM that she was unable to get out of the basement during the house fire, but I do not recall the exact wording of the statement.

MOO, but I've wondered why she couldn't get out of the basement and exit the home. Obviously there are a number of possible scenarios for this, but without additional statements from LE or MSM we do not have the necessary information to know for certain.

However, IMO it is interesting to note that besides her father the only known witness to the events surrounding Kaitlyn's disappearance died in that house fire a few months later. Whether the fire was an unfortunate coincidence or somehow related to Kaitlyn's disappearance is unclear at this time.
 
I wonder if there was life insurance on Kaitlynn?
Or the girlfriend.
I've not heard anything about life insurance for either Crystal or Kaitlyn, but that doesn't necessarily mean there was no insurance. Interesting point to consider.

At some point I'm hoping someone in the local media performs a 'deep dive' on Kaitlyn's disappearance. There are many rumors and opinions on SM regarding what took place within the family before and at the time of her disappearance, but without specific, verifiable facts we don't know for certain what actually happened. The only surviving witness to these events is Kaitlyn's father, and IMO it's unclear whether his version of events is entirely accurate.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
141
Guests online
874
Total visitors
1,015

Forum statistics

Threads
589,930
Messages
17,927,814
Members
228,004
Latest member
CarpSleuth
Back
Top