Harold Leach’s story hasn’t changed much since he first started telling it two years ago this Monday.

The facts are the same: Leach’s son, Randy, is still missing. Randy and the family car he was driving disappeared from a rural Linwood party early the morning of April 16, 1988.

Randy Leach was 17, a senior at Linwood High School. No traces of him or the family car, a 1985 gray Dodge 600, have been seen since. Police and sheriff’s deputies from several agencies, private detectives and even psychics have turned up nothing in the past two years.

About the only thing that has changed since Randy Leach vanished is Harold Leach’s attitude. He says he and his wife, Alberta, are frustrated over the pace of the investigation of his son’s disappearance.

Specifically, he is disturbed that an inquisition he thought was to be held on the matter by Leavenworth County officials never took place.

AN INQUISITION would have involved interviewing several people under oath about what occurred the night Randy Leach was last seen.

“It was my understanding that they thought it would be a good idea to have in inquisition,” Harold Leach said Wednesday, seated at the kitchen table in his home west of Linwood. “They assured me in December 1988 that after the holidays they would get started on it after the first of the year. They said it would take no longer than four to six weeks to begin the inquisition.

“I talked to them off and on for a while and they kept telling me they were working on it,” he said.

More than a year later, Harold Leach is still waiting.

Leavenworth County officials say the inquisition was never held because one was never really needed.

FRANK KOHL, Leavenworth County attorney, whose office would have conducted the hearing, said the inquisition would not have been held unless people being questioned refused to talk to authorities. So far, everybody authorities have questioned about the case have agreed to talk, Kohl said.

Kohl also said that questioning people under oath and in the presence of a court reporter would produce the same results as would an inquisition. However, sworn statements have not been taken in the presence of a court reporter because of conflicting schedules among the prosecutor’s office, the court reporter and those to be questioned.

But Harold Leach disagrees. He says that there are enough discrepancies in the stories told by people who saw his son at the party and inconsistencies in stories each time they are told by the same person, that an inquisition is a logical way to get to the truth.

“I would like to see them placed under oath,” he said. “We don’t know if they are hiding anything. If you are under oath, you might think twice about what you say.”

DET. PAT SPARKS of the Leavenworth County Sheriff’s Department said Friday that the investigation into Randy’s disappearance is continuing, although the department has limited manpower to put on the case.

“Any time we get information on it, we follow up on it,” Sparks said, stressing that the case has not been suspended or placed on a back burner. “But we also have a lot of other cases that we can’t ignore.”

Sparks added that although he would like to see a break in the case just as much as the Leaches, he is bound by investigative rules.

“I have talked to some people four or five times,” Sparks said. “And I have to take what they tell me. I can’t beat stuff out of them. The big problem I’ve had is not being able to substantiate rumors, which is what a lot of the interviews have consisted of. People who say they know something about the case know it third- or fourth-hand.”

KOHL ECHOES Sparks’ frustrations, but adds that an inquisition does not guarantee that people will be more truthful when placed under oath.

“The only thing an inquisition does is gives you the power to issue subpoenas to people who have knowledge about the case but refuse to discuss it,” Kohl said. “There is nothing magical about putting people under oath. It will not suddenly make a liar a truthful person. I have enough experience in criminal law to know that.”

And Sparks and Kohl remain realistic about the case, they said they are able to sympathize with the Leach family.

“I think there is an extreme amount of frustration on the part of the Leach family,” Kohl said. “They are searching for a means to answer a lot of unanswered questions and so would I.”

Sparks said, “It’s frustrating for me, but not nearly as much as it is for the family. I would like to solve it. It would make no difference to me who solved it, just as long as it is solved.”

SPARKS, KOHL and Harold Leach all say they’ve heard plenty of theories about what happened to Randy Leach. However, none of the men is suscribing to any particular one at least not any more.

Some theories hold that Randy Leach ran away, while others maintain that he was killed and his body and car neatly disposed of. Still another theory holds that an active satanic cult in the area ritually sacrificed Randy.

Sparks said he initially thought Leach simply ran away but has changed his mind now that two years have passed since his disappearance.

“I would think that if he ran away, he would have contacted someone by now,” Sparks said, adding that he now is torn between the theory that Leach ran away and that he was killed. Sparks refused to discuss the possibility of satanism.

Kohl also said he was not locked into one theory.

“I don’t think he took off on his own volition,” Kohl said. “He may have been somewhere he shouldn’t have been and seen something he shouldn’t have seen. Somebody might have felt threatened by that and did something about it.”

BUT AS FAR as Harold and Alberta Leach are concerned, their only son was the victim of foul play and they want an inquisition held to help uncover any shred of evidence that might help them find out what happened to their son.

“I’m concerned about the investigation not being pursued in a vigorous manner,” Harold Leach said. “I would like to see an inquisition yet. There has to be somebody out there who knows something. We have to know no matter what the results. We still have hope that he is all right. We hope and pray that he is out there, but all kinds of things go through your mind.

“It’s sad. Real sad,” Harold Leach said, pausing for several minutes to gather himself and fight back tears. “Every day is tough, but Monday is going to be tougher.”