It is difficult to understand the reasoning of some Leavenworth County officials who refuse to initiate a formal inquisition into the disappearance of Randy Leach, a Linwood high school senior who was last seen on April 16, 1988.

There has been no trace of Leach or the family car he was driving the evening he disappeared. Leach attended a party that evening and was last seen about 2 a.m. the next morning. Since then, there have been a variety of reports surrounding Leach’s strange and puzzling disappearance. Some of these include reports of satanic practices, drugs, a body hanging in a cave, the strange burning and destruction of the home where the party Leach attended that evening was held and many other unanswered and hard-to-understand situations.

It is understandable why Leach’s parents are frustrated and angry. They cannot figure out why Leavenworth County officials will not make more of a serious, formal investigation into their son’s case. They have asked for an inquisition, which would require individuals who might have some knowledge of the Leach case to answer questions under oath.

The response of Leavenworth County officials is that there is no guarantee that an inquisition would uncover anything that couldn’t be learned by questioning people under oath in the presence of a court reporter. They say people with information about the case would be just as likely to tell the truth if questioned under oath with a court reporter as they would testifying at a full-blown inquisition.

However, and this is where it is so difficult to understand the reasoning, logic, stubbornness, carelessness or laziness of Leavenworth County officials, these law officers are reported to have said they haven’t conducted the interviews with witnesses under oath because of conflicting schedules and a heavy caseload.

This is almost an indefensible position.

The case is two years old, and there hasn’t been sufficient time or schedules could not be arranged for placing witnesses under oath and asking some questions about the strange disappearance of a popular high school senior? Something is fishy or officials have not told the complete story. And, why should officials have to have a guarantee that new and important information would be uncovered at a formal hearing? Isn’t it worth the time and effort to at least try all methods to solve the case?

The longer Leavenworth County officials appear to be dodging a more thorough investigation of the case, the more reason there is for speculation, rumors and suggestions that county officials may be involved in some kind of a coverup or at least are not coming clean with the public.

The handling of the Randy Leach case does not reflect credit on Leavenworth County law enforcement officials.