Investigators interview 50 in long-ago disappearance

Linwood 17-year-old reported missing after '88 party

More than 50 people have been interviewed by a team of investigators who earlier this month launched a renewed effort to determine what happened to a Linwood teenager who disappeared nearly 15 years ago.

Randy Leach, 17, remains missing, but Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents and Leavenworth County Sheriff’s officers are continuing the effort they renewed three weeks ago.

“We’ve made some headway, but we still have things to do,” said Bill Delaney, agent in charge of the KBI’s Kansas City-area office.

Delaney wouldn’t say if investigators were any closer to solving Leach’s disappearance. The KBI and Sheriff’s Office, however, have conceded that Leach might have been murdered.

Leach was last seen the night of April 15, 1988, at a rural residence only five miles from his Linwood home. As many as 150 people may have attended the party, witnesses said at the time.

But no one has seen Leach or the gray 1985 Dodge 600 car he was driving since.

Most of the people investigators have interviewed were found in the Leavenworth County area, though others have been contacted in Missouri within an hour’s drive of Kansas City, Delaney said.

“We still have people we want to talk to,” he said.

In recent days the KBI has had two agents working with several sheriff’s officers on the case. They have been operating out of the sheriff’s annex office in Tonganoxie.

“We’ve been flexible because of the holidays,” Delaney said. “Monday we will regroup and decide where we need to go and how we are going to continue.”

If anyone has any information that would help investigators, they are encouraged to call the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME. The governor has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest or conviction in the case.