The waiting goes on for Harold and Alberta Leach.

The Linwood couple have been waiting for 15 years now to find out what happened to their teenage son, Randy Leach, since he was last seen April 15, 1988, at a party.

Despite a renewed, intensive investigation launched a few months ago by state and local law enforcement officers, there were still no answers.

Last December, Harold Leach was cautiously optimistic when he learned the Leavenworth County Sheriff’s Office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation had established a joint team of investigators to work full time on Randy’s case. At the end of February, the team was disbanded.

“Oh, yeah, it’s frustrating,” Harold Leach said about the lingering mystery. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

‘Most baffling’

Investigators think Randy Leach, then 17, was murdered, but they admit they don’t have any evidence to support it. They don’t know why, how, or what happened to his body. The car he was driving at the time, a 1985 Dodge 500, also disappeared and has never been found.

“In my 25 years of experience, this is the most baffling case I’ve seen,” said Bill Delaney, agent in charge of the KBI’s Overland Park office.

The team of up to eight agents and officers spent a three-month period interviewing about 250 people and following up the same amount of leads. The case had been under review for a year and the manpower became available to assign investigators to it full time, Sheriff’s Sgt. John Shermbeck said.

“It had been a long time since this had taken place,” Shermbeck said of the Leach incident. “I told the team we’re going to do this and maybe somewhere along the way we’ll solve it.”

Harold and Alberta Leach, pictured near a photo of their missing son, are frustrated about the lack of leads in his disappearance. Randy Leach was last seen 15 years ago.

Added Undersheriff Dave Zoellner, “You can’t just walk off the face of the earth.”

Strange things

On April 15, 1988, Randy Leach was last seen alive attending a party at a rural residence only five miles from his home. As many as 150 people may have been at the party. In the months and years since Randy vanished, investigators dealt with rumors of drugs and satanic cults somehow being involved with his disappearance.

Harold Leach thinks his son may have been drugged and killed. He doesn’t discount the possibility that he was a victim of satanists.

“There were so many strange things that happened,” he said.

Investigators found some indication of a possible drug connection behind Randy’s disappearance, Delaney said. But he downplayed satanism.

“We didn’t hear much about that,” Delaney said. “I think those were just rumors that were left over from earlier.”

National help

Local and state investigators also have had some help from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in Alexandria, Va. The organization provides services nationwide for families and professionals in preventing abduction of children. It employs about 175 retired detectives who work with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors.

A few years ago when investigators were thinking Randy Leach might still be alive, NCMEC came up with a computer-generated image of what Leach might look like as he aged. Twice NCMEC investigators have paid personal visits to Harold Leach.

Jerry Nance, NCMEC case manager who has worked on the Leach case, said the organization was still passing on any information it obtains to the KBI. He called the case difficult but still solvable.

“It happened in a small, rural, tight-knit community,” Nance said. “Some people who might know something might be afraid to say anything.”

Reward offered

Investigators continue to check leads, Delaney and Zoellner said.

A governor’s reward of $5,000 is still offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for Randy Leach’s disappearance. Anyone with information can call the KBI at 1-800-KS Crime. Callers can choose to remain anonymous. Calls also can be taken at NCMEC’s hotline, 1-800-THE LOST.