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1984 Leggett,Kim S. October 9,1984; Mercedes 21 YO
Topic Started: May 25 2009, 12:02 AM (1,701 Views)
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Investigators Say Cold Case Closer to Being Solved
Reported by: Stephanie Stone
Email: Stephanie@krgv.com
Last Update: 11/26/2008 4:20 pm

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MERCEDES - Kim Sue Leggett disappeared from a cotton gin 24 years ago. Just recently, authorities have labeled her disappearance as an open murder investigation instead of just a missing persons case.

There have been many theories in to what happened. One centers around her stepfather, Lefty Gardner. Some believe the pilot and member of the Confederate Airforce was asked to move contraband into Mexico, and her abduction was retaliation for his refusal.

Investigators also centered on her husband, Mark Leggett, during the investigation. We're told it's because a spouse is always a suspect.

He never fully cooperated with authorities, telling us he thought police were just looking for an easy arrest.

"Hidalgo County was completely willing to lock me in jail to say they've solved something," says Leggett.

Leggett remains frustrated to this day, telling NEWSCHANNEL 5 that investigators have not kept him informed about the case.

Other people claim Mark Leggett knows too much about his wife's disappearance.

On the day she vanished, the couple's babysitter says Mark had told her husband about her disappearance before anyone else. And instead of going to the cotton gin where she vanished from, Mark had taken her husband into town to pick up his friend Marc Hinojosa.

There's still no solid evidence in the disappearance of Kim Sue Leggett.

As for Mark Leggett, he's divorced Kim in the years that followed her disappearance and is about to marry for the third time.

Authorities believe they're closer than ever to solving the case. Friends and family of Kim Sue Leggett say they're hoping that day will come soon.

http://www.krgv.com/content/news/investiga...DaK-kO-GaQ.cspx
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http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/l/leggett_kim.html
Kim Sue Leggett


Above: Leggett, circa 1984


Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: October 9, 1984 from Mercedes, Texas
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: December 27, 1962
Age: 21 years old
Height and Weight: 5'6, 110 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Leggett has a scar on her chin.


Details of Disappearance

Leggett was last seen standing outside Ross Cotton Gin, her place of employment in Mercedes, Texas, between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m. on October 9, 1984. The establishment is owned by her father-in-law. Leggett was talking to two males when she was last seen.
At 4:45 p.m. that same day, Leggett's parents received two phone calls saying she had been kidnapped. Her father then drove to the Ross Cotton Gin and found Leggett's car parked there with her purse and keys inside, but she herself was missing. She has never been heard from again. Foul play is suspected in Leggett's case.



Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Mercedes Police Department
956-565-3102
OR
Texas Department of Public Safety
800-346-3243



Source Information
California Attorney General's Office
Texas Department of Public Safety



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http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/in...opic=8423&st=0&
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http://www.newschannel5.tv/2008/4/25...ibly-Connected

NEWSCHANNEL 5 received dozens of phone calls and emails after our investigation into the disappearance of Kim Sue Leggett. She vanished 24 years ago. Her case is now considered an open murder investigation. We learned one of her relatives disappeared about three weeks after Leggett vanished. That investigation also became a cold case.
Leggett's family says the two were very close.
Now NEWSCHANNEL 5 is investigating the connection between the missing relative and Leggett's murder.
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article from 2008
The Texas Rangers now say a woman who vanished 24 years ago was murdered.

New evidence has surfaced in the case of Kim Sue Leggett, 24 years after she vanished from her father-in-law's cotton gin in Mercedes.

Local, state, and federal authorities were called in to search for her, even psychics tried to solve Kim's disappearance.

Her family says not knowing what happened is what what causes the most pain.

http://www.newschannel5.tv/2008/4/24/990285/
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DNA Tests Could Help Solve 24-Year-Old Cold Case
Reported by: Stephanie Stone
Email: Stephanie@krgv.com
Last Update: 11/26/2008 4:11 pm

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MERCEDES - The Texas Rangers now say a woman who vanished 24 years ago was murdered.

New evidence has surfaced in the case of Kim Sue Leggett, 24 years after she vanished from her father-in-law's cotton gin in Mercedes.

Local, state, and federal authorities were called in to search for her, even psychics tried to solve Kim's disappearance.

Her family says not knowing what happened is what what causes the most pain.

"Because there is no closure, it brings more hurt than anything, by bringing it up in a family setting," says her brother Daron Skurich.

Some people tried to bring the closure Kim's family needs, people like Jaime Vazquez, a former investigator for the Mercedes Police Department.

"I used to keep Kim in a box. Everything that had to do with her sat in my office, in my home. I worked on it in my own time," he says.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 asked Mercedes Police about that box. They told us the evidence, photographs, and recordings were all turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The FBI recently asked for Kim's family members to submit samples for DNA analysis.

In 1984, when Kim first went missing, DNA testing was not available. But today it could make the difference in finding her killer.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 asked why it's taken more than 20 years for a break in the case.

We were told there were errors in the way the case was handled. The Texas Rangers weren't even called until 20 days after she disappeared.

The Texas Rangers say at first the case seemed like an aggravated kidnapping, but it is now considered an open murder investigation.

The FBI at first asked us to stop our investigation into Kim's disappearance. That's because they say they're closer than they've ever been to making an arrest.

When it happens, you can count on NEWSCHANNEL 5 to bring you the details.

http://www.krgv.com/content/news/investiga...rVr2hWvb7w.cspx
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http://www.krgv.com/mostpopular/story/Spec...NPOaNhUj6g.cspx

Special Report: "Holding On to Hope"
Reported by: Jordan Williams
Last Update: 2/25 11:00 am

MERCEDES - The mother of Kim Sue Leggett is reaching out and begging for your help. Kim was kidnapped more than 25 years ago from her in-laws' cotton gin.

The FBI has just released two suspect sketches to CHANNEL 5 NEWS. Keep in mind, they were done back in 1985, just months after the kidnapping. Until now, they've never been released. The FBI gave them to us this week. The FBI spokesperson tells us the sketches are still the best lead they have. They show the two men witnesses saw standing outside the gin on Oct. 8, 1984.

Sharon Gardner hopes the sketches may crack this cold case back open. She doesn't know what to think. She says, "You know you try to put closure to it, but it's never closed."

She's been waiting, hurting and hoping for years. "As a mother, you know you never lose hope."

The Texas Rangers and the FBI initially said Kim was kidnapped. Now, they consider her a murder victim. "Whoever was a part of it, and I think there had to be more than one has probably died and gone to hell. I hope so. You know those type of people don't live very long," Gardner concluded.

Leggett wanted to be an X-ray technician. The college student was only 21, a newlywed, with a new baby.

Gardner says, "I don't think there's a day that goes by that something doesn't pop into my head. I wonder what Kim would think of this. I wonder what she'd be doing at this point."

Sharon still replays what happened on Oct. 9, 1984 and their last phone conversation. Kim called to ask her mom if she could babysit. "I told her that I had a CAF thing that we were supposed to go to, so she said she'd call her regular babysitter."

They talked around 10 or 11 in the morning. Hours later, the phone rang again. "I'll never forget that, and I answered the phone. It was a young man. he had no accent. I asked him, 'Can you tell me who is calling?' And he hung up. Just within seconds, the phone rang again, and I said, 'Lefty, you answer it because it's probably the person who just hung up.' He did, and that's when they told him they were kidnapping his daughter, and they wanted money."

He joked with the caller. "And he said, 'We're really not paying very much for girls these days.' And that was the end of it."

Sharon called the gin. There was no answer. Her husband grabbed a neighbor. They rushed over, "And of course, she wasn't there. The car was. Her purse was in it. The keys were in it. Her books were in it, but no sign of her."

She says there's no way Kim just left. "She was a fighter, and if she'd had any idea what was about to happen, she would have fought, kicked, everything."

The Gardners worked with Mercedes police in the early days of the investigation. She wishes they had called in the federal and state officers sooner. "At that time, they couldn't even trace the call."

The case went cold. Decades later, investigators are still at a dead end. Sharon says, through the years, the strange calls and cards kept coming. "I'd answer the phone, and I'd hear a baby crying in the background saying, 'I want my mommy. I want my mommy,' and it just tears your heart out." They also received postcards from strange countries.

Eventually, she decided to pack up and leave the Valley. "It was about five or six years after we lost Kim, and I just couldn't handle it anymore because I was always looking in the ditches and driving the canals just looking."

Sharon says her faith helped her. "Probably about 10 years of searching, searching, searching, just wracking my brain, I was reading the Bible one day, and something came to mind. It was like you've got to quit worrying. You've got to give it to the Lord and let him take care of it, and you don't worry about it anymore."

She tells us they had a memorial service for Kim several years ago near Austin. They placed her name on a marker in a church courtyard and planted a magnolia tree nearby. "I don't know if it's frustrating or just heart breaking. There's just nothing that will ever mend my heart. It's just broken. No matter how much faith I have and how I pray about it, it's still broken."

"We'll find her one way or another, and I pray a lot about that, but I know that the Lord has done what he is capable of doing, and I'm just not supposed to know right now."

She keeps praying she'll find peace. "Help us put the pieces together and get to the bottom of this, so we can have some closure."

The family is offering a $50,000 reward for information on where Kim's remains are. They're also willing to pay $50,000 for information that leads to an arrest.

If you remember what happened to Kim 26 years ago or recognize the men shown in these newly released suspect sketches, call Hidalgo County Crimestoppers at (956) 668-8477.

One woman says she knows exactly what happened to Kim Leggett the day she vanished.

"She didn't go to Mexico, she didn't go to another country. She was here in the Valley all along," says the woman.

The woman asked to keep her identity hidden.

She says she knew the kidnappers from a gym in Harlingen.

"They knew her, and they knew that her family had money," she continues, "They picked her up, and they took her to a secluded area where there was a house, and they made a phone call to the parents."

The woman says Kim's mom and dad hung up on the kidnappers.

"They were going to hold her until they could get the money, but they didn't end up holding her there too long because they killed her," says the woman.

Jordan asks, "They got scared?"

"Yes, they got scared that they would find out who it was, that their families would know they were missing," she answers.

The woman says the two men cut Kim Leggett up and put her in a canal so she wouldn't float, then years later someone came back and removed her bones.

CHANNEL 5 NEWS put the woman in contact with Daron Skurich, Kim's brother.

"Well, I mean it's kind of stunning to listen to, and if it's real, I just hope that law enforcement could prove it," he says.

Daron and his family are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to Kim's discovery and an arrest in her murder.

Law enforcement officers who have handled the case tell CHANNEL 5 NEWS the woman's story doesn't completely add up.

They say they've interviewed her and the suspects she claims committed the murder.

Kim Leggett's brother and her mother have both been critical of law enforcement from the beginning.

They think local police took too long to call in the Texas Rangers and the FBI.

"I immediately called the Mercedes police, and of course they never had anything like this. They weren't trained," says Sharon Gardner.

"It's very aggravating because I think if the case had been handled properly from the beginning it quite possibly could have been solved by now," says Daron Skurich.

This is the first time Sharon Gardner spoke about her grief. It wasn't until her son Daron reached out to her to speak with CHANNEL 5 NEWS that she contacted us.

She says even with her faith, her heart is still broken.

"Just keep praying and know that she's with the Lord. My daddy always taught me, the Lord won't give you a tree, a heavy burden, that you can't bear. He won't ever do it to you. You can bear anything as long as you're with the Lord," she says.

CHANNEL 5 NEWS has spoken with the Texas Rangers off camera about the investigation, but so far they haven't been willing to talk on camera about it.

CHANNEL 5 NEWS did speak with the FBI last year; they say they are working on leads and following up on tips.

You can count on CHANNEL 5 NEWS to continue to follow this case.

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