Missing
Tammy Lynn Leppert
Leppert, approximately 1983; Age when reported missing: 48 (approximately 2013); Christopher Wilder; John Crutchley
Date and time person was reported missing : 07/06/1983
Missing location (approx) :
Rockledge, Florida
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 02/05/1965 (56)
Age at the time of disappearance: 18 years old
Height / Weight : 5'4 - 5'5, 105 - 115 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : A blue denim skirt, a light blue shirt with flower appliques on the shoulders, and flip-flops. Carrying a gray purse.
Medical conditions : Leppert may have been three months pregnant at the time of her disappearance, but this has not been confirmed. She was apparently suffering from emotional problems at the time of her disappearance.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Blonde hair, hazel eyes. Leppert may spell her first name "Tammi." She occasionally uses Tammi and/or Tami-Lyn as stAge at the time of disappearance: names.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Leppert left her family's home in Rockledge, Florida at 11:00 a.m. on July 6, 1983 with a 20-year-old male friend. She said she was going to the beach and would be "be back in a little while." She never returned home.
Her friend later told authorities that he and Leppert had an argument while driving and that he left her standing in a parking lot outside the Glass Bank near an Exxon gasoline station in the vicinity of State Road A1A between 2nd Street North and 3rd Street North in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
Many reports erroneously state that Leppert was barefoot at the time of her disappearance. Her mother said she noticed she had not combed her hair before leaving the house that day, which is very uncharacteristic of her; she usually spent considerable time on her appearance before going anywhere. At the time of her disappearance, Leppert was planning to go to California to act in some movies. She apparently never arrived there, however.
Investigators looked into the possibility that Leppert was attacked by Christopher Wilder, a man linked to at least a dozen disappearances, rapes, murders and/or attacks of women in the early to mid-1980s.
Photos of Wilder are posted with this case summary. He frequented the Florida region at the time of Leppert's disappearance. He sometimes attempted to lure young female victims by offering non-existent "modeling sessions" or other tactics, which would have fit well into a scenario involving Leppert. She was a relatively known model who had won several titles and was an occasional actress, landing bit parts in the films Scarface and Spring Break, and she wanted to be an internationally famous star.
Wilder, whose history of violence towards women went back to his adolescent years, was put on probation in 1980 after pleading guilty to attempted Gender : ual battery towards a teenAge at the time of disappearance: girl. While on a visit home to Australia that same year, he was charged with kidnapping and Gender : ually assaulting two teenAge at the time of disappearance: girls. His parents bailed him out of jail and he flew back to the United States, promising to return for his trial which was set for April 1984.
Wilder is a also a suspect in the Florida disappearances of Mary Opitz, Rosario Gonzales, and Elizabeth Kenyon. He was killed during a shootout with authorities in 1984.
Leppert's family filed a one-million-dollar lawsuit against Wilder before his death, but dropped the suit afterwards. Leppert's mother, modeling Age at the time of disappearance: nt Linda Curtis, later stated that she never believed Wilder was involved in Leppert's disappearance. Police have never been able to link Wilder and Leppert and it may be coincidence that she disappeared at the same time he was targeting area models. He had a long history of Gender : crimes but did not begin his killing spree until a year after Leppert vanished.
John Brennan Crutchley, the so-called Vampire Rapist, is also considered a possible suspect in Leppert's case, and in the 1985 disappearance of Patti Lou Volansky from Mims, Florida. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1986 for kidnapping and raping a woman in Orlando, Florida. He drained half her blood and drank it.
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