The Skeleton Key Chronicles

9 hours ago

Today marks 43 years since 18-year-old Tammy Lynn Leppert disappeared from Cocoa Beach, Florida. What should have been an ordinary summer day became the beginning of a mystery that still hasn't been solved. Just a few months earlier, Tammy's life seemed to be falling perfectly into place. She was a successful model, beauty queen and aspiring actress who had appeared in commercials and landed small roles in Spring Break and Scarface. If you've seen Scarface, you've probably seen Tammy without even realizing it. She appears just before the famous chainsaw scene, distracting Manny outside the hotel. Her career was really taking off. But over that short period of time, something changed. According to her family, everything began in the summer of 1982 while Tammy was working on Spring Break. After attending a party, she came home deeply shaken and told her mother she had seen something she wasn't supposed to see. She became increasingly fearful and believed someone might come after her if she ever talked about it. Her mother later came to believe Tammy's disappearance may have been connected to something she may have witnessed involving some type of criminal activity, although that theory has never been confirmed.

Then, in March 1983, while filming Scarface, Tammy reportedly became so distressed during one scene that she left the production. Her mother was so concerned she took Tammy for a complete medical evaluation. According to reports, doctors found no evidence of substance or alcohol use before releasing her. Then came July 6th, 1983.

Tammy was riding around Cocoa Beach with a male friend named Keith Roberts when the two got into some sort of disagreement. He later told investigators he dropped her off in a bank parking lot along A1A and that Tammy walked away. He has always maintained that he dropped Tammy off and drove away. Over the years, however, Tammy's mother questioned whether his account had ever been fully investigated. Former detective Jim Scraggs later echoed those concerns, saying he didn't believe Roberts had been thoroughly questioned during the original investigation. Whatever happened, that's the last time anyone saw Tammy.

Looking back, we now know there were serial predators operating across Florida around the time Tammy disappeared. At the time, though, many of those cases hadn't been connected yet, and some of the people responsible were still unknown. Over the years, names like Christopher Wilder and Brevard County predator John Crutchley have surfaced in discussions about Tammy's disappearance. Even so, investigators have never publicly connected her case to either of them.

Forty-three years later, Tammy Lynn Leppert has never been found. Investigators still consider her a missing person, and NCMEC even created an age-progressed image last year showing what she might look like at 60. I'll post that in the comments. Somewhere, there's a final piece to Tammy's story. Forty-three years later, her family is still waiting for it.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

1 day ago

On July 6th, 2004, Molly Dattilo was spending the summer in Indianapolis while taking classes at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis and finishing her degree at Eastern Kentucky University. A straight-A student on a track scholarship, Molly was looking for a job, taking private voice lessons and getting ready for an August American Idol audition. She had a busy summer ahead of her.

On that particular day, Molly attended two classes, ran errands and spent somw time with friends. Around 7:30 that evening, she told her brother she was walking over to a nearby Wendy's to fill out a job application. Later that night, around 11 p.m., she made a call from a pay phone at a Thornton's gas station on Crawfordsville Road, but that call disconnected just as her friend answered. Molly was never heard from again.

When Molly didn't come home, her cell phone, identification, ATM card and clothes were still at the apartment she shared with her brother. Her singing and rehearsal equipment was all still in her car and she never contacted her voice coach or made it to the American Idol audition she had been preparing for. She also missed several family events she had been looking forward to, including her nephew's birthday.

In 2008, investigators said they believed Molly's disappearance involved foul play. A man by the name of John Shelton reportedly spent time with Molly that day and was said to have been with her when she made that last phone call. Shelton’s brother was a maintenance worker at Dattilo’s apartment complex. No one has ever been charged in connection with Molly's disappearance, although Molly's family later prevailed in a civil lawsuit related to the case.

More than 20 years later, investigators are still trying to figure out what happened after that last phone call, and Molly's family is still waiting for answers. If you have any information about Molly's disappearance, please contact the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department or the Indiana State Police.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

1 day ago

When 15-year-old Joniah Walker disappeared from her Milwaukee neighborhood in 2022, her family had no way of knowing the search would last four years. This week, authorities confirmed the update everyone had been hoping for: Joniah has been found safe. The last sighting of Joniah happened on June 23rd, 2022, after she was captured on a neighbor's Ring camera leaving home. The teen’s father was expected to pick her up to take her to get a work permit at 2:30 that day, but by then, she had already vanished.

From the beginning, her mother believed someone may have lured her away online and later spoke publicly about what she felt were missed opportunities during the early stages of the search and subsequent investigation.

As wonderful as this outcome is, it's hard not to wonder what happened during those missing years. For now, investigators aren't saying. Police have released very few details about where Joniah was found or what led to her recovery, and no arrests or charges have been announced.

While she waited for answers, Joniah's mother, Tanesha, turned her grief into action. Since her daughter's disappearance, she has worked to raise awareness for missing and murdered Black women and girls and recently helped support bipartisan legislation creating a task force dedicated to serving those communities in Wisconsin. Whatever the next chapter of Joniah's story may be, there's no question Tanesha's determination has already made a difference for other families facing the same uncertainty.

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