Leah Rowlands

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Dawson County Sheriffs Office (NE)

Offense Location:

Cozad, Nebraska

Summary:

Leah Rowlands, a 41-year-old mother of two teenagers, was murdered during a robbery while working at a local Amoco gas station just off Interstate 80 in the small town of Cozad, Nebraska on March 10, 1997. Despite clear surveillance footage of the murder and years of investigation, her killer has never been identified.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

It was just before 10:30 a.m. March 10, 1997, when a man pulled his red Pontiac Grand Am into the Amoco station in Cozad, just off Interstate 80. Leah Rowlands, 41, from Cozad, was working that morning. It was the last time anyone saw her alive. The barefoot man walked into the store and wandered around a bit. Investigators said he was waiting for a mother and daughter to buy their items and leave. The man, wearing dark sweatpants and a black or dark gray hooded sweatshirt with a bomber-style leather jacket, got a bottle of pop from the cooler, opened it and took a drink. The man approached the counter and spoke to Rowlands. She opened the cash register and handed him the money then, lay on the floor behind the counter. The man pulled a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol from his right pocket, leaned over the counter and fired at least three shots. Two pierced Rowlands' arm. The third entered the left side of her skull, killing her instantly.

Additional Details:

The television show "America's Most Wanted" aired the security videotape twice – once in 1997 and again in 2002 after a video enhancement – and hundreds of leads poured in, but so far no suspect has been arrested. Six local and federal law enforcement agencies have worked on this case. Most coming to the same conclusion: the video is too pixelated to get a clear enough image. Rowlands was the mother of two sons and had moved to Cozad to be close to her boyfriend. She was promoted to manager the day before she died. She moved to the small town of Cozad, Nebraska where her boyfriend lived. She had been married previously, from which she had two sons, but had fled from what she described as a very abusive relationship. Roy Rowland, Leah's brother, theorized that the killer came with rolled-up sweatpants like "clam diggers," which are worn in warm climates like the Virgin Islands, suggesting he may have been from Saint Thomas. Leah wrote a 16-page handwritten letter to her two sons less than a year before her death explaining why she left her husband. Leah and Barry Rocap Senior used to own a restaurant together in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Rocap Sr. died earlier this year.

Case Last Updated:

May 06, 2026