Leah Toby Roberts

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Whatcom County Sheriffs Office (WA)

Missing From:

Bellingham, Washington

Summary:

Leah Toby Roberts, a 23-year-old young woman from Durham, North Carolina, left home in her white 1993 Jeep Cherokee on March 9, 2000. She disappeared after leaving a restaurant in Bellingham, Washington, where she had arrived following a four-day drive across the country on March 13, 2000. Five days later, on March 18, her Jeep was found wrecked and abandoned at the bottom of an embankment off a road in North Cascades National Park.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Leah Toby Roberts left her home in North Carolina on March 9, 2000, and was never seen again. According to Kara Roberts in a 2011 episode of "Disappeared," she called Leah on the morning of Thursday, March 9, 2000. On the phone, her little sister seemed to be in good spirits and gave no indication that they wouldn't speak again. That same afternoon, she withdrew $3,000 cash, loaded her most valuable possessions into her car, and likely left town around 6 pm. She did not share her plans with her loved ones, but did leave a note for her roommate. She stated in the letter that she was not suicidal and mentioned her fascination with Kerouac's writings. Authorities discovered a fuel purchase receipt dated during the early morning hours of March 13 from Brooks, Oregon inside Roberts's vehicle. A ticket stub for a March 13 showing of the film American Beauty at the theater in Bellis Fair Mall in Bellingham, Washington was also recovered. Security camera footage from the Brooks gas station just before 1 a.m. showed Leah alone, with no signs of distress or any indication that she was being followed. However, she did look out the door at the parking lot before handing something (possibly her debit card) to the cashier. Both men indicated that they had met Roberts in the restaurant on March 13, where they had sat on each side of her at the restaurant's counter. The men recalled talking with Roberts about Kerouac and her planned road trip. One said she was open and kind, while the other said they chatted about Jack Kerouac and her reasons for being in Washington. He told investigators that Leah left with a man known only as "Barry," and provided a description. This, however, went against the account of the first individual, who said the missing woman had left the restaurant alone. On March 18, Kara received a note in her mail from the Durham Police Department, saying that she needed to contact the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office in Washington State. They informed her that Leah's smashed car had been found off the side of the road, about 30 miles away from Bellingham. A man and his wife were running in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, when they saw scattered clothing. As they followed the trail, they came across the vehicle.

Additional Details:

An investigation of the site showed Leah's Jeep Cherokee had been traveling between 30-40 MPH when it went off the road, meaning whoever was within it at the time would – or should – have been severely injured. However, no signs were found to show that anyone was injured, nor were there any footprints leaving the scene. Investigators found no blood or other signs of injury to an occupant inside the vehicle, such as shatter on the glass or stretching of the seatbelt. Investigators concluded that no one had been inside the Jeep when it crashed, suggesting that the accident may have been staged. Blankets and pillows were hung inside the windows of the Jeep, suggesting that it may have been used as a shelter after being wrecked. Inside and around the vehicle, authorities recovered most of Roberts' personal belongings, including clothing, her passport, driver's license, credit card, checkbook, guitar, compact discs, cat food, an empty cat carrier for her kitten Bea, and approximately $2,400 in cash tucked into a pair of pants. A new detective team was assigned to the case when the original detective retired, and, in reviewing the evidence at hand, discovered that the car had not been fully processed. They also realized that during the original investigation, the car's hood had never been opened. Upon examining the Jeep's engine in 2007, they quickly discovered signs of tampering. The starter relay's cover had been removed, which would enable a person outside the vehicle to push on the relay and accelerate the car without a driver so long as the key was in the ignition. Upon examination, they found fingerprints under the hood, and they found that the cover on the starter relay in the engine had been removed. This explained how someone was able to operate the vehicle without driving it. Barry, a former mechanic and army veteran, became a person of interest in the case. The authorities collaborated with the Canadian government to obtain Barry's fingerprints, which did not match the ones found at the scene. According to a 2011 episode of "Disappeared," a search and rescue team, including trained dogs, was brought in immediately. Aerial surveys using helicopters were also performed. Two weeks were spent combing a large radius of dense forest around the crash site, and, per a 2001 episode of "Unsolved Mysteries," crews also searched up and down Canyon Creek Road, but no sign of Roberts or anyone else leaving the car was found. As part of their evidence overhaul, the Whatcom County detectives sent several articles of Leah Roberts' clothing to the FBI for DNA testing in 2007. In 2005, volunteers from a North Carolina missing-persons awareness group organized a cross-country caravan to draw attention to her case and others, an event that has since become an annual tradition. The case remains under investigation. As of November 2025, the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office continues to classify Roberts as missing and endangered, maintaining an active investigation with no resolution.

Case Last Updated:

Aug 03, 2026