In the spring of 1985, a 14-year-old girl named Jody Ledkins vanished from Kansas City, Missouri, leaving behind a mystery that has endured for decades. On May 23rd, the day she disappeared, Jody, a female with blonde or brown hair and blue eyes, had an argument with her boyfriend and his friends. She had wanted to go somewhere with them, but they refused. Afterward, Jody went to a friend's house nearby and called her mother to ask for a ride home.
Her mother didn't have her car at the time, so Jody said she would find another way back. She was last seen walking north on Winchester from 14th Street. When she left, she didn't take any extra clothing or money with her.
The initial stages of the investigation into Jody's disappearance were complicated by a significant delay. At the time she went missing, Jody was enrolled in a juvenile probation program. Her mother contacted Jody's caseworker after she disappeared, and the caseworker filed two warrants listing her as an endangered juvenile who should be detained if found. However, a formal missing person report was not filed with law enforcement until 1987, two years after she was last seen. This delay meant that valuable time was lost, and clues that might have been fresh were much harder to find by the time a full investigation began. Over the years, police have pursued various leads, including dragging the Missouri River in 1997 based on a tip from two prison inmates, though this search yielded no results. Police have stated that they suspect foul play was involved in her disappearance.
Jody's physical description at the time she went missing included a height of five feet one inch and a weight of 90 pounds. She wore eyeglasses and had several distinguishing marks: a small mole under her chin, a large birthmark under one of her arms, and an appendectomy scar. The case eventually was reclassified as a probable homicide. Despite the passage of time, the case remains unsolved, a lingering source of pain for her family. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has released age-progressed photos to show what Jody might look like as she grew older, in the hope that someone might recognize her. The investigation into what happened to Jody Ledkins is a cold case, but authorities continue to ask for the public's help, holding onto hope that new information will one day bring answers and a sense of closure.Last Seen: May 23, 1985
