On December 3, 1958, in Louisville, Kentucky, a 17-year-old African American male named L.Q. Roberson was killed while performing duties for his employer. He worked in the laundry department at the Central Overall Company and had been entrusted with the task of transporting company funds to the bank. Roberson disappeared while carrying approximately $600 in cash and $2,000 in checks. His death was part of a robbery, and for some time, the circumstances remained clouded by a lack of direct evidence linking a specific individual to the crime, though suspicion immediately fell upon those who knew his routine.
Investigators eventually focused their attention on a co-worker named Frank Leaver, a truck driver for the same company. Despite being a prime suspect early in the investigation, police initially lacked the physical evidence or witness testimony necessary to build a solid case against him. The case against Leaver remained stagnant for nearly two years until a domestic incident provided the breakthrough authorities needed. In 1960, Leaver's wife, Rose, attempted suicide and, upon recovering, disclosed incriminating information to the police. She revealed that her husband had confessed to the murder, admitting that he killed the teenager, stole the money, and subsequently disposed of the murder weapon and bloody clothing along Dixie Highway.
Following Rose Leaver's statement, Frank Leaver was arrested and charged with Roberson's murder. During the legal proceedings, Rose and her children testified that Frank had spoken about the crime on multiple occasions. The trial resulted in a conviction, and Leaver was sentenced to life in prison. However, the legal resolution was short-lived. In July 1961, Leaver was granted a new trial, and by April 1962, the charges were dropped entirely due to a lack of available witnesses, leaving the death of Roberson legally unresolved at that time.
Frank Leaver walked free but remained a figure of suspicion in the community. His freedom ended permanently several years later when he was arrested and convicted for the unrelated 1962 murder of a woman named Anita Barmore. Leaver was found guilty in that case in 1966 and sentenced to life plus a day, eventually dying in prison in 1981. While justice was served for his later crimes, the murder of L.Q. Roberson remained one of several cases in Leaver's history that concluded without a final standing conviction, despite the earlier confession and initial jury verdict.
