(Tammy Lynn Leppert. Picture credit: spacecoastdaily)
When it comes to mysterious disappearances, the Tammy Lynn Leppert story is one that many people are familiar with. I have been asked many times to cover the case but because of the huge volume of articles and videos which are dedicated to her story, I decided to leave it....until now. I happened to stumble across Tammy again when I had recently written about the serial killer, Christopher Bernard Wilder
Tammy was thought to have been a possible victim of Wilder and even her own mother took a lawsuit out against his estate which was dismissed due to lack of evidence. Wilder would target young beautiful women, he would pose as a photographer and offer them bogus modelling contacts. I go into more detail about his crimes here. Due to Tammy's background as a beauty queen it was assumed that Wilder may have approached her and abducted her. To this day, people still believe that he was responsible.
I'm going to be looking into the Tammy Lynn Leppert case in this post but before I begin, if you would like to follow me elsewhere on social media to ensure that you never miss a post, you can find all of my links here
So who is the beautiful Tammy Lynn Leppert? Well, she was born on the 5th of February 1965 in Rockledge, Florida and it was like she was born to be a star. She was a beautiful child that grew into a beautiful young woman and she won hundreds of beauty contests. Her mother Linda just happened to be a theatrical and model agent so it was like it was destined to be. Tammy wanted to be more than just a model and had her heart set on becoming an actress so she took classes and went to auditions with her mother always there to give her advice and guide her along the way.
In 1982 it seemed that the road to Hollywood was not that far away when she landed a role in the movie Spring Break which was later released in 1983. Her role was a small one and she didn't feature in the credits but she was still excited and saw this as a huge step on the ladder to her acting career. Tammy had a fantastic figure and it is rumoured that her body was the one that was used on the official movie poster.
Landing the role in Spring Break was an exciting moment for Tammy and Linda was equally excited. It seemed the start of something big. Tammy loved filming the scenes and when the cast and crew decided to have a party the weekend they wrapped up shooting, Tammy was thrilled to be joining everyone in having some drinks and fun.
The exciting moment soon turned sour for Tammy. When she returned home, her mother Linda and best friend Wing noticed that Tammy was acting strange, constantly on edge. Linda decided to approach her and see what was really going on. What Tammy told Linda, shocked her, ''They're going to kill me. I saw something I wasn't supposed to see and now they're after me''
Linda didn't know what to make of this and Wing didn't either. Tammy started getting worse with her paranoia, she wouldn't eat food off of her own plate, it had to be someone else's because she was convinced someone was trying to poison her. She was the same with drinks, she wouldn't touch them if the bottle had been opened.
If a door or window accidentally shut she would jump out of her skin. She went from being her bubbly blonde self to being quiet, secretive and withdrawn. Linda and Wing wondered how long this was going to go on for but it looked like things were going to take a better turn when Tammy was offered a role in the legendary classic movie, Scarface, Being in a movie alongside the likes of Al Pacino must have been so exciting for her.
She did seem a lot brighter in herself and went along to shoot the scenes, everything seemed to be going great until the fourth day when a violent scene was filmed. For some reason this freaked Tammy out and she had to leave the set.
Things just seemed to get worse with Tammy's paranoia, she was edge the majority of the time. She would say that her life was in danger because she saw something that weekend of the Spring Break party but she wouldn't state who or what she saw or who was after her.
At one point she had one of her meltdowns where she picked up a baseball bat and started smashing things up in her house. She was taken into psychiatric care for a short period of time but was quickly released as she was deemed to be of sound body and mind.
Being a lover of the beach, Tammy and a friend she had known for a couple of years, Keith Roberts, decided to go and do some sunbathing, maybe catch some waves on the 6th of July 1983. Linda was never a big fan of Keith and couldn't quite put her finger on what is was about him that creeped her out (mother's intuition?) but Tammy had also mentioned a few times how she was a bit weary of him.
Tammy was wearing a blue denim shirt with a floral design along with a matching skirt, purse and sandals. She was spotted by witnesses on the beach but it was here that she mysteriously vanished. Keith Roberts had told authorities that he and Tammy had both argued during the car journey so he dropped her off at a parking lot.
It seems strange to me that Tammy (who was in fear for her life) would be happy to just have been left in a parking lot all by herself. I can imagine she would have been wanting to be around people as much as possible in case this person or persons who wanted to kill her showed up.
Tammy never returned home from the beach. Keith Roberts claimed to know nothing about what really happened to her but during my research about him I did come across a few stories which I don't know are 100% fact but I will share them here just as something to take into consideration. Keith Roberts would go on to have a violent relationship with a partner some time later and reportedly said ''be careful or you'll end up like Tammy''
As I just mentioned, I don't know if this is the case but I've included it here as I will with the other theories.
So where is Tammy?
Well, sadly Linda passed away and never got to know the truth of what really happened to her daughter and Keith Roberts was never named as a suspect so the case remains a mystery with many theories.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, the connection to Christopher Bernard Wilder has been ruled out by police who have investigated that potential lead.
There was a theory that Tammy simply ran away as she was in fear for her life and was reportedly three months pregnant.
In another theory it is believed that she started a new life as a nurse (Tammy reportedly told a friend previously that she was going to go away somewhere for a while) and an unidentified woman made a couple of phonecalls to the police claiming that she knew of Tammy's whereabouts and that Tammy was safe, alive and well and working as a nurse. The woman said that Tammy would make contact when the time was right but after the two phonecalls there was no other contact.
Some people believe the theory that Keith Roberts did indeed drop her off at the parking lot but she fell victim to a human trafficking ring.
Some people believe she was 3 months pregnant and simply ran away to have the baby in secret.
Others believe that Keith Roberts made a pass at Tammy and she had turned him down so he took revenge. Whatever the theory it is safe to say that this is a case which still has people talking and wanting to get to the bottom of.
(Tammy Lynn's mother, Linda. Picture credit: historybyday)
It's heartbreaking in cases such as these where years and decades go by and not a trace of evidence or clues to someone's disappearance can be found. For the theory about Tammy running away or becoming a nurse, it just doesn't make sense to me. Tammy was at a high point in her career, who knows what would have happened after the Scarface movie. She was only 18 years old and the future looked really bright for her, she dreamed of Hollywood all her life and she was finally getting a foot in the door, why leave and throw it all away?
Tammy did file a report to the police about her fear of someone trying to kill her but was very vague with the details.
The case remains a mystery. Will we ever know what really happened on that day on the 6th of July 1983? Somebody out there knows something and is that someone Keith Roberts?
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