January 2, 2025 • 34 mins
Leigh Marine Occhi was a 13-year-old girl who vanished from her home in Tupelo, Mississippi, in August 1992 at the start of Hurricane Andrew. Blood was left behind in her home, indicating that a sinister series of events had led to Leigh’s disappearance. At the center of the suspect list are multiple individuals Leigh knew, which leaves the unsettling question: What really happened to Leigh Occhi?
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Episode Transcript
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D (00:00):
Hey guys, welcome to the Eerie Side podcast with your
hosts, D, Elena, and Sophia.
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Today, I'm going to do a storyon Leigh Marine Occhi, who was
born on August 21st, 1979 inHonolulu, Hawaii.
Her father was Donald Occhi andher mother was Vickie Felton,
(01:34):
and both were members of theUnited States Army.
The couple met while serving inCalifornia and married in 1977.
The couple eventually divorcedin 1981.
Donald Occhi remained in thearmy while Vickie Felton left
the military to work for amanufacturing company.
Donald Occhi relocated toGermany but remained in contact
(01:58):
with his daughter who visitedhim there.
Leigh Occhi resided in theUnited States with her mother in
Tupelo, Mississippi.
On the morning of August 27,1992, Leigh was 13 years old.
She awoke to the sound of hermother, Vickie Felton, getting
(02:19):
ready for work.
The dark threat of HurricaneAndrew was hovering over the
quiet town of Tupelo,Mississippi.
The blonde horse loving eighthgrader was in her final days of
summer break and scheduled toattend an open house at her new
middle school with hergrandparents, later that day.
Her mother departed for her jobat approximately between 7:40 to
(02:44):
8 AM now, at this particulartime, her father resides in
Virginia.
If you notice, the times are notvery accurate.
Because it's a big 20 minutedistance., As to when she
exactly left work, which I findsuspicious.
I looked at many differentarticles and they all said
(03:06):
between 7:40, some said 7:40,some said eight o'clock.
It is very interesting that, itdoesn't seem like there's a
consistent time that she left.
I'm wondering if the police havenot released the real time for a
reason.
I don't know.
You also notice anotherdiscrepancy with time as I go
on.
Sophia (03:25):
And her father's in Virginia now?
D (03:28):
Her father is residing in Virginia now.
Sophia (03:30):
Okay, so now he's no longer in Germany.
D (03:32):
No, but he is still part of the military.
Now, Leigh was staying homealone, unsupervised for the
first time that morning.
Hurricane Andrew had beendowngraded to a tropical storm,
but there was a strong band ofrain coming through Tupelo,
shortly into Felton's workshift.
She called home to inform herdaughter and to check on her
(03:54):
sometime before 8:30 to 9:00 AM.
Again, another discrepancy oftime.
There was no answer.
Her mother became worried.
She left work and rushed backhome.
She drove approximately 1.5miles, which is 2.4 kilometers,
back to her home, which isreally not that much of a
(04:15):
distance.
According to her mother, whenshe returned home, she found the
garage door open and the lighton.
Her mother thought that was verystrange because the light
doesn't turn on unless someonetriggers the door.
Elena (04:31):
Like someone opens the door or just motion sensors.
D (04:34):
According to her, it says, until someone triggers the door.
So one of the doors has to open.
Elena (04:39):
Okay.
D (04:40):
I don't know really what that means because if the garage door
is open, the light turns itselfoff nowadays, but we are talking
about 1990s.
But usually the garage doorlight does turn off after a
while when you open the garage.
I don't know if this reallymatters or they had an old
garage door.
I have no idea.
Elena (04:58):
Right.
Sophia (04:59):
What time did her mother arrive at the house?
D (05:02):
I'm not sure what time she arrived approximately.
But it says that she actually,called to reach her between 8:30
to 9 AM.
Sophia (05:13):
How old is Leigh at this point?
D (05:14):
13.
And her mother only works 1.5miles away.
So it doesn't take long for herto get there.
Sophia (05:19):
And where was Leigh working or supposed to be
working today?
D (05:22):
Leigh was not supposed to be working.
It was part of school day, butI'm not sure if they canceled
school because of the hurricane.
But they were supposed to go tothe open house of the school.
Sophia (05:32):
Okay.
But her mother was the one wholeft sometime between 7:40 and
8:00.
D (05:35):
Correct.
Sophia (05:36):
Okay.
D (05:36):
Inside the house, Felton called out for Leigh.
A quick search produced no signof the girl, but then Felton
spotted smears of blood on thehallway walls.
Panicking, she approachedLeigh's room.
She found small pools of bloodon the floor outside her door
and even more in the doorframe.
A bloodied nightgown was tossedin the clothes hamper.
(06:01):
Leigh's favorite blanket wascrumbled up on the floor.
As she continued through thehouse more desperately this
time, she found more blood nearthe back door.
She was getting scared.
She checked outside, didn't seeLeigh, then called 911 at
approximately 8:30 to 9:00 AM.
(06:22):
So police rushed to the sceneand found no signs of forced
entry.
Inside the home, police foundmore traces of blood in the
bathroom.
Tupelo Police Captain BartAguirre told CNN the following,
"It was pretty obvious to usthat someone tried to clean up
the scene or the countertop, butwe couldn't find the rag or
(06:45):
towel that had been used.
We couldn't find it anywhere."Furthermore, they found
additional pools of blood inOcchi's upstairs bedroom, as
well as significant portionssmeared on the hallway on her
bedroom door.
Furthermore, inside the laundryhamper in the house, detectives
did discover the bloodynightgown belonging to Leigh.
(07:07):
Chief Aguirre stated because itlooked like the blood had
dripped down onto her nightgown,you would think the injury had
to be above the neck possibly.
Tests later revealed that allthe blood in the home was type
O.
Which is Leigh's blood type.
The house showed no signs, againof forced entry.
(07:28):
Her mother claimed that severalof her daughter's articles of
clothing were missing, whichwere shoes, a pair of shorts, a
new pair of underwear shereceived for her birthday, her
glasses, and a sleeping bag.
If not for all the blood, itwould have seemed that Leigh
Occhi had simply run away.
Neighbors hadn't seen or heardanything.
(07:50):
Immediately following Leigh'sdisappearance, organized
searches were conducted aroundTupelo, mainly through wooded
areas.
A team of bloodhounds searchedthe neighborhood running through
nearby fields and ditches, butthey picked up no trace of young
Leigh.
It was hard to tell if the heavyrains were washing away any
(08:13):
scent of the girl, or if therewas simply none to be found in
the area.
Searches in and around Tupeloproved fruitless.
Donald Occhi, which is Leigh'sfather, received a phone call
from Vickie on August 28th.
And she said to him that Leighis missing.
He said to her,"What the hell doyou mean?
(08:35):
Did she run away?
What happened?" He also wasinterviewed by true crime
blogger, Anthony Wayne, and hesaid, I had no idea there was
blood and stuff like that.
The day after it happened, allshe said was Leigh was missing.
A couple of days later, shecalled with the details of the
(08:57):
blood and everything else."Donald Occhi soon secured leave
from the army post inAlexandria, Virginia, and joined
the search efforts.
Her father, Donald, felt thathis daughter was dead the day
his ex-wife called him and toldhim, she was missing.
His theory is that some bastardbeat that child to death in that
(09:18):
house This coward must havereally felt like a tough man or
a woman to beat a little girl todeath.
Often he cannot but think of howhorrified Leigh must have been
while this piece of garbage beather to death and watch her bleed
out in the hall.
He also stated that whilesearching for his daughter into
(09:38):
Tupelo in September of 1992, hewas told by several locals to
look at her mother.
However, he commented,"I alreadywas doing that.
I don't know if her mother wasinvolved." Additionally, rumors
circulated alleging that Leigh'sstepfather, Barney Yarborough,
(10:00):
whom her mother had recentlyseparated from, was abusive
toward Leigh.
Yarborough was ruled out by lawenforcement, after providing a
substantiated alibi and passinga polygram examination.
After Yarborough passed hispolygraph examination.
(10:21):
Felton was administrated threeseparate examinations.
One with local law enforcementand two with the FBI.
Independent examiners stated sheshowed deception on all of them.
In 2017, Aguirre stated thatVickie Felton was still
(10:41):
considered a person of interest.
She failed the tests threetimes.
You still can't eliminate her.
Elena (10:48):
It was lie detector, right?
D (10:49):
Right.
Elena (10:50):
That's crazy to fail it three times.
D (10:53):
Correct.
And two times with the FBI.
Sophia (10:55):
Lie detectors are considered junk science at this
point.
They're not really reliable.
So I don't know if people putmuch stock in it.
Elena (11:03):
It's possible that if you're nervous, that can have an
effect on there.
But I will say it's moreaccurate if you're just like a
normal person going in versus apsychopath who can manipulate
and control their heart rate andtheir breathing and all that
stuff.
I do know that they're not likesuper credible, but it is
interesting that all three timeslike she consistently failed.
Sophia (11:25):
I think at the end of the day, if it's not even
science, it could be held up.
Elena (11:29):
it all the questions?
D (11:30):
I have no idea, and don't forget, she is not being accused
or arrested of anything, okay?
So now, the chief doesn't feelyou can eliminate her.
He said,"There are still toomany unanswered questions for
Vickie.
And I don't know if that isunusual for somebody to go off
to work and say, well, I justleft Leigh, but I'm going to
call and check on her.
(11:51):
Why check on her that soon aftershe left her?" I'm not sure I
agree with him with this, but heseems that it all happened too
soon.
Sophia (12:02):
She too quickly panicked and decided to go home.
D (12:04):
Right.
Exactly.
Sophia (12:06):
I was wondering that but I mean there could be a whole
range of scenarios to why shewanted to check on her.
I did wonder how come she didn'tcall her grandparents first to
say I haven't heard from her.
Can you go check on her?
D (12:18):
I don't know where her grandparents lived.
I don't know all the details.
Sophia (12:21):
Oh wait, really?
I thought they were going to anopen house.
D (12:23):
They were but I don't know how far they lived.
Elena (12:26):
Also, there's a storm going on, so that could have
contributed to her maybe wantingto leave earlier.
D (12:30):
Right.
Realistically, that doesn'tprove much to me, because, I
don't know what she was feeling.
Now, Felton disputes that shehad any involvement in her
daughter's disappearance.
She vehemently defended herselfagainst the polygraph results.
She says that, I couldn't tellyou why, she said, They measure
(12:53):
changes in your body and whenyour daughter has gone missing
and they strap you up to things,I can't imagine anyone's body
not reacting." Now sincepolygraph tests don't generally
hold up in court, as there areno solid evidence connecting
Felton to her daughter'sdisappearance, she was never
charged.
(13:13):
Even now, 30 years after LeighOcchi vanished, police have true
suspects.
Donald Occhi still believes thatVickie knows something.
In his interview with AnthonyWayne, he explained that Felton
was a trained interrogator forthe U.
S.
(13:34):
Army.
I had my concerns," he said,"oflaw enforcement's handling of
the case.
I don't think they had dealtwith someone with Vickie's
intelligence before.
She was a trained interrogator.
She knew how to act regardingquestioning." He doesn't believe
there will have been time forsomeone to come to the house,
(13:57):
kill Leigh, hide any weapons andclean up the blood in the
bathroom in less than an hour.
His theory is that Vickie killedLeigh the night before and lied
to law enforcement about theentire timeline.
On September 4th of 1992, aworker at a McDonald's in
Booneville told law enforcementthat they had seen a girl
(14:20):
resembling Leigh in a car in arestaurant drive-thru.
However, the child in questionwas determined to have been
someone else.
Sophia (14:28):
I just want to ask, they have not found Leigh's body at
this point, right?
D (14:31):
Correct.
Sophia (14:32):
That's interesting.
And it makes it so hard to knowwhat actually happened.
D (14:38):
On September 9 of 1992, 8 days after Leigh went missing,
her eyeglasses were mailed toher home in an envelope
addressed to her ex-stepfather.
Elena (14:48):
Oh.
That's interesting.
Because those were The glassesshe left with, right?
D (14:52):
According to her mother, they were missing.
The package was postmarked fromBonneville.
After this development, the FBIbecame involved in the search
for Leigh and performed DNAtesting on the stamps adhered to
the envelope in which theglasses were mailed.
However, it was determined theyhad been adhered with water
rather than saliva.
Sophia (15:14):
That's a bummer.
D (15:15):
Aguirre stated he felt the glasses were mailed as a ruse to
distract detectives in theirsearch efforts.
was no ransom letter or anythinglike that they came with those
glasses.
It was just those glasses.
You would think if it was anextra kidnapping, you would have
expected a little bit more tocome along with that.
(15:36):
On November 9th of 1993, it wasreported in the Jackson
Clarion-Ledger that a MonroeCounty coroner had positively
confirmed via dental recordsthat a human skull found in a
soybean field was that of Leigh.
Several days later, however, theidentification was retracted.
In this retraction, it wasstated that the state medical
(15:59):
examiner would perform furtherforensic testing on the skull,
which had been uncovered by afarmer in the ditch along the
soybean field.
It was subsequently determinedthat the skull belonged to a 27
year old Pollyanna Sue Keith, awoman who had gone missing in
March of 1993.
The town rumor mill beganchurning.
(16:21):
Classmates remembered that Leighhad previously shown up to
school covered in bruises, Wow.
though she attributed them tohorseback riding.
According to Stories of theUnsolved, one of Leigh's friends
recalled she had seen her eatingberries on the school playground
and warned her they may bepoisonous.
(16:43):
Leigh responded that she didn'tcare and that maybe she wanted
to die.
Sophia (16:47):
Whoa, that's pretty heavy for a young child.
Elena (16:56):
Interesting, but also like nothing that's like
definitive.
Sophia (16:59):
It seems like it could be signs or hints potentially,
but not definitive.
Elena (17:04):
There's also no evidence that it even happened to.
So it's like, Hmm.
Sophia (17:08):
I don't know.
Maybe she was a jokester.
Like she had dark humor.
Elena (17:11):
She's 13.
She's a teenager, technically,so.
Sophia (17:13):
Have any of her friends ever said that she confided in
them about being abused bysomebody or anything of that
sort?
D (17:22):
From my research, I'm unaware of anything else.
I don't know if the police knowsomething and have not shared
it, but if there is, it must notbe enough of material to convict
someone of some crime.
Sophia (17:37):
Do we know how much blood she lost?
D (17:40):
The way I read it a lot of blood.
Sophia (17:43):
Because I almost wonder why did they take her?
Why then would she take someclothing and a sleeping bag?
Or why would somebody force herto take that?
I guess to make it look like arunaway, but at that point
losing that much blood.
How can she look like a runaway?
I was just wondering if she wasbeing kidnapped maybe.
D (18:01):
Why would she be bleeding so much?
I know if she hit her head, headbleds a lot.
It sounded like there was a lotof blood, a lot of blood.
And if she was bleeding on hernightgown, was she fighting
them?
I mean it's on the hallway.
on the door?
Elena (18:17):
Why is the nightgown in the hamper?
I will say when you said that,that was the weirdest thing for
me, because that's taking it andputting it in it back in its
place.
D (18:27):
Or, it's dirty So it has to get washed.
Elena (18:29):
Exactly, once the item's dirty, you put it in the hamper.
It's a weird.
D (18:33):
It's something a mother would do.
Elena (18:34):
That's what I'm saying, it's caring, not necessarily
caring, but it's more likeclean, and women are typically
more on the cleaner side, andmore like, cautious of those
things.
D (18:44):
I don't know.
There are some clues in thisstory, but you can't put the
puzzle together.
I would like them to do DNAtesting to be honest with you,
on her stuff to see if anyone'sDNA is on there.
Sophia (18:57):
I also think it's interesting that her dad was
like whichever man or woman didthis because I think a lot of
people would initially assume itwas a man but for him to include
woman as well makes me wonder ifhe Is suspecting.
D (19:11):
He said he's suspecting of Vickie.
Sophia (19:13):
Oh, he did?
Okay.
D (19:15):
Suspicion began to brew and even Donald Occhi started to
believe that Vickie Felton hassomething to do with his
daughter's disappearance.
Felton has openly stated thatshe believes a man named Oscar
McKinley, Mike Kearns", and it'sthe same name.
He just has one long name, wasresponsible for her daughter's
kidnapping.
(19:36):
He was a Sunday school teacherat Holy Trinity Lutheran church
that Vickie and Leigh attended.
Kearns also had horses at thesame stable that Leigh
frequented and asked the younggirl to go riding with him once
or twice.
Felton argued that since therewas no signs of forced entry,
Leigh must have opened the doorfor whoever abducted her.
(20:00):
And since she would never let astranger inside, the perpetrator
had to be someone she knew.
Vickie claims were bolstered bythe fact that just nine months
after Leigh went missing Kearnsabducted a 15 year old girl in
Memphis, Tennessee, whom he metthrough church.
(20:21):
He sexually assaulted her,before dropping her off at
school, and he pleaded guilty torape when arrested.
Kearns was sentenced to eightyears in prison, but he served
only four and was released inOctober of 1997.
Then two years later, hekidnapped a married couple and
(20:42):
raped the wife.
Elena (20:43):
Oh my God.
D (20:45):
Yes.
He served an additional 20 yearsfor his crimes.
Kearns has continually refusedto speak with the police and the
FBI about Leigh Occhi'sdisappearance.
Any secrets Oscar Kearnsharbored went with him to his
grave when he died in May of2021.
Sophia (21:06):
What's interesting though is that with all these
other situations in woman, itseems as if though he didn't
murder them.
Elena (21:12):
I was gonna say the same thing.
Sophia (21:14):
So he would have had to really go against his"M.O.".
If he was going to kill Leighand then not kill all these
other women.
Elena (21:21):
Or something happened and he wasn't planning on it.
D (21:25):
That could be.
I don't understand though if hewas innocent, why he didn't tell
the FBI he was.
Elena (21:32):
True.
unless because at this point hehadn't done anything.
D (21:35):
No, They didn't talk to him until the crimes had happened.
He did it nine months afterLeigh had disappeared.
So it's not that much longer,and probably that's when Vickie
started saying it was him.
Sophia (21:48):
Did he hurt these women, like hit them, physically
assault them, in addition toraping them?
D (21:54):
Nothing.
From what?
I have read.
Sophia (21:58):
I ask because maybe his intention wasn't to kill Leigh,
but he hits her over the head alittle too hard and then ends up
creating that gash and she diesout and maybe that wasn't even
his intention.
D (22:09):
I have no idea.
The thing is, though, you haveto remember that he killed
Leigh.
He wasn't planning on killingher, picked her up, put her in
his car, let's say, and wentback and cleaned it up, and all
within 30 minutes?
Sophia (22:27):
Hypothetically, yeah, that's a very small timeline.
D (22:31):
I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but if he went there to
rape her, and it becamesomething more serious.
That means he had to keep hiscool and not panic, and then
figure out how to resolve thissituation with Leigh.
I'm not sure.
I don't know what kind of personhe is.
(22:52):
But I mean you have to reallythink about it.
Elena (22:54):
Whoever was there clean the house.
So I doubt if it was an accidentthis guy's gonna be able to like
thoroughly not thoroughly cleanthe house but it seemed like It
wasn't like a rush job.
D (23:07):
I can't tell you for sure.
I'm just going from what thesheriff says.
I wasn't there.
But they feel that someoneappeared to want to clean the
place.
And I don't know why.
If you have an accident,especially if you only have so
much time, you don't know.
Unless he thought her mom leftand won't come home and thought
(23:27):
he could clean.
And then he heard the phone?
I don't know.
Sophia (23:31):
Because it wasn't completely clean.
No, it seems like somebodystarted and they decided not to.
D (23:36):
I don't know.
I haven't seen pictures of thecrime, of the house or anything.
Elena (23:41):
Or, somehow there's some sort of DNA maybe left, and then
the only places that personcleaned is anywhere that could
have been DNA, like if there waslike a fingerprint.
And they're like, okay, I can'tleave that there, so they
cleaned that area.
D (23:53):
Listen, I think her nightgown should have DNA on it.
Did she really take it off ordid someone remove it and told
her to dress up?
We have no idea.
But if someone tried to clean itwith rags, they must have left
something behind.
I just don't know.
And, if they do searcheverything and they find lack of
DNA, that makes the mom lookworse, in my opinion, but I'm
(24:17):
not sure.
Elena (24:18):
Oh, because you're saying that they would have at least
her DNA on it?
D (24:22):
Her DNA will be on it, right?
She lives in the house.
It's her mom.
But if they check everything,and the only DNA they're finding
is hers and Leigh's and no oneelse's.
It's a good clue that maybe hermom was involved.
Yeah.
It's a lack of DNA.
Despite numerous searches,Leigh's whereabouts remain
(24:42):
unknown.
Against the backdrop ofHurricane Andrew and the
upcoming 1992 election, Leigh'scase got crowded out of the news
cycle.
As those closest to Leigh,including her mother, Vickie
Felton, and her stepfather,Barney Yarborough, were cleared
of wrongdoing, police ran out ofto question.
Her case has received mediacoverage from Nancy Grace in
(25:04):
2020.
Leigh Occhi's case may have gonecold, but it's not closed.
She's still classified as amissing person.
At the time of herdisappearance, Leigh was slender
with bluish green eyes and brownhair.
If you have any informationregarding her whereabouts or
case, please contact the TupeloPolice or the Crime Stoppers of
(25:25):
Northeast Mississippi.
So does anyone have anyquestions or anything?
Elena (25:30):
No.
Sophia (25:31):
No questions.
It's hard to know what exactlyhappened in this scenario.
It's interesting because thishappened in the 90s, which is
like right on the cusp when DNAwas starting to become more
prevalent.
Obviously, fingerprints weresomething that police used to
stop crimes, but I don't thinkblood was used at this point to
stop crimes, was it?
D (25:50):
It was only to find out that she was type O.
That the blood was type O, whichthey know Leigh was bleeding.
Elena (25:56):
Are you talking about like blood splatter or what?
D (25:59):
You're saying if they took a sample of the blood to see if
there's anyone else's blood inthere except for hers?
Sophia (26:03):
Yes.
D (26:03):
I don't think they did that back then.
I am not sure what they havedone today or if they even have
done anything else.
The FBI did get involved backthen, but then again, DNA was
not as advanced as it is now.
Sophia (26:17):
Are they still actively working on solving this case or
is it, kind of let it run cold?
D (26:22):
I think at this point it's a little cold.
Elena (26:25):
Do you know if they have tested the nightgown for DNA or
anything other than that?
D (26:30):
There's no information out on that at all.
Elena (26:32):
So it could be yes or no, we don't know, there's just
nothing.
D (26:36):
There is nothing at the moment.
I'm not even sure if anyone'spushing for more work to be done
on this case, but don't forget alot of these police departments
don't have money for these DNAtestings.
And when they do get moneyallocated out to them from the
federal government, some of themstart with some cases.
I don't know where this policestation stands as far as getting
(26:59):
federal funding or doing anymore DNA testing.
Elena (27:02):
True.
So, basically, the mother comeshome.
There's blood everywhere.
Her daughter is missing.
No sign of a forced entry.
D (27:11):
No one sees or hears anything.
Elena (27:13):
No DNA, at least nothing that they took and we know
about.
D (27:17):
As far as we know about.
Elena (27:18):
No body ever discovered.
D (27:21):
Correct.
Elena (27:21):
And then the nightgown was put in the hamper.
There's a lot of blood and itwas like as if she bled from her
head to her nightgown
D (27:32):
That's what they are making an assumption on.
Elena (27:34):
Which would make sense with when you'd hit your head
you bleed a lot.
Maybe it wasn't as bad and maybeshe was still alive.
I don't know.
Essentially she died.
Whoever took her, took her body,took her clothes, shoes,
glasses, right?
D (27:52):
Yes.
If she wasn't dead, they madeher change because she had her
nightgown on supposedly.
They made her change into shortsand I do find that Vickie knows
that a special pair of underwearshe got for her birthday is
missing.
Elena (28:06):
How I interpreted that was she just grabbed like the
most recent underwear or justgrabbed some underwear and I
just assumed the mother was ableto notice that one gone is
because she just recently boughtit.
So maybe it's fresh in her head.
I don't know.
D (28:22):
I don't know.
Underwear is not probably thething I'd notice missing.
I would notice shorts, socks,She doesn't mention she was
wearing a shirt.
She just mentioned a shorts andshoes.
She doesn't mention socks.
She doesn't mention jacket.
It's just kind of interestingthis stuff.
And I don't know if they're justnot releasing everything.
Elena (28:42):
Yeah.
D (28:42):
I have no idea.
It's choppy a little bitactually.
Elena (28:46):
Basically her glasses get mailed to her.
D (28:49):
To her stepfather.
And that's it.
Yes.
I
Elena (28:56):
I find it interesting that it was mailed to her
stepfather.
D (29:00):
The police think it was to distract them, to put focus on
the stepfather, because theyclaim there was a rumor that he
was abusive.
Whether he is or wasn't doesn'treally matter, because he had a
very strong alibi, and he passedthe lie detector test.
He was somewhere where he hadenough of an alibi to say it
wasn't him.
Elena (29:21):
I could get why people might say, oh, the glasses went
to his house.
so let's look at him.
But to me, it would make nosense that it would be him,
because if you're the killer,you're not going to send it to
yourself.
I think that would be a littleweird.
Sophia (29:35):
Oh, I can see some people doing that.
Elena (29:37):
I can see it being like, if the mother did it and the
mother sends it to herself, butwhy the stepfather.
D (29:44):
I can see the mother doing that because she is separated
from him.
Were going to go through adivorce, make it look worse for
him.
Elena (29:51):
And that's what I'm saying.
I can also see someone justsending it to someone else as a
way of putting attention on themand just shifting the focus away
from other people towards thestepfather.
Sophia (30:03):
Where did she get these glasses?
Is she just hiding themsomewhere in the house?
Hypothetically, if we're goingto say that she's the one who
sent these glasses.
Elena (30:10):
The mom?
Sophia (30:11):
Yes.
Or is she returning to whereverher, hypothetically, her
daughter's body is?
Elena (30:18):
She could have sent it out that day, I don't know.
D (30:21):
She could have if she left early and threw them in the post
office in Bonneville, I don'tknow.
Elena (30:25):
Was there like a date that day?
D (30:27):
I didn't see anything on date just where it came from.
Sophia (30:30):
Easier to do stuff like this and get away with it back
then.
Yeah.
Not the same amount oftechnology and monitoring we
have now.
D (30:37):
The other thing is, If it was this Oscar guy, why would he
care to mail back the glassesand to her stepfather?
Elena (30:48):
That's what I'm saying.
It just doesn't make sense.
The stepfather is just so weird.
D (30:54):
Unless he knew a story about Leigh when they went horseback
riding she had said something tohim.
Maybe she didn't like herstepfather.
If there was something like thatmaybe.
If he did know anything, whywouldn't he just send it to the
parents of Leigh?
Elena (31:11):
To me that seems like someone who wants to put
suspicion on someone else, butin reality like I feel like It
does the opposite.
It takes the suspicion away fromthe stepdad.
D (31:23):
It did take the suspicion away from the stepdad after he
was proven that it wasn't him.
Elena (31:30):
Right.
D (31:31):
Okay, they actually checked it out.
Elena (31:33):
So, he was completely cleared before he got the
glasses, right?
D (31:38):
No, I don't think it happened that way because it takes a
while to go through.
Elena (31:43):
Oh, that's right.
The glasses were pretty earlyon.
D (31:44):
The glasses came eight days after Leigh went missing.
Elena (31:47):
That's pretty quick.
D (31:48):
It could have been her mom.
Yeah eight days.
That's more than enough time forher to drive around drop them
off and come back.
Elena (31:56):
A person would send it to the stepfather because the
stepdad, he's an easy scapegoat.
But I just don't feel like ifthe stepdad did it, I don't
think he would send it tohimself.
I think that would be stupid andrisky.
Which is why I think because hegot it, it means someone sent it
to him.
But not necessarily just giventhe context of the case.
D (32:18):
If it wasn't Oscar, I wish he would have at least told the
police it wasn't him.
Elena (32:23):
Yeah.
D (32:24):
Then proved it.
But the mother doesn't seem,free of guilt at this point.
I don't know if she is guilty ornot.
But you cannot cross her off asa suspect.
Elena (32:36):
But what would be her motive?
D (32:38):
She just got angry at Leigh and hit her too hard.
That's what I'm thinking.
It's an accident I'm notthinking it was on purpose.
Sophia (32:44):
Mm hmm.
That's sad.
D (32:45):
I don't know what kind of person her mother was.
But it could have been anaccident and she panicked.
Elena (32:50):
Did her ex-husband ever describe, her, who she was as a
mother?
D (32:54):
I have no idea.
There is nothing.
I would hope the FBI and thepolice have this information.
Yeah.
They have not revealed anything.
Elena (33:04):
Okay.
Sophia (33:05):
This is the first time I'm hearing of this case.
Elena (33:07):
Yeah, same here.
This is really interesting.
D (33:09):
I was going through it.
I'm like, okay, they can solvethis, right?
I don't know.
It just seems like it's a littlebit more difficult than I
thought at first when I startedreading about it.
Sophia (33:17):
Oh, I'm looking her up.
She's really pretty.
She almost looks like a youngDrew Barrymore in some ways.
D (33:22):
She is pretty.
Elena (33:24):
Maybe with probably DNA, if technology continues to
advance and maybe there'ssomething in the archives and
the evidence that they couldtest or genealogy or something.
D (33:36):
I hope they've saved everything and maybe if they get
funding, they can give it to theFBI to do some more testing.
And see if they have more DNA orsomething on her clothing.
I don't know.
I want to thank you forlistening to us this week.
We love our listeners, andbecause of you, we do this
podcast.
Your help and engagement reallyhelps the podcast grow.
(33:58):
If you enjoyed this episode,please text a friend or family
member to listen to our podcast.
Until next time, make sure youstay on the Eerie side.
Bye!
Elena (34:07):
Bye! Bye guys! Thank you! Be safe!
Hey guys, welcome to the Eerie Side podcast with your
hosts, D, Elena, and Sophia.
We appreciate you guys, and Ihope you're ready to get on the
Eerie Side.
(00:45):
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Today, I'm going to do a storyon Leigh Marine Occhi, who was
born on August 21st, 1979 inHonolulu, Hawaii.
Her father was Donald Occhi andher mother was Vickie Felton,
(01:34):
and both were members of theUnited States Army.
The couple met while serving inCalifornia and married in 1977.
The couple eventually divorcedin 1981.
Donald Occhi remained in thearmy while Vickie Felton left
the military to work for amanufacturing company.
Donald Occhi relocated toGermany but remained in contact
(01:58):
with his daughter who visitedhim there.
Leigh Occhi resided in theUnited States with her mother in
Tupelo, Mississippi.
On the morning of August 27,1992, Leigh was 13 years old.
She awoke to the sound of hermother, Vickie Felton, getting
(02:19):
ready for work.
The dark threat of HurricaneAndrew was hovering over the
quiet town of Tupelo,Mississippi.
The blonde horse loving eighthgrader was in her final days of
summer break and scheduled toattend an open house at her new
middle school with hergrandparents, later that day.
Her mother departed for her jobat approximately between 7:40 to
(02:44):
8 AM now, at this particulartime, her father resides in
Virginia.
If you notice, the times are notvery accurate.
Because it's a big 20 minutedistance., As to when she
exactly left work, which I findsuspicious.
I looked at many differentarticles and they all said
(03:06):
between 7:40, some said 7:40,some said eight o'clock.
It is very interesting that, itdoesn't seem like there's a
consistent time that she left.
I'm wondering if the police havenot released the real time for a
reason.
I don't know.
You also notice anotherdiscrepancy with time as I go
on.
Sophia (03:25):
And her father's in Virginia now?
D (03:28):
Her father is residing in Virginia now.
Sophia (03:30):
Okay, so now he's no longer in Germany.
D (03:32):
No, but he is still part of the military.
Now, Leigh was staying homealone, unsupervised for the
first time that morning.
Hurricane Andrew had beendowngraded to a tropical storm,
but there was a strong band ofrain coming through Tupelo,
shortly into Felton's workshift.
She called home to inform herdaughter and to check on her
(03:54):
sometime before 8:30 to 9:00 AM.
Again, another discrepancy oftime.
There was no answer.
Her mother became worried.
She left work and rushed backhome.
She drove approximately 1.5miles, which is 2.4 kilometers,
back to her home, which isreally not that much of a
(04:15):
distance.
According to her mother, whenshe returned home, she found the
garage door open and the lighton.
Her mother thought that was verystrange because the light
doesn't turn on unless someonetriggers the door.
Elena (04:31):
Like someone opens the door or just motion sensors.
D (04:34):
According to her, it says, until someone triggers the door.
So one of the doors has to open.
Elena (04:39):
Okay.
D (04:40):
I don't know really what that means because if the garage door
is open, the light turns itselfoff nowadays, but we are talking
about 1990s.
But usually the garage doorlight does turn off after a
while when you open the garage.
I don't know if this reallymatters or they had an old
garage door.
I have no idea.
Elena (04:58):
Right.
Sophia (04:59):
What time did her mother arrive at the house?
D (05:02):
I'm not sure what time she arrived approximately.
But it says that she actually,called to reach her between 8:30
to 9 AM.
Sophia (05:13):
How old is Leigh at this point?
D (05:14):
13.
And her mother only works 1.5miles away.
So it doesn't take long for herto get there.
Sophia (05:19):
And where was Leigh working or supposed to be
working today?
D (05:22):
Leigh was not supposed to be working.
It was part of school day, butI'm not sure if they canceled
school because of the hurricane.
But they were supposed to go tothe open house of the school.
Sophia (05:32):
Okay.
But her mother was the one wholeft sometime between 7:40 and
8:00.
D (05:35):
Correct.
Sophia (05:36):
Okay.
D (05:36):
Inside the house, Felton called out for Leigh.
A quick search produced no signof the girl, but then Felton
spotted smears of blood on thehallway walls.
Panicking, she approachedLeigh's room.
She found small pools of bloodon the floor outside her door
and even more in the doorframe.
A bloodied nightgown was tossedin the clothes hamper.
(06:01):
Leigh's favorite blanket wascrumbled up on the floor.
As she continued through thehouse more desperately this
time, she found more blood nearthe back door.
She was getting scared.
She checked outside, didn't seeLeigh, then called 911 at
approximately 8:30 to 9:00 AM.
(06:22):
So police rushed to the sceneand found no signs of forced
entry.
Inside the home, police foundmore traces of blood in the
bathroom.
Tupelo Police Captain BartAguirre told CNN the following,
"It was pretty obvious to usthat someone tried to clean up
the scene or the countertop, butwe couldn't find the rag or
(06:45):
towel that had been used.
We couldn't find it anywhere."Furthermore, they found
additional pools of blood inOcchi's upstairs bedroom, as
well as significant portionssmeared on the hallway on her
bedroom door.
Furthermore, inside the laundryhamper in the house, detectives
did discover the bloodynightgown belonging to Leigh.
(07:07):
Chief Aguirre stated because itlooked like the blood had
dripped down onto her nightgown,you would think the injury had
to be above the neck possibly.
Tests later revealed that allthe blood in the home was type
O.
Which is Leigh's blood type.
The house showed no signs, againof forced entry.
(07:28):
Her mother claimed that severalof her daughter's articles of
clothing were missing, whichwere shoes, a pair of shorts, a
new pair of underwear shereceived for her birthday, her
glasses, and a sleeping bag.
If not for all the blood, itwould have seemed that Leigh
Occhi had simply run away.
Neighbors hadn't seen or heardanything.
(07:50):
Immediately following Leigh'sdisappearance, organized
searches were conducted aroundTupelo, mainly through wooded
areas.
A team of bloodhounds searchedthe neighborhood running through
nearby fields and ditches, butthey picked up no trace of young
Leigh.
It was hard to tell if the heavyrains were washing away any
(08:13):
scent of the girl, or if therewas simply none to be found in
the area.
Searches in and around Tupeloproved fruitless.
Donald Occhi, which is Leigh'sfather, received a phone call
from Vickie on August 28th.
And she said to him that Leighis missing.
He said to her,"What the hell doyou mean?
(08:35):
Did she run away?
What happened?" He also wasinterviewed by true crime
blogger, Anthony Wayne, and hesaid, I had no idea there was
blood and stuff like that.
The day after it happened, allshe said was Leigh was missing.
A couple of days later, shecalled with the details of the
(08:57):
blood and everything else."Donald Occhi soon secured leave
from the army post inAlexandria, Virginia, and joined
the search efforts.
Her father, Donald, felt thathis daughter was dead the day
his ex-wife called him and toldhim, she was missing.
His theory is that some bastardbeat that child to death in that
(09:18):
house This coward must havereally felt like a tough man or
a woman to beat a little girl todeath.
Often he cannot but think of howhorrified Leigh must have been
while this piece of garbage beather to death and watch her bleed
out in the hall.
He also stated that whilesearching for his daughter into
(09:38):
Tupelo in September of 1992, hewas told by several locals to
look at her mother.
However, he commented,"I alreadywas doing that.
I don't know if her mother wasinvolved." Additionally, rumors
circulated alleging that Leigh'sstepfather, Barney Yarborough,
(10:00):
whom her mother had recentlyseparated from, was abusive
toward Leigh.
Yarborough was ruled out by lawenforcement, after providing a
substantiated alibi and passinga polygram examination.
After Yarborough passed hispolygraph examination.
(10:21):
Felton was administrated threeseparate examinations.
One with local law enforcementand two with the FBI.
Independent examiners stated sheshowed deception on all of them.
In 2017, Aguirre stated thatVickie Felton was still
(10:41):
considered a person of interest.
She failed the tests threetimes.
You still can't eliminate her.
Elena (10:48):
It was lie detector, right?
D (10:49):
Right.
Elena (10:50):
That's crazy to fail it three times.
D (10:53):
Correct.
And two times with the FBI.
Sophia (10:55):
Lie detectors are considered junk science at this
point.
They're not really reliable.
So I don't know if people putmuch stock in it.
Elena (11:03):
It's possible that if you're nervous, that can have an
effect on there.
But I will say it's moreaccurate if you're just like a
normal person going in versus apsychopath who can manipulate
and control their heart rate andtheir breathing and all that
stuff.
I do know that they're not likesuper credible, but it is
interesting that all three timeslike she consistently failed.
Sophia (11:25):
I think at the end of the day, if it's not even
science, it could be held up.
Elena (11:29):
it all the questions?
D (11:30):
I have no idea, and don't forget, she is not being accused
or arrested of anything, okay?
So now, the chief doesn't feelyou can eliminate her.
He said,"There are still toomany unanswered questions for
Vickie.
And I don't know if that isunusual for somebody to go off
to work and say, well, I justleft Leigh, but I'm going to
call and check on her.
(11:51):
Why check on her that soon aftershe left her?" I'm not sure I
agree with him with this, but heseems that it all happened too
soon.
Sophia (12:02):
She too quickly panicked and decided to go home.
D (12:04):
Right.
Exactly.
Sophia (12:06):
I was wondering that but I mean there could be a whole
range of scenarios to why shewanted to check on her.
I did wonder how come she didn'tcall her grandparents first to
say I haven't heard from her.
Can you go check on her?
D (12:18):
I don't know where her grandparents lived.
I don't know all the details.
Sophia (12:21):
Oh wait, really?
I thought they were going to anopen house.
D (12:23):
They were but I don't know how far they lived.
Elena (12:26):
Also, there's a storm going on, so that could have
contributed to her maybe wantingto leave earlier.
D (12:30):
Right.
Realistically, that doesn'tprove much to me, because, I
don't know what she was feeling.
Now, Felton disputes that shehad any involvement in her
daughter's disappearance.
She vehemently defended herselfagainst the polygraph results.
She says that, I couldn't tellyou why, she said, They measure
(12:53):
changes in your body and whenyour daughter has gone missing
and they strap you up to things,I can't imagine anyone's body
not reacting." Now sincepolygraph tests don't generally
hold up in court, as there areno solid evidence connecting
Felton to her daughter'sdisappearance, she was never
charged.
(13:13):
Even now, 30 years after LeighOcchi vanished, police have true
suspects.
Donald Occhi still believes thatVickie knows something.
In his interview with AnthonyWayne, he explained that Felton
was a trained interrogator forthe U.
S.
(13:34):
Army.
I had my concerns," he said,"oflaw enforcement's handling of
the case.
I don't think they had dealtwith someone with Vickie's
intelligence before.
She was a trained interrogator.
She knew how to act regardingquestioning." He doesn't believe
there will have been time forsomeone to come to the house,
(13:57):
kill Leigh, hide any weapons andclean up the blood in the
bathroom in less than an hour.
His theory is that Vickie killedLeigh the night before and lied
to law enforcement about theentire timeline.
On September 4th of 1992, aworker at a McDonald's in
Booneville told law enforcementthat they had seen a girl
(14:20):
resembling Leigh in a car in arestaurant drive-thru.
However, the child in questionwas determined to have been
someone else.
Sophia (14:28):
I just want to ask, they have not found Leigh's body at
this point, right?
D (14:31):
Correct.
Sophia (14:32):
That's interesting.
And it makes it so hard to knowwhat actually happened.
D (14:38):
On September 9 of 1992, 8 days after Leigh went missing,
her eyeglasses were mailed toher home in an envelope
addressed to her ex-stepfather.
Elena (14:48):
Oh.
That's interesting.
Because those were The glassesshe left with, right?
D (14:52):
According to her mother, they were missing.
The package was postmarked fromBonneville.
After this development, the FBIbecame involved in the search
for Leigh and performed DNAtesting on the stamps adhered to
the envelope in which theglasses were mailed.
However, it was determined theyhad been adhered with water
rather than saliva.
Sophia (15:14):
That's a bummer.
D (15:15):
Aguirre stated he felt the glasses were mailed as a ruse to
distract detectives in theirsearch efforts.
was no ransom letter or anythinglike that they came with those
glasses.
It was just those glasses.
You would think if it was anextra kidnapping, you would have
expected a little bit more tocome along with that.
(15:36):
On November 9th of 1993, it wasreported in the Jackson
Clarion-Ledger that a MonroeCounty coroner had positively
confirmed via dental recordsthat a human skull found in a
soybean field was that of Leigh.
Several days later, however, theidentification was retracted.
In this retraction, it wasstated that the state medical
(15:59):
examiner would perform furtherforensic testing on the skull,
which had been uncovered by afarmer in the ditch along the
soybean field.
It was subsequently determinedthat the skull belonged to a 27
year old Pollyanna Sue Keith, awoman who had gone missing in
March of 1993.
The town rumor mill beganchurning.
(16:21):
Classmates remembered that Leighhad previously shown up to
school covered in bruises, Wow.
though she attributed them tohorseback riding.
According to Stories of theUnsolved, one of Leigh's friends
recalled she had seen her eatingberries on the school playground
and warned her they may bepoisonous.
(16:43):
Leigh responded that she didn'tcare and that maybe she wanted
to die.
Sophia (16:47):
Whoa, that's pretty heavy for a young child.
Elena (16:56):
Interesting, but also like nothing that's like
definitive.
Sophia (16:59):
It seems like it could be signs or hints potentially,
but not definitive.
Elena (17:04):
There's also no evidence that it even happened to.
So it's like, Hmm.
Sophia (17:08):
I don't know.
Maybe she was a jokester.
Like she had dark humor.
Elena (17:11):
She's 13.
She's a teenager, technically,so.
Sophia (17:13):
Have any of her friends ever said that she confided in
them about being abused bysomebody or anything of that
sort?
D (17:22):
From my research, I'm unaware of anything else.
I don't know if the police knowsomething and have not shared
it, but if there is, it must notbe enough of material to convict
someone of some crime.
Sophia (17:37):
Do we know how much blood she lost?
D (17:40):
The way I read it a lot of blood.
Sophia (17:43):
Because I almost wonder why did they take her?
Why then would she take someclothing and a sleeping bag?
Or why would somebody force herto take that?
I guess to make it look like arunaway, but at that point
losing that much blood.
How can she look like a runaway?
I was just wondering if she wasbeing kidnapped maybe.
D (18:01):
Why would she be bleeding so much?
I know if she hit her head, headbleds a lot.
It sounded like there was a lotof blood, a lot of blood.
And if she was bleeding on hernightgown, was she fighting
them?
I mean it's on the hallway.
on the door?
Elena (18:17):
Why is the nightgown in the hamper?
I will say when you said that,that was the weirdest thing for
me, because that's taking it andputting it in it back in its
place.
D (18:27):
Or, it's dirty So it has to get washed.
Elena (18:29):
Exactly, once the item's dirty, you put it in the hamper.
It's a weird.
D (18:33):
It's something a mother would do.
Elena (18:34):
That's what I'm saying, it's caring, not necessarily
caring, but it's more likeclean, and women are typically
more on the cleaner side, andmore like, cautious of those
things.
D (18:44):
I don't know.
There are some clues in thisstory, but you can't put the
puzzle together.
I would like them to do DNAtesting to be honest with you,
on her stuff to see if anyone'sDNA is on there.
Sophia (18:57):
I also think it's interesting that her dad was
like whichever man or woman didthis because I think a lot of
people would initially assume itwas a man but for him to include
woman as well makes me wonder ifhe Is suspecting.
D (19:11):
He said he's suspecting of Vickie.
Sophia (19:13):
Oh, he did?
Okay.
D (19:15):
Suspicion began to brew and even Donald Occhi started to
believe that Vickie Felton hassomething to do with his
daughter's disappearance.
Felton has openly stated thatshe believes a man named Oscar
McKinley, Mike Kearns", and it'sthe same name.
He just has one long name, wasresponsible for her daughter's
kidnapping.
(19:36):
He was a Sunday school teacherat Holy Trinity Lutheran church
that Vickie and Leigh attended.
Kearns also had horses at thesame stable that Leigh
frequented and asked the younggirl to go riding with him once
or twice.
Felton argued that since therewas no signs of forced entry,
Leigh must have opened the doorfor whoever abducted her.
(20:00):
And since she would never let astranger inside, the perpetrator
had to be someone she knew.
Vickie claims were bolstered bythe fact that just nine months
after Leigh went missing Kearnsabducted a 15 year old girl in
Memphis, Tennessee, whom he metthrough church.
(20:21):
He sexually assaulted her,before dropping her off at
school, and he pleaded guilty torape when arrested.
Kearns was sentenced to eightyears in prison, but he served
only four and was released inOctober of 1997.
Then two years later, hekidnapped a married couple and
(20:42):
raped the wife.
Elena (20:43):
Oh my God.
D (20:45):
Yes.
He served an additional 20 yearsfor his crimes.
Kearns has continually refusedto speak with the police and the
FBI about Leigh Occhi'sdisappearance.
Any secrets Oscar Kearnsharbored went with him to his
grave when he died in May of2021.
Sophia (21:06):
What's interesting though is that with all these
other situations in woman, itseems as if though he didn't
murder them.
Elena (21:12):
I was gonna say the same thing.
Sophia (21:14):
So he would have had to really go against his"M.O.".
If he was going to kill Leighand then not kill all these
other women.
Elena (21:21):
Or something happened and he wasn't planning on it.
D (21:25):
That could be.
I don't understand though if hewas innocent, why he didn't tell
the FBI he was.
Elena (21:32):
True.
unless because at this point hehadn't done anything.
D (21:35):
No, They didn't talk to him until the crimes had happened.
He did it nine months afterLeigh had disappeared.
So it's not that much longer,and probably that's when Vickie
started saying it was him.
Sophia (21:48):
Did he hurt these women, like hit them, physically
assault them, in addition toraping them?
D (21:54):
Nothing.
From what?
I have read.
Sophia (21:58):
I ask because maybe his intention wasn't to kill Leigh,
but he hits her over the head alittle too hard and then ends up
creating that gash and she diesout and maybe that wasn't even
his intention.
D (22:09):
I have no idea.
The thing is, though, you haveto remember that he killed
Leigh.
He wasn't planning on killingher, picked her up, put her in
his car, let's say, and wentback and cleaned it up, and all
within 30 minutes?
Sophia (22:27):
Hypothetically, yeah, that's a very small timeline.
D (22:31):
I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but if he went there to
rape her, and it becamesomething more serious.
That means he had to keep hiscool and not panic, and then
figure out how to resolve thissituation with Leigh.
I'm not sure.
I don't know what kind of personhe is.
(22:52):
But I mean you have to reallythink about it.
Elena (22:54):
Whoever was there clean the house.
So I doubt if it was an accidentthis guy's gonna be able to like
thoroughly not thoroughly cleanthe house but it seemed like It
wasn't like a rush job.
D (23:07):
I can't tell you for sure.
I'm just going from what thesheriff says.
I wasn't there.
But they feel that someoneappeared to want to clean the
place.
And I don't know why.
If you have an accident,especially if you only have so
much time, you don't know.
Unless he thought her mom leftand won't come home and thought
(23:27):
he could clean.
And then he heard the phone?
I don't know.
Sophia (23:31):
Because it wasn't completely clean.
No, it seems like somebodystarted and they decided not to.
D (23:36):
I don't know.
I haven't seen pictures of thecrime, of the house or anything.
Elena (23:41):
Or, somehow there's some sort of DNA maybe left, and then
the only places that personcleaned is anywhere that could
have been DNA, like if there waslike a fingerprint.
And they're like, okay, I can'tleave that there, so they
cleaned that area.
D (23:53):
Listen, I think her nightgown should have DNA on it.
Did she really take it off ordid someone remove it and told
her to dress up?
We have no idea.
But if someone tried to clean itwith rags, they must have left
something behind.
I just don't know.
And, if they do searcheverything and they find lack of
DNA, that makes the mom lookworse, in my opinion, but I'm
(24:17):
not sure.
Elena (24:18):
Oh, because you're saying that they would have at least
her DNA on it?
D (24:22):
Her DNA will be on it, right?
She lives in the house.
It's her mom.
But if they check everything,and the only DNA they're finding
is hers and Leigh's and no oneelse's.
It's a good clue that maybe hermom was involved.
Yeah.
It's a lack of DNA.
Despite numerous searches,Leigh's whereabouts remain
(24:42):
unknown.
Against the backdrop ofHurricane Andrew and the
upcoming 1992 election, Leigh'scase got crowded out of the news
cycle.
As those closest to Leigh,including her mother, Vickie
Felton, and her stepfather,Barney Yarborough, were cleared
of wrongdoing, police ran out ofto question.
Her case has received mediacoverage from Nancy Grace in
(25:04):
2020.
Leigh Occhi's case may have gonecold, but it's not closed.
She's still classified as amissing person.
At the time of herdisappearance, Leigh was slender
with bluish green eyes and brownhair.
If you have any informationregarding her whereabouts or
case, please contact the TupeloPolice or the Crime Stoppers of
(25:25):
Northeast Mississippi.
So does anyone have anyquestions or anything?
Elena (25:30):
No.
Sophia (25:31):
No questions.
It's hard to know what exactlyhappened in this scenario.
It's interesting because thishappened in the 90s, which is
like right on the cusp when DNAwas starting to become more
prevalent.
Obviously, fingerprints weresomething that police used to
stop crimes, but I don't thinkblood was used at this point to
stop crimes, was it?
D (25:50):
It was only to find out that she was type O.
That the blood was type O, whichthey know Leigh was bleeding.
Elena (25:56):
Are you talking about like blood splatter or what?
D (25:59):
You're saying if they took a sample of the blood to see if
there's anyone else's blood inthere except for hers?
Sophia (26:03):
Yes.
D (26:03):
I don't think they did that back then.
I am not sure what they havedone today or if they even have
done anything else.
The FBI did get involved backthen, but then again, DNA was
not as advanced as it is now.
Sophia (26:17):
Are they still actively working on solving this case or
is it, kind of let it run cold?
D (26:22):
I think at this point it's a little cold.
Elena (26:25):
Do you know if they have tested the nightgown for DNA or
anything other than that?
D (26:30):
There's no information out on that at all.
Elena (26:32):
So it could be yes or no, we don't know, there's just
nothing.
D (26:36):
There is nothing at the moment.
I'm not even sure if anyone'spushing for more work to be done
on this case, but don't forget alot of these police departments
don't have money for these DNAtestings.
And when they do get moneyallocated out to them from the
federal government, some of themstart with some cases.
I don't know where this policestation stands as far as getting
(26:59):
federal funding or doing anymore DNA testing.
Elena (27:02):
True.
So, basically, the mother comeshome.
There's blood everywhere.
Her daughter is missing.
No sign of a forced entry.
D (27:11):
No one sees or hears anything.
Elena (27:13):
No DNA, at least nothing that they took and we know
about.
D (27:17):
As far as we know about.
Elena (27:18):
No body ever discovered.
D (27:21):
Correct.
Elena (27:21):
And then the nightgown was put in the hamper.
There's a lot of blood and itwas like as if she bled from her
head to her nightgown
D (27:32):
That's what they are making an assumption on.
Elena (27:34):
Which would make sense with when you'd hit your head
you bleed a lot.
Maybe it wasn't as bad and maybeshe was still alive.
I don't know.
Essentially she died.
Whoever took her, took her body,took her clothes, shoes,
glasses, right?
D (27:52):
Yes.
If she wasn't dead, they madeher change because she had her
nightgown on supposedly.
They made her change into shortsand I do find that Vickie knows
that a special pair of underwearshe got for her birthday is
missing.
Elena (28:06):
How I interpreted that was she just grabbed like the
most recent underwear or justgrabbed some underwear and I
just assumed the mother was ableto notice that one gone is
because she just recently boughtit.
So maybe it's fresh in her head.
I don't know.
D (28:22):
I don't know.
Underwear is not probably thething I'd notice missing.
I would notice shorts, socks,She doesn't mention she was
wearing a shirt.
She just mentioned a shorts andshoes.
She doesn't mention socks.
She doesn't mention jacket.
It's just kind of interestingthis stuff.
And I don't know if they're justnot releasing everything.
Elena (28:42):
Yeah.
D (28:42):
I have no idea.
It's choppy a little bitactually.
Elena (28:46):
Basically her glasses get mailed to her.
D (28:49):
To her stepfather.
And that's it.
Yes.
I
Elena (28:56):
I find it interesting that it was mailed to her
stepfather.
D (29:00):
The police think it was to distract them, to put focus on
the stepfather, because theyclaim there was a rumor that he
was abusive.
Whether he is or wasn't doesn'treally matter, because he had a
very strong alibi, and he passedthe lie detector test.
He was somewhere where he hadenough of an alibi to say it
wasn't him.
Elena (29:21):
I could get why people might say, oh, the glasses went
to his house.
so let's look at him.
But to me, it would make nosense that it would be him,
because if you're the killer,you're not going to send it to
yourself.
I think that would be a littleweird.
Sophia (29:35):
Oh, I can see some people doing that.
Elena (29:37):
I can see it being like, if the mother did it and the
mother sends it to herself, butwhy the stepfather.
D (29:44):
I can see the mother doing that because she is separated
from him.
Were going to go through adivorce, make it look worse for
him.
Elena (29:51):
And that's what I'm saying.
I can also see someone justsending it to someone else as a
way of putting attention on themand just shifting the focus away
from other people towards thestepfather.
Sophia (30:03):
Where did she get these glasses?
Is she just hiding themsomewhere in the house?
Hypothetically, if we're goingto say that she's the one who
sent these glasses.
Elena (30:10):
The mom?
Sophia (30:11):
Yes.
Or is she returning to whereverher, hypothetically, her
daughter's body is?
Elena (30:18):
She could have sent it out that day, I don't know.
D (30:21):
She could have if she left early and threw them in the post
office in Bonneville, I don'tknow.
Elena (30:25):
Was there like a date that day?
D (30:27):
I didn't see anything on date just where it came from.
Sophia (30:30):
Easier to do stuff like this and get away with it back
then.
Yeah.
Not the same amount oftechnology and monitoring we
have now.
D (30:37):
The other thing is, If it was this Oscar guy, why would he
care to mail back the glassesand to her stepfather?
Elena (30:48):
That's what I'm saying.
It just doesn't make sense.
The stepfather is just so weird.
D (30:54):
Unless he knew a story about Leigh when they went horseback
riding she had said something tohim.
Maybe she didn't like herstepfather.
If there was something like thatmaybe.
If he did know anything, whywouldn't he just send it to the
parents of Leigh?
Elena (31:11):
To me that seems like someone who wants to put
suspicion on someone else, butin reality like I feel like It
does the opposite.
It takes the suspicion away fromthe stepdad.
D (31:23):
It did take the suspicion away from the stepdad after he
was proven that it wasn't him.
Elena (31:30):
Right.
D (31:31):
Okay, they actually checked it out.
Elena (31:33):
So, he was completely cleared before he got the
glasses, right?
D (31:38):
No, I don't think it happened that way because it takes a
while to go through.
Elena (31:43):
Oh, that's right.
The glasses were pretty earlyon.
D (31:44):
The glasses came eight days after Leigh went missing.
Elena (31:47):
That's pretty quick.
D (31:48):
It could have been her mom.
Yeah eight days.
That's more than enough time forher to drive around drop them
off and come back.
Elena (31:56):
A person would send it to the stepfather because the
stepdad, he's an easy scapegoat.
But I just don't feel like ifthe stepdad did it, I don't
think he would send it tohimself.
I think that would be stupid andrisky.
Which is why I think because hegot it, it means someone sent it
to him.
But not necessarily just giventhe context of the case.
D (32:18):
If it wasn't Oscar, I wish he would have at least told the
police it wasn't him.
Elena (32:23):
Yeah.
D (32:24):
Then proved it.
But the mother doesn't seem,free of guilt at this point.
I don't know if she is guilty ornot.
But you cannot cross her off asa suspect.
Elena (32:36):
But what would be her motive?
D (32:38):
She just got angry at Leigh and hit her too hard.
That's what I'm thinking.
It's an accident I'm notthinking it was on purpose.
Sophia (32:44):
Mm hmm.
That's sad.
D (32:45):
I don't know what kind of person her mother was.
But it could have been anaccident and she panicked.
Elena (32:50):
Did her ex-husband ever describe, her, who she was as a
mother?
D (32:54):
I have no idea.
There is nothing.
I would hope the FBI and thepolice have this information.
Yeah.
They have not revealed anything.
Elena (33:04):
Okay.
Sophia (33:05):
This is the first time I'm hearing of this case.
Elena (33:07):
Yeah, same here.
This is really interesting.
D (33:09):
I was going through it.
I'm like, okay, they can solvethis, right?
I don't know.
It just seems like it's a littlebit more difficult than I
thought at first when I startedreading about it.
Sophia (33:17):
Oh, I'm looking her up.
She's really pretty.
She almost looks like a youngDrew Barrymore in some ways.
D (33:22):
She is pretty.
Elena (33:24):
Maybe with probably DNA, if technology continues to
advance and maybe there'ssomething in the archives and
the evidence that they couldtest or genealogy or something.
D (33:36):
I hope they've saved everything and maybe if they get
funding, they can give it to theFBI to do some more testing.
And see if they have more DNA orsomething on her clothing.
I don't know.
I want to thank you forlistening to us this week.
We love our listeners, andbecause of you, we do this
podcast.
Your help and engagement reallyhelps the podcast grow.
(33:58):
If you enjoyed this episode,please text a friend or family
member to listen to our podcast.
Until next time, make sure youstay on the Eerie side.
Bye!
Elena (34:07):
Bye! Bye guys! Thank you! Be safe!
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