January 31, 2022 • 23 mins
18-year-old Tammy Lynn Leppert was anything but your average 18-year-old from Rockledge Florida. By the time she had turned 18, Tammy had participated in over 300 beauty contests, taking the crown 280 times and was on the path to stardom. She had recently picked up two small roles in Hollywood films, the most notable of which being ‘Scarface’.
But this fame and fortune wasn’t as glamorous as it seemed, behind the scenes, Tammy was exhibiting bizarre behaviour and when she mysteriously disappeared in July 1983, a whole host of questions came bubbling to the surface.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Cocoa Beach Police Department’s Detective Sergeant Thomas Cooper on 321 868-3251 quoting case number 21292.
SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/5tTC1cLt
Twitter @truecrimewitch
Instagram @truecrimewitch
Facebook True Crime Witch
Facebook Discussion Group
Patreon patreon.com/truecrimewitchpod
Email truecrimewitch@outlook.com
Music https://www.purple-planet.com &https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiuES...
But this fame and fortune wasn’t as glamorous as it seemed, behind the scenes, Tammy was exhibiting bizarre behaviour and when she mysteriously disappeared in July 1983, a whole host of questions came bubbling to the surface.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Cocoa Beach Police Department’s Detective Sergeant Thomas Cooper on 321 868-3251 quoting case number 21292.
SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/5tTC1cLt
Twitter @truecrimewitch
Instagram @truecrimewitch
Facebook True Crime Witch
Facebook Discussion Group
Patreon patreon.com/truecrimewitchpod
Email truecrimewitch@outlook.com
Music https://www.purple-planet.com &https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiuES...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:19):
Good evening, friends. I'm yourhost, Emma, and you're listening to
the True Crime Which podcast, thepodcast that takes you into everything murderous,
mysterious and downright MacCabe. If youlike what you're here, please give me
if five start written on iTunes andfollow me on all of my social media,
which, as always, will belinked down below. This episode contains
graphic content and listener discretion is advised. This is episode forty nine, the
(00:44):
mysterious disappearance of a beauty queen.Eighteen year old tammyln Leeper was anything but
your average eighteen year old from Rockledge, Florida. By the time she had
turned eighteen, Tammy had participated inover three hundred beauty contests and took the
(01:06):
crown over two hundred and eighty times. She was on the path to stardom.
She had recently picked up two smallroles in Hollywood films, the most
notable of which being Scarface. Butthis fame and fortune wasn't as glamorous as
it seemed. Behind the scenes,Tammy was exhibiting bizarre behavior, and when
she mysteriously disappeared in July of nineteeneighty three, a whole host of questions
(01:30):
came bobbling to the surface. OnFebruary fifth, nineteen sixty five, Linda
Curtis welcomed Tammy lean leap It intothe world. Tammy was described as an
uncommonly beautiful child, and by thetime she was four years old, she
was competing in her first pageant.Tammy excelled in these pageants, and her
(01:52):
mother, Linda told Unsolved Mysteries quote, I was constantly busy running her around
where she had to go and whatshe had to do, and I enjoyed
it. I enjoyed watching her excelbecause she always went for the best that
she could go for the highest level. Tammy was on track for stardom,
and in nineteen eighty two she gother first break into the world of acting.
(02:15):
She was cast in the film springBreak, which grossed around twenty five
million dollars at the box office,propelling her into a small amount of fame.
After the filming for Springbreak had wrappedup, Tammy went to an out
of town unshap her own party,most likely to celebrate the film's success and
so that everyone could blow us somesteam. Whilst this party should have been
(02:37):
a very joyous and happy occasion,Tammy reportedly came back as a different person,
and it was here that the bizarrebehavior started. Wing Flanagan, a
friend of the Leapet family who livedwith Tammy and Linda as a child,
told investigators that when Tammy came back, she was a different person entirely.
(03:00):
A once happy, smiling, bubblyteenager had been replaced with a scared and
paranoid one. Wing tried to getTammy to open up to him and tell
him what was wrong, but Tammyalways brushed it off, changing the subject
and telling him to forget about it. As the weeks passed, it became
harder and harder for Wing and thosearound Tammy to brush it off, though
(03:23):
her behavior had devolved and she becamemuch more paranoid. One day, as
the phone rang, Tammy hastily turnedto Wing and asked him to tell whoever
was calling that she wasn't there.Wing complied with this, but Linda,
Tammy's mother, overheard the entire exchangeand was very concerned her daughter's bizarre behavior.
(03:46):
Linda decided to confront Tammy about whathad just happened, and as Linda
stood and listened, Tammy told herthat during the out of town party.
She had seen something that she wasn'tsupposed to see, something really awful.
One thing that Tammy said has stuckin the back of Linda's mind since the
day she disappeared in nineteen eighty three. Tammy turned to my mother and said,
(04:12):
Mom, what would she say ifI told you that someone was trying
to kill me. Linda pressed thematter further, asking if someone was out
to hurt Tammy and asking her toelaborate, But with each attempt, Tammy
went further into her shell, tellingLinda that if she told her who quote
they were, that she would bekilled. Over the next few days,
(04:35):
Linda desperately tried to get more informationout of Tammy, but Tammy began to
isolate herself and became even more paranoid. For the best part of two weeks,
Tammy kept herself locked away, refusingto socialize or even speak to anyone
on the phone. Linda and Wingbecame extremely concerned for Tammy's welfare, but
(04:57):
no matter what they did or whatthey said, she wouldn't move from the
safety of the home. Whatever Tammyhad seen and whoever was after her was
very real and very terrifying. Atleast in Tammy's mind. Linda and Wing,
of course tried to get more information, thinking that they could help,
(05:17):
but Tammy just blocked them out.At this point, Linda and Wing started
thinking that perhaps Tammy was suffering fromdelusions or some sort of mental health disorder,
but without knowing whether the threat allwas real or not, they kept
treating it as if it was untilthey could prove otherwise. Then one day
(05:39):
the phone rang at the Leopard household, and Tammy was no doubt stalled and
frightened by this phone call, Butfor once, it was a call that
brought good news. Tammy had beenoffered a part in the upcoming Hollywood blockbuster
Scarface, and the casting director wantedher to play one of the girls who
famously distracted the men in the lookoutcar when the drug deal turns hour.
(06:04):
Tammy was overjoyed to have finally landedapart in a big Hollywood film and put
aside all of her fears and worriesand accepted the role. For as long
as she could remember, this hadbeen a dream and she was determined to
make a name for herself. Sadly, Tammy would make a name for herself,
(06:25):
but in one of the grizzliest andmost tragic ways possible. Filming four
Scarface commenced in Miami in March nineteeneighty three, and within no time at
all, Tammy was getting a tasteof the big screen life, even if
it was just in a small role. Everything was going fine until the fourth
day, when Walter Leo Bits,a family friend who Tammy had been staying
(06:47):
with, received a call from thecasting director. The director asked Walter to
come and see to Tammy, andit turns out that on the fourth day,
whilst filming a very bloody in Greecescene, Tammy had erupted into a
panic attack slash breakdown and wouldn't stopcrying and screaming hysterically. Those on set
(07:09):
did their best to console her,but she was traumatized. She sobbed and
sobbed, telling the casting director thatthey, whoever they were, were going
to kill her, and that evenwhen she was taken away from the set,
she continued her panicked cries and shewas unable to compose herself. Walter
arrived at the set and agreed totake Tammy back to his house and give
(07:30):
her some time to calm down.However, during the car ride, Tammy
let slip some very chilling details asshe cried and sobbed to Walter. She
told him about money laundering and washysterical and adamant that she was done for
and that she was going to die. Was Tammy trying to tell Walter what
(07:51):
she had seen at the out oftown party. Was Tammy involved with the
wrong people who were involved with shadyd Unfortunately, appears that we might never
know. Walter of course called Tammy'smother, Linda, and told her everything
that happened. Now certain that somethingwas wrong, Linda instructed Walter to take
(08:15):
Tammy to the doctors and then tothe police to settle the matter once and
for all. Unfortunately, Tammy didn'teven feel safe in the hands of the
police. She made a vague reportslash statement, and she left out the
fact that her life was in dangering, that she was apparently being threatened by
whoever they were, without any furtherdetails. The matter was left at that,
(08:39):
and Tammy decided to quit filming Scarface, leave Miami, and then go
back home to cook a beach.Tammy was no doubt good that she had
to quit filming, but in hermind, the threat against her life was
very real, and as we weresee in the coming months, she was
right. Tammy's paranoia started up assoon as she got home. She refused
(09:05):
to drink from open containers and wouldget her mother and Wing to eat bits
of her food in case it hadbeen poisoned. She began staring out of
the window, watching the neighbors andcommenting that one of them had bought a
new van. To Wing and Linda, it meant nothing, but to Tammy
(09:26):
she was convinced that the van hadbeen replaced with mirrored windows so two way
glass type things, and that thevan was there to spy on her.
She told Wing that you know,Luck, look outside, look at that.
What do you see? And itwas mirrored windows, and she said,
well, they can see out,but we can't see in. It
(09:50):
eventually came to a head on Julyfirst, nineteen eighty three. The paranoia,
the depression, and the isolation finallygot to Tammy. According to Wing,
he was sitting on the sofa readingwhen Tammy came up to him and
accused him of looking at her ina strange way. Wing denied this,
choking it up to Tammy's paranoia,and while she could usually be consoled,
(10:15):
this time was very different. Ina haze of paranoid thoughts, Tammy stormed
out of the house and got herselflocked out, which only fueled whatever was
going on in her mind. Apparently, she had tried to storm out the
front door and then tried to catchthe front door before it closed, but
the wind caught it hit it onthe latch, and she got locked out,
(10:35):
and she was just so freaked outthat she thought that she'd been purposefully
locked out or something along those lines. Enraged and obviously most likely terrified that
she'd been locked out, Tammy grabbeda baseball bat and started smashing the front
window, all whilst Wing just stoodthere in complete disbelief. He opened the
(10:56):
front door gently and reassured Tammy thatthe door had simply hit the latch when
it closed, but something inside ofher had switched. Wing later told Unsolved
Mysteries that Tammy locked him with awild look in her eyes, almost like
the eyes of a killer on arampage, and that she didn't seem to
recognize him at all. Linda overheardthe commotion and quickly ran outside, trying
(11:20):
to snap a daughter out of thetrance. Luckily, after minutes of trying
to convince and using soothing words,Tammy snapped out of it and just broke
down wing. Linda and Tammy wereall physically and emotionally exhausted, and it
was on July one, nineteen eightythree, that Linda made the difficult decision
(11:43):
to have Tammy sectioned or admitted atthe Brethood County Mental Health Center. This
decision is never an easy one forloved ones or professionals. If you feel
that you or someone you know isunable to keep themselves safe, please call
nine one one or the emergency numberin your country and request to medical assistance.
(12:09):
For anyone struggling with thoughts of selfharm, depression, or other mental
health symptoms, please reach out tosomeone you are loved and you do matter.
I've put helpline numbers below for anyonewho may be struggling. Tammy was
kept for seventy two hours and thenreleased back into the care of her mother,
(12:31):
Linda. After being released, Tammywas still paranoid and told her mother
that if anything happened to her,she needed to promise her that she would
quote get even with the person responsible. Two days later, Tammy would disappear
under mysterious circumstances, and almost thirtynine years later, we are still no
closer to discovering the truth. Duringher seventy two hours at the hospital,
(12:56):
it was found that Tammy had nodrugs or alcohol in a system, and
not much else about her time thereis known. Now we jump to July
six, nineteen eighty three, whichstarted normally for Tammy and Linda, and
around eleven am, Tammy left herhome in Cocoa Beach for unknowingly what would
be the last time. Tammy leftto go out with a friend, Keith
(13:20):
Roberts, and according to Linda,as she watched Tammy get into Keith's car
and drive away, she was overcomeby this sick, horrible, bad feeling.
She told Unsolved Mysteries that she feltlike it would be the last time
that she would ever see her daughter. Call it mother's intuition, got instinct,
(13:41):
or whatever you like, but tragicallyshe was right now. According to
Keith, the friend who Tammy waswith that day, the two planned to
head to the beach and have arelaxing, nice day, but for whatever
reason, during the drive, thetwo got into an argument. After driving
(14:01):
and arguing, Tammy had had enoughand asked Keith to drop her off at
the Glass Bank building in Cocoa Beach, to which Keith agreed. According to
him, he dropped her off asclose as possible on State Road A one
A, and then he just droveaway. This is the last confirmed sighting
(14:22):
of Tammy, but we do knowthat she tried to call her auntie's costume
shop. We don't know which phonecheese to make these calls, but we
do know that she wasn't able toget through and left several urgent messages for
her auntie. After not being ableto get hold of her auntie, Tammy
tried to call a friend, butthey too were unavailable. It is unknown
(14:43):
what Tammy said in their messages andwhy they were so urgent. After this,
Tammy simply drops off the map,and almost thirty nine years later,
we still don't know what happened toher. When she failed to return that
night, Lynda knew that that sickfeeling in her stomach had been right all
along. She called the Cocoa BeachPolice and reported her daughter missing, but
(15:07):
as you can imagine, they wereanything but helpful, as is often seen
in cases of missing young people.The Coco Beach Police department brushed off her
disappearance and said that she'd lightly runaway of her own accord and that if
she wanted to, she'd be backsoon. This, of course, did
not wash with Linda, and shewas furious that her daughter's disappearance or wasn't
(15:31):
being taken seriously and rightly. So. It wasn't until a significant amount of
time had passed the investigators realized thatTammy was not coming home, and only
then did they begin to look intothe possibility that Tammy had met with foul
play. Keith Robertson, the lastperson to see her alive, was considered
(15:52):
a suspect and was questioned, butso far nothing has ever come of this.
According to some sort says, Tammydid confide in her mother that she
was scared of Keep and scared thathe was going to kill her. Whether
this fear was real or whether itwas her paranoia and delusions and mental health
issues talking remains to be seen.Tammy's family strongly believes that she met with
(16:18):
foul play, but with no evidence, they're left in a sort of limbo.
The prevailing theory is that Tammy didsee something that she wasn't supposed to
have. According to Unsolved Mysteries,there were money laundering investigations ongoing in the
Cocoa Beach area at the time,and apart from that we don't really have
(16:40):
any further details. It has alsobeen alleged that one of Tammy's friends had
bragged to her the important figures suchas police bankers, prominent figures in the
area in Brevet County should I say, were involved in money laundering and drug
smuggling operations. This has never beenfully connected to Tammy's case, but it
(17:02):
is an important thing to note.Linda strongly believes her daughter met with foul
play, whether that was at thehands of the person who had been after
her for months or someone else.The Cocoa Beach police speculated whether serial killer
Christopher Wilder may have had something todo with Tammy's disappearance. John Crutchley,
(17:23):
also known as the Vampire Rapist,had also been connected to Tammy's case.
However, he has since been ruledout as a suspect. When Tammy left
Keeps car, she didn't have abag, her purse or id or sometimes
some sources say that she left withouthaving any shoes on, making the possibilities
(17:45):
endless. Also, according to afew sources, when Tammy went missing that
day, she hadn't brushed her hair. She was looking quite messy and scruffy,
which was apparently very out of characterfor her. Linda said that Tammy
took very much a pride in herappearance and would never have left the house
looking like that, So that's anotherstrange clue there. In the years after
(18:11):
Tammy's disappearance, the Cocoa Beach PoliceDepartment received calls on two occasions from a
woman who claimed to know Tammy.This unidentified woman said that Tammy was alive
and well, and that she wastraining to be a nurse. This information
was related to Linda, hoping thatit would bring her some relief and comfort.
But Linda pointed out a very crucialpiece of information that made this lead
(18:34):
just collapse in itself. Tammy wasafraid of blood, like really afraid of
blood, something that was very apparentduring the filming of Scarface. So why
would Tammy, who's afraid of violenceand blood train to become a nurse,
which is probably one of the bloodiestand goriest professions out there. Is it
(18:59):
possible that this call was a redherring to try and make the police scale
down their investigation and deflect attention away. There has been little movement in Tammy's
case since her disappearance in nineteen eightythree, and despite numerous media repeals and
you know, a lot of pressaround this case, no one has ever
come forward, at least to myknowledge. Over the years, online slews
(19:25):
have taken an interest in Tammy's case, with many people believing that she may
be a Jane Doe in another countyor another state Entirely. According to Namos,
the following Jane Doe's have been ruledout as Tammy Harris County Jaine Doe,
Texas nineteen eighty four, Allegheny CountyJaine Doe, Virginia nineteen eighty five,
(19:47):
Slidell Jane Doe, Louisiana nineteen eightysix, Chesterfield County Jaine Doe,
Virginia nineteen eighty six, Penal CountyJane Doe, Arizona nineteen eighty seven,
Knox County Jane Doe, Tennessee nineteeneighty seven, Annaheim Jane Doe, California
nineteen eighty seven, Stafford County JaneDoe, Virginia nineteen ninety one, Fairfax
(20:11):
County Jane Doe, Virginia nineteen ninetythree, Harris County Jane Doe, Texas
nineteen ninety four, Waller County JaneDoe, Texas, nineteen ninety seven,
Stafford County Jane Doe, Virginia nineteenninety eight, and Newport News Jane Doe,
Virginia, twenty fourteen. Tammy's DNAis on file and available through NamUs,
(20:34):
However, her dental records have beenlost. Unfortunately, Linda passed away
in nineteen ninety five without ever knowingwhat happened to her daughter. However,
Wing and Tammy's sister Susanne have notgiven up their fight to find out what
happened to Tammy, and Susanne runsthe Facebook page dedicated to finding Tammy and
(20:56):
keeping her case alive. NamUs hascreated several age progression photos of Tammy and
is still alive today, she wouldbe fifty seven years old. The Dough
Network and a few other sources notethat she may have been three months pregnant
at the time of her disappearance.She was last seen wearing a blue denim
(21:18):
skirt a light blue shirt with flowerson the shoulders. Flip flops and carrying
a gray bag. At the timeof her disappearance, she was eighteen years
old and was described as a whitefemale with blonde hair, hazel eyes,
five ft four to five foot five, and one hundred and five to one
hundred and fifteen pounds. The ChildlyProject also notes that Tammy may spell her
(21:41):
name with an eye or used TammyLynn with one M and an eye as
a stage name or an alternate name. As of January twenty twenty two,
Tammy's case remains unsolved and she isstill missing. Her friends and family are
desperately fighting for justice for her,and I hope that twenty twenty two can
(22:04):
be the year that we can bringTammy home and finally get justice for her.
Anyone with information is urged to contactthe Cocoa Beach Police Departments Detective Sergeant
Thomas Cooper on three two one eightsix eight three two five one quote in
case number two one two nine twothat was the sixth episode. Thank you
(22:26):
for listening. Don't forget to followme on all my social media and give
me a five star rating wherever youcan. If you enjoyed what you hear,
I will see you in the nextone, I remember friends, stay
safe and stay spooky.
Good evening, friends. I'm yourhost, Emma, and you're listening to
the True Crime Which podcast, thepodcast that takes you into everything murderous,
mysterious and downright MacCabe. If youlike what you're here, please give me
if five start written on iTunes andfollow me on all of my social media,
which, as always, will belinked down below. This episode contains
graphic content and listener discretion is advised. This is episode forty nine, the
(00:44):
mysterious disappearance of a beauty queen.Eighteen year old tammyln Leeper was anything but
your average eighteen year old from Rockledge, Florida. By the time she had
turned eighteen, Tammy had participated inover three hundred beauty contests and took the
(01:06):
crown over two hundred and eighty times. She was on the path to stardom.
She had recently picked up two smallroles in Hollywood films, the most
notable of which being Scarface. Butthis fame and fortune wasn't as glamorous as
it seemed. Behind the scenes,Tammy was exhibiting bizarre behavior, and when
she mysteriously disappeared in July of nineteeneighty three, a whole host of questions
(01:30):
came bobbling to the surface. OnFebruary fifth, nineteen sixty five, Linda
Curtis welcomed Tammy lean leap It intothe world. Tammy was described as an
uncommonly beautiful child, and by thetime she was four years old, she
was competing in her first pageant.Tammy excelled in these pageants, and her
(01:52):
mother, Linda told Unsolved Mysteries quote, I was constantly busy running her around
where she had to go and whatshe had to do, and I enjoyed
it. I enjoyed watching her excelbecause she always went for the best that
she could go for the highest level. Tammy was on track for stardom,
and in nineteen eighty two she gother first break into the world of acting.
(02:15):
She was cast in the film springBreak, which grossed around twenty five
million dollars at the box office,propelling her into a small amount of fame.
After the filming for Springbreak had wrappedup, Tammy went to an out
of town unshap her own party,most likely to celebrate the film's success and
so that everyone could blow us somesteam. Whilst this party should have been
(02:37):
a very joyous and happy occasion,Tammy reportedly came back as a different person,
and it was here that the bizarrebehavior started. Wing Flanagan, a
friend of the Leapet family who livedwith Tammy and Linda as a child,
told investigators that when Tammy came back, she was a different person entirely.
(03:00):
A once happy, smiling, bubblyteenager had been replaced with a scared and
paranoid one. Wing tried to getTammy to open up to him and tell
him what was wrong, but Tammyalways brushed it off, changing the subject
and telling him to forget about it. As the weeks passed, it became
harder and harder for Wing and thosearound Tammy to brush it off, though
(03:23):
her behavior had devolved and she becamemuch more paranoid. One day, as
the phone rang, Tammy hastily turnedto Wing and asked him to tell whoever
was calling that she wasn't there.Wing complied with this, but Linda,
Tammy's mother, overheard the entire exchangeand was very concerned her daughter's bizarre behavior.
(03:46):
Linda decided to confront Tammy about whathad just happened, and as Linda
stood and listened, Tammy told herthat during the out of town party.
She had seen something that she wasn'tsupposed to see, something really awful.
One thing that Tammy said has stuckin the back of Linda's mind since the
day she disappeared in nineteen eighty three. Tammy turned to my mother and said,
(04:12):
Mom, what would she say ifI told you that someone was trying
to kill me. Linda pressed thematter further, asking if someone was out
to hurt Tammy and asking her toelaborate, But with each attempt, Tammy
went further into her shell, tellingLinda that if she told her who quote
they were, that she would bekilled. Over the next few days,
(04:35):
Linda desperately tried to get more informationout of Tammy, but Tammy began to
isolate herself and became even more paranoid. For the best part of two weeks,
Tammy kept herself locked away, refusingto socialize or even speak to anyone
on the phone. Linda and Wingbecame extremely concerned for Tammy's welfare, but
(04:57):
no matter what they did or whatthey said, she wouldn't move from the
safety of the home. Whatever Tammyhad seen and whoever was after her was
very real and very terrifying. Atleast in Tammy's mind. Linda and Wing,
of course tried to get more information, thinking that they could help,
(05:17):
but Tammy just blocked them out.At this point, Linda and Wing started
thinking that perhaps Tammy was suffering fromdelusions or some sort of mental health disorder,
but without knowing whether the threat allwas real or not, they kept
treating it as if it was untilthey could prove otherwise. Then one day
(05:39):
the phone rang at the Leopard household, and Tammy was no doubt stalled and
frightened by this phone call, Butfor once, it was a call that
brought good news. Tammy had beenoffered a part in the upcoming Hollywood blockbuster
Scarface, and the casting director wantedher to play one of the girls who
famously distracted the men in the lookoutcar when the drug deal turns hour.
(06:04):
Tammy was overjoyed to have finally landedapart in a big Hollywood film and put
aside all of her fears and worriesand accepted the role. For as long
as she could remember, this hadbeen a dream and she was determined to
make a name for herself. Sadly, Tammy would make a name for herself,
(06:25):
but in one of the grizzliest andmost tragic ways possible. Filming four
Scarface commenced in Miami in March nineteeneighty three, and within no time at
all, Tammy was getting a tasteof the big screen life, even if
it was just in a small role. Everything was going fine until the fourth
day, when Walter Leo Bits,a family friend who Tammy had been staying
(06:47):
with, received a call from thecasting director. The director asked Walter to
come and see to Tammy, andit turns out that on the fourth day,
whilst filming a very bloody in Greecescene, Tammy had erupted into a
panic attack slash breakdown and wouldn't stopcrying and screaming hysterically. Those on set
(07:09):
did their best to console her,but she was traumatized. She sobbed and
sobbed, telling the casting director thatthey, whoever they were, were going
to kill her, and that evenwhen she was taken away from the set,
she continued her panicked cries and shewas unable to compose herself. Walter
arrived at the set and agreed totake Tammy back to his house and give
(07:30):
her some time to calm down.However, during the car ride, Tammy
let slip some very chilling details asshe cried and sobbed to Walter. She
told him about money laundering and washysterical and adamant that she was done for
and that she was going to die. Was Tammy trying to tell Walter what
(07:51):
she had seen at the out oftown party. Was Tammy involved with the
wrong people who were involved with shadyd Unfortunately, appears that we might never
know. Walter of course called Tammy'smother, Linda, and told her everything
that happened. Now certain that somethingwas wrong, Linda instructed Walter to take
(08:15):
Tammy to the doctors and then tothe police to settle the matter once and
for all. Unfortunately, Tammy didn'teven feel safe in the hands of the
police. She made a vague reportslash statement, and she left out the
fact that her life was in dangering, that she was apparently being threatened by
whoever they were, without any furtherdetails. The matter was left at that,
(08:39):
and Tammy decided to quit filming Scarface, leave Miami, and then go
back home to cook a beach.Tammy was no doubt good that she had
to quit filming, but in hermind, the threat against her life was
very real, and as we weresee in the coming months, she was
right. Tammy's paranoia started up assoon as she got home. She refused
(09:05):
to drink from open containers and wouldget her mother and Wing to eat bits
of her food in case it hadbeen poisoned. She began staring out of
the window, watching the neighbors andcommenting that one of them had bought a
new van. To Wing and Linda, it meant nothing, but to Tammy
(09:26):
she was convinced that the van hadbeen replaced with mirrored windows so two way
glass type things, and that thevan was there to spy on her.
She told Wing that you know,Luck, look outside, look at that.
What do you see? And itwas mirrored windows, and she said,
well, they can see out,but we can't see in. It
(09:50):
eventually came to a head on Julyfirst, nineteen eighty three. The paranoia,
the depression, and the isolation finallygot to Tammy. According to Wing,
he was sitting on the sofa readingwhen Tammy came up to him and
accused him of looking at her ina strange way. Wing denied this,
choking it up to Tammy's paranoia,and while she could usually be consoled,
(10:15):
this time was very different. Ina haze of paranoid thoughts, Tammy stormed
out of the house and got herselflocked out, which only fueled whatever was
going on in her mind. Apparently, she had tried to storm out the
front door and then tried to catchthe front door before it closed, but
the wind caught it hit it onthe latch, and she got locked out,
(10:35):
and she was just so freaked outthat she thought that she'd been purposefully
locked out or something along those lines. Enraged and obviously most likely terrified that
she'd been locked out, Tammy grabbeda baseball bat and started smashing the front
window, all whilst Wing just stoodthere in complete disbelief. He opened the
(10:56):
front door gently and reassured Tammy thatthe door had simply hit the latch when
it closed, but something inside ofher had switched. Wing later told Unsolved
Mysteries that Tammy locked him with awild look in her eyes, almost like
the eyes of a killer on arampage, and that she didn't seem to
recognize him at all. Linda overheardthe commotion and quickly ran outside, trying
(11:20):
to snap a daughter out of thetrance. Luckily, after minutes of trying
to convince and using soothing words,Tammy snapped out of it and just broke
down wing. Linda and Tammy wereall physically and emotionally exhausted, and it
was on July one, nineteen eightythree, that Linda made the difficult decision
(11:43):
to have Tammy sectioned or admitted atthe Brethood County Mental Health Center. This
decision is never an easy one forloved ones or professionals. If you feel
that you or someone you know isunable to keep themselves safe, please call
nine one one or the emergency numberin your country and request to medical assistance.
(12:09):
For anyone struggling with thoughts of selfharm, depression, or other mental
health symptoms, please reach out tosomeone you are loved and you do matter.
I've put helpline numbers below for anyonewho may be struggling. Tammy was
kept for seventy two hours and thenreleased back into the care of her mother,
(12:31):
Linda. After being released, Tammywas still paranoid and told her mother
that if anything happened to her,she needed to promise her that she would
quote get even with the person responsible. Two days later, Tammy would disappear
under mysterious circumstances, and almost thirtynine years later, we are still no
closer to discovering the truth. Duringher seventy two hours at the hospital,
(12:56):
it was found that Tammy had nodrugs or alcohol in a system, and
not much else about her time thereis known. Now we jump to July
six, nineteen eighty three, whichstarted normally for Tammy and Linda, and
around eleven am, Tammy left herhome in Cocoa Beach for unknowingly what would
be the last time. Tammy leftto go out with a friend, Keith
(13:20):
Roberts, and according to Linda,as she watched Tammy get into Keith's car
and drive away, she was overcomeby this sick, horrible, bad feeling.
She told Unsolved Mysteries that she feltlike it would be the last time
that she would ever see her daughter. Call it mother's intuition, got instinct,
(13:41):
or whatever you like, but tragicallyshe was right now. According to
Keith, the friend who Tammy waswith that day, the two planned to
head to the beach and have arelaxing, nice day, but for whatever
reason, during the drive, thetwo got into an argument. After driving
(14:01):
and arguing, Tammy had had enoughand asked Keith to drop her off at
the Glass Bank building in Cocoa Beach, to which Keith agreed. According to
him, he dropped her off asclose as possible on State Road A one
A, and then he just droveaway. This is the last confirmed sighting
(14:22):
of Tammy, but we do knowthat she tried to call her auntie's costume
shop. We don't know which phonecheese to make these calls, but we
do know that she wasn't able toget through and left several urgent messages for
her auntie. After not being ableto get hold of her auntie, Tammy
tried to call a friend, butthey too were unavailable. It is unknown
(14:43):
what Tammy said in their messages andwhy they were so urgent. After this,
Tammy simply drops off the map,and almost thirty nine years later,
we still don't know what happened toher. When she failed to return that
night, Lynda knew that that sickfeeling in her stomach had been right all
along. She called the Cocoa BeachPolice and reported her daughter missing, but
(15:07):
as you can imagine, they wereanything but helpful, as is often seen
in cases of missing young people.The Coco Beach Police department brushed off her
disappearance and said that she'd lightly runaway of her own accord and that if
she wanted to, she'd be backsoon. This, of course, did
not wash with Linda, and shewas furious that her daughter's disappearance or wasn't
(15:31):
being taken seriously and rightly. So. It wasn't until a significant amount of
time had passed the investigators realized thatTammy was not coming home, and only
then did they begin to look intothe possibility that Tammy had met with foul
play. Keith Robertson, the lastperson to see her alive, was considered
(15:52):
a suspect and was questioned, butso far nothing has ever come of this.
According to some sort says, Tammydid confide in her mother that she
was scared of Keep and scared thathe was going to kill her. Whether
this fear was real or whether itwas her paranoia and delusions and mental health
issues talking remains to be seen.Tammy's family strongly believes that she met with
(16:18):
foul play, but with no evidence, they're left in a sort of limbo.
The prevailing theory is that Tammy didsee something that she wasn't supposed to
have. According to Unsolved Mysteries,there were money laundering investigations ongoing in the
Cocoa Beach area at the time,and apart from that we don't really have
(16:40):
any further details. It has alsobeen alleged that one of Tammy's friends had
bragged to her the important figures suchas police bankers, prominent figures in the
area in Brevet County should I say, were involved in money laundering and drug
smuggling operations. This has never beenfully connected to Tammy's case, but it
(17:02):
is an important thing to note.Linda strongly believes her daughter met with foul
play, whether that was at thehands of the person who had been after
her for months or someone else.The Cocoa Beach police speculated whether serial killer
Christopher Wilder may have had something todo with Tammy's disappearance. John Crutchley,
(17:23):
also known as the Vampire Rapist,had also been connected to Tammy's case.
However, he has since been ruledout as a suspect. When Tammy left
Keeps car, she didn't have abag, her purse or id or sometimes
some sources say that she left withouthaving any shoes on, making the possibilities
(17:45):
endless. Also, according to afew sources, when Tammy went missing that
day, she hadn't brushed her hair. She was looking quite messy and scruffy,
which was apparently very out of characterfor her. Linda said that Tammy
took very much a pride in herappearance and would never have left the house
looking like that, So that's anotherstrange clue there. In the years after
(18:11):
Tammy's disappearance, the Cocoa Beach PoliceDepartment received calls on two occasions from a
woman who claimed to know Tammy.This unidentified woman said that Tammy was alive
and well, and that she wastraining to be a nurse. This information
was related to Linda, hoping thatit would bring her some relief and comfort.
But Linda pointed out a very crucialpiece of information that made this lead
(18:34):
just collapse in itself. Tammy wasafraid of blood, like really afraid of
blood, something that was very apparentduring the filming of Scarface. So why
would Tammy, who's afraid of violenceand blood train to become a nurse,
which is probably one of the bloodiestand goriest professions out there. Is it
(18:59):
possible that this call was a redherring to try and make the police scale
down their investigation and deflect attention away. There has been little movement in Tammy's
case since her disappearance in nineteen eightythree, and despite numerous media repeals and
you know, a lot of pressaround this case, no one has ever
come forward, at least to myknowledge. Over the years, online slews
(19:25):
have taken an interest in Tammy's case, with many people believing that she may
be a Jane Doe in another countyor another state Entirely. According to Namos,
the following Jane Doe's have been ruledout as Tammy Harris County Jaine Doe,
Texas nineteen eighty four, Allegheny CountyJaine Doe, Virginia nineteen eighty five,
(19:47):
Slidell Jane Doe, Louisiana nineteen eightysix, Chesterfield County Jaine Doe,
Virginia nineteen eighty six, Penal CountyJane Doe, Arizona nineteen eighty seven,
Knox County Jane Doe, Tennessee nineteeneighty seven, Annaheim Jane Doe, California
nineteen eighty seven, Stafford County JaneDoe, Virginia nineteen ninety one, Fairfax
(20:11):
County Jane Doe, Virginia nineteen ninetythree, Harris County Jane Doe, Texas
nineteen ninety four, Waller County JaneDoe, Texas, nineteen ninety seven,
Stafford County Jane Doe, Virginia nineteenninety eight, and Newport News Jane Doe,
Virginia, twenty fourteen. Tammy's DNAis on file and available through NamUs,
(20:34):
However, her dental records have beenlost. Unfortunately, Linda passed away
in nineteen ninety five without ever knowingwhat happened to her daughter. However,
Wing and Tammy's sister Susanne have notgiven up their fight to find out what
happened to Tammy, and Susanne runsthe Facebook page dedicated to finding Tammy and
(20:56):
keeping her case alive. NamUs hascreated several age progression photos of Tammy and
is still alive today, she wouldbe fifty seven years old. The Dough
Network and a few other sources notethat she may have been three months pregnant
at the time of her disappearance.She was last seen wearing a blue denim
(21:18):
skirt a light blue shirt with flowerson the shoulders. Flip flops and carrying
a gray bag. At the timeof her disappearance, she was eighteen years
old and was described as a whitefemale with blonde hair, hazel eyes,
five ft four to five foot five, and one hundred and five to one
hundred and fifteen pounds. The ChildlyProject also notes that Tammy may spell her
(21:41):
name with an eye or used TammyLynn with one M and an eye as
a stage name or an alternate name. As of January twenty twenty two,
Tammy's case remains unsolved and she isstill missing. Her friends and family are
desperately fighting for justice for her,and I hope that twenty twenty two can
(22:04):
be the year that we can bringTammy home and finally get justice for her.
Anyone with information is urged to contactthe Cocoa Beach Police Departments Detective Sergeant
Thomas Cooper on three two one eightsix eight three two five one quote in
case number two one two nine twothat was the sixth episode. Thank you
(22:26):
for listening. Don't forget to followme on all my social media and give
me a five star rating wherever youcan. If you enjoyed what you hear,
I will see you in the nextone, I remember friends, stay
safe and stay spooky.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.