Leonard Dirickson missing case

[UMfan77]

Does anyone remember watching this case, probably from the 2000 season. Leonard Dirickson, who was a dairy farmer, was sitting down having breakfast with his 19 yr old son at their house, when an unknown white pick-up truck pulls up to thier house. Neither Leonard or his son recognize the truck, so Leonard goes outside to see what is going on. Leonard comes back in and tells his son that the guy in the truck is interested in seeing some horses. Leonard is never seen again by his family. A waitress at a restaurant saw Leonard with a guy having breakfast, the same day Leonard disappeared. Six months later, Leonard was seen drunk at a dance club, but the person who called in the sighting was never found. Some people speculated that Leonard left at his own free will, but his family doesn't believe that.

[SJP1313]

I found this short article about the case. Sheds some light on his situation I think. -

Investigators, family search for answers to man's disappearance

ELK CITY, Okla. (AP) -- It has been more than two years since Jared Dirickson saw his father at his Strong City farm climbing into a truck with a stranger to view stud horses.

Nowadays, Jared sees Leonard Dirickson only in his dreams, in photographs or on tattered fliers still taped to the doors and windows of area businesses.

''I love him a lot,'' Jared Dirickson said. ''I wish I could see him again. I pray to God he will let me see him again.''

Leonard Dirickson's family would celebrate his 42nd birthday Tuesday, but few things have been normal for the family since March 14, 1998, the day he drove out of their lives.

Investigators also have been confounded by the disappearance.

''We really don't know what happened,'' said Joe Hay, Roger Mills County sheriff. ''We know as much now as the first day he was reported missing.''

Dirickson and his wife, Kathy, built their own dairy business in Strong City. They divorced in 1996, splintering the family with a bitter battle for the couple's two children.

Jared's 16-year-old sister, Connie, lives with her mother in Hammon. Jared lives with his grandparents.

After the divorce, plummeting prices and high feed costs forced the Dirickson's dairy business to fold. Dirickson sold out in December 1997 -- three months before he vanished.

''Leonard was having a lot of financial problems,'' Hay said. ''I don't even think his family realized how bad it was.''

In January, Dirickson found work at a local metal company and told his parents he liked it. He enjoyed the work so much, his father thought about buying the company for his son.

Then he was gone.

Relatives believe he had less than $150 cash on him that day. His last paycheck was not cashed. His credit cards, although maxed out, have had no activity on them.

''Now every time I read in the paper or hear on the news that a body was found, I wonder,'' his mother, Norma Dirickson, 69, said. ''I have to check to see if it's Leonard. I've even walked all the canyons around here to see if I might find him.

''In my heart, I know something bad has happened. He wouldn't have left Jared. They were just too close.''

Investigators have their doubts.

In September 1998, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation received a call from a man in an Amarillo, Texas, bar. The man claimed he knew Dirickson and that Dirickson was in the same bar.

''By the time authorities could check on it, no one could be found,'' Hay said. ''Not even the guy who made the call. We've gone down there, and sat in that bar all night long. Nothing.

''We don't know if he's still alive, but I'm convinced he's still out there somewhere.''

Don Dirickson, Leonard's Dirickson's 73-year-old father, hopes the sheriff is right.

''If he's alive, I just want him to come back home,'' he said. ''Jared needs him worse than we do.''

[UMfan77]

Thanks for posting that article. The fact that Leonard was in financial trouble would make everyone believe that he ran away to start a new life but he was very close to his son. I personally think that he's not alive because way too much time has passed and I truly think that he would've tried to make some type of contact with his family. Maybe the man in the white pick-up truck was a violent criminal. It was said in Unsolved Mysteries that Leonard's horses that were for sale, was never advertised.

[Hambone2421]

This case recently re-aired and I had never seen it before. Its odd to me that the guy who made the phone call from the bar is taken so seriously by the investigator. The investigator says he believes him 100% that he saw Leonard at tat bar. I wonder what would make him say that even though he didn't leave his name or why he was so sure?

There doesn't really seem to be a motive for killing Leonard as the horses Leonard says the man in the truck wanted to look at were never stolen. Some of his ranch hands said that Leonard didn't even stop by that day to look at horses. Just a very very strange case. Does anyone else have any opinions?

[Mastermind]

There doesn't really seem to be a motive for killing Leonard as the horses Leonard says the man in the truck wanted to look at were never stolen. Some of his ranch hands said that Leonard didn't even stop by that day to look at horses. Just a very very strange case. Does anyone else have any opinions?

1. Leonard in all likelihood knew this man that he left with that day. Maybe it's the D.C.'er in me, but I find it odd that he would up and go just then and there to leave with a stranger.

2. Seems like going to see a horse, was an excuse Leonard gave. I think the meeting had some other purpose. He didn;t want to alarm Jared.

3. What could be that important that would require that urgent a response from Leonard? Especially that early in the morning.

4. If you buy the eyewitness report..the conversation and meeting was civil.

5. If Leonard wanted to leave town, he could have found a more opportune moment to vanish. That early before eating breakfast seems strange(he didn;t finish his breakfast, right?)

6. Leonard was having financial problems before his death.

My going theory is that was killed because he couldn't pay up a drug debt.

For some reason it's quite common for your drug dealers or mobsters to eat with the victim before offing him. I guess, maybe because it puts the victim at ease.

I've heard stories of drug dealers in DC, taking their victim out for MacDonald's, and then later bringing him back to his house to kill him.

[Hambone2421]

Originally Posted by Mastermind

My going theory is that was killed because he couldn't pay up a drug debt.

For some reason it's quite common for your drug dealers or mobsters to eat with the victim before offing him. I guess, maybe because it puts the victim at ease.

I've heard stories of drug dealers in DC, taking their victim out for MacDonald's, and then later bringing him back to his house to kill him.

What do you make of the man in the club in Amarillo claiming he knew Leonard and that Leonard was in a bar in Amarillo? Do you think this guy was mistaken, lying or do you think it could have been Leonard?

[Mastermind]

What do you make of the man in the club in Amarillo claiming he knew Leonard and that Leonard was in a bar in Amarillo? Do you think this guy was mistaken, lying or do you think it could have been Leonard?

I believe it is credible.

[Hambone2421]

Originally Posted by Mastermind

I believe it is credible.

Any specific reason? Only reason I ask is because the LE agent that was interviewed for the segment seemed like he knew for a fact that the caller was correct and that it was Leonard. To me, that seems odd that the cop would believe him even though he wouldn't leave name or phone number, then he wasn't even at the bar when the cops came. To me, it just seems like another person with a bogus tip. If its legit, why not stay and wait for the cops to arrive and tell them where he was sitting, which beer bottle he had, etc... Then the cops could possibly try to get a print and match it to Leonard's.

The only way I believe that the sighting was credible is if the caller was one of Leonard's kidnappers/abductors/accomplices and was starting to have second thoughts or doubts and wanted the cops to intervene right then and there. Who knows, maybe they were getting him drunk just to kill him later that night and the caller didn't want to be in on that. But then again, if they are trying to harm Leonard, why wait 6 months? UM stated that the bar sighting came 6 months after he vanished. Seems odd.

[Corky Kneivel]

Originally Posted by Hambone2421

Any specific reason? Only reason I ask is because the LE agent that was interviewed for the segment seemed like he knew for a fact that the caller was correct and that it was Leonard. To me, that seems odd that the cop would believe him even though he wouldn't leave name or phone number, then he wasn't even at the bar when the cops came. To me, it just seems like another person with a bogus tip. If its legit, why not stay and wait for the cops to arrive and tell them where he was sitting, which beer bottle he had, etc... Then the cops could possibly try to get a print and match it to Leonard's.

The only way I believe that the sighting was credible is if the caller was one of Leonard's kidnappers/abductors/accomplices and was starting to have second thoughts or doubts and wanted the cops to intervene right then and there. Who knows, maybe they were getting him drunk just to kill him later that night and the caller didn't want to be in on that. But then again, if they are trying to harm Leonard, why wait 6 months? UM stated that the bar sighting came 6 months after he vanished. Seems odd.

I've thought the same exact thing since the 1st time I saw that segment. Why is so much credence given to someone who insisted on being anonymous and split before investigators got there?

The only thing I can come up with is that its easier on the investigating authorities to treat Mr. Dirickson as a willfully missing adult rather than devote the manpower and energy to treating it a fou play investigation when there is no evidence to support this. That's not to put the investigators in a negative light, just a practicality.

[Hambone2421]

Originally Posted by Corky Kneivel

I've thought the same exact thing since the 1st time I saw that segment. Why is so much credence given to someone who insisted on being anonymous and split before investigators got there?

The only thing I can come up with is that its easier on the investigating authorities to treat Mr. Dirickson as a willfully missing adult rather than devote the manpower and energy to treating it a fou play investigation when there is no evidence to support this. That's not to put the investigators in a negative light, just a practicality.

I agree. I'm not sure if its because they are taking the easy way out, but I do believe that they may be hiding something. I can remember the LE agent's face when adamantly said he believed the tip to be credible. I wonder if it was someone he knew or possibly another cop that didn't want his name released. It just seems so strange that this mystery caller is believed without ever talking to him face to face or describing the alleged person that he supposedly saw. Just saying "I know Leonard Dirickson and I know that I'm looking at Leonard Dirickson.", just doesn't do it for me. (Supposedly, that is what the mystery caller told the cops when he called to report seeing Leonard) I would need more proof or evidence before I adamantly declared this sighting to be credible.

[Mastermind]

Any specific reason? Only reason I ask is because the LE agent that was interviewed for the segment seemed like he knew for a fact that the caller was correct and that it was Leonard.

I have a sneaky suspicion that the investigator knew something else that verified the witness claims. Something that was not and will not be released to the public.

1.Perhaps the witness had been a source or informant at some time?

2.It was a bar. Not unusual for barflies and bartenders to be good sources of information on people.

They see a lot, hear a lot and know a lot.

Not to mention alcohol loosens tongues and lets people say things that they shouldn;t.

3. There may have been some identifying feature, mark or whatever that made it very obvious to the police that the subject was Leonard. What that was probably is being withheld for the investigation.

[WishfulDreamer]

Didn't someone else at the bar confirm the guys story? A woman working at the bar? I'm not saying this makes the sighting credible just because there's someone else who said they saw the same thing or anything like that, just wondering if that's why they believed the account.

[Hambone2421]

Originally Posted by WishfulDreamer

Didn't someone else at the bar confirm the guys story? A woman working at the bar? I'm not saying this makes the sighting credible just because there's someone else who said they saw the same thing or anything like that, just wondering if that's why they believed the account.

I could be wrong but I don't think there was anyone else there that verified the story. The LE agent said that once they got to the bar, they couldn't find Leonard or the man who called. He said they waited there til the bar closed hoping that one of them would return but never did.

[WishfulDreamer]

Hmm...I seem to remember someone corroborating the story but I would have to see the segment again to be sure.

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by WishfulDreamer

Hmm...I seem to remember someone corroborating the story but I would have to see the segment again to be sure.

One of the more baffling UM cases to me. Yes I do believe UM stated that LE did go to that bar and showed Leonard's picture and the bartender corroborated the story that he was there. I can see Leonard being stressed out with bills but it was the way that he disappeared. Having this "stranger" pick him up. I don't really think he met with foul play as like the segment said why would you be seen in public eating breakfast with a man you're soon going to kill? What I don't get is if he did leave on his own what he has done to his poor son. He had to have known that Jared would be worried sick that day when he never arrived and every day he was missing. The only thing I can think of is that Leonard, in his possibly deeply depressed state, wasn't thinking clearly and thought Jared would be better off without him and left to avoid all his financial problems. Still a lot of things about this case make no sense.