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Leigh Occhi - Part 1

On the morning of August 27, 1992, 13-year-old Leigh Occhi was home alone in Tupelo, Mississippi. Less than an hour later, her mother returned to find blood on the walls and her daughter gone. Thirty-four years later, there's still no arrest — but there are names that have never been ruled out.

"Her favorite blanket was crumpled up on the floor and I was very scared."

That's what Vickie Felton told CNN about the moment she walked through her own home and realized her 13-year-old daughter was gone. It had been less than an hour. And in the 34 years since, no one has ever been arrested.

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A Storm, an Empty House, and a Phone That No One Answered

On the morning of August 27, 1992, the remnants of Hurricane Andrew were pushing through Tupelo, Mississippi. Inside a small house on Honey Locust Drive, 13-year-old Leigh Occhi was home alone, still in her nightgown, getting ready for an open house at her middle school later that day.

Her mother, Vickie, left for work a little before 8 a.m. Once she got to the office and learned the storm was closing in, she called home to check on Leigh — using a code the two of them had, two rings and a hang-up, so Leigh would know it was safe to pick up.

There was no answer. She called again. Still nothing.

So Vickie got in her car and made the mile-and-a-half drive home. She'd been gone less than an hour. When she arrived, the garage door was open — and the automatic garage light, which turns off after five minutes, was still on. Whatever had happened, it had happened only minutes before she pulled into the driveway.

Leigh was gone.

What Vickie Found Inside

Inside the house, Vickie found blood smeared on the wall. She went room to room, calling for her daughter, but the home was empty.

She called police at about 9 a.m. What investigators found when they arrived was a scene that has haunted this case for over three decades. Fresh, still-wet blood stains marked the walls, the carpet, and the bathroom countertop. Blood and hair were found stuck to a door frame — evidence, investigators believed, that Leigh's head had struck it, possibly more than once.

Leigh's nightgown was later found bloodstained in a laundry basket, along with a bloodstained bra. Based on how the blood had dripped down onto the fabric, investigators believed the injury had been to her head.

And in the bathroom, someone had tried to clean up. But no rag or towel was ever found in the house. Whoever cleaned up took the evidence of that cleanup with them.

The Missing Outfit, the Missing Glasses

There was no sign of forced entry. Both of Leigh's parents were certain of one thing: she wouldn't have opened the door to a stranger.

At some point during the attack, Leigh either changed clothes or was undressed and redressed by someone else. A brand-new outfit — including a bra and underwear she'd received for her birthday just the week before — was missing from the house. So were her glasses, and a sleeping bag she always kept in her room.

Bloodhounds were brought in, but Hurricane Andrew's remnants made tracking nearly impossible. Organized searches of the surrounding woods turned up nothing. DNA testing was still in its infancy in 1992, so all investigators could rely on was blood typing — and every sample from the scene matched Leigh's type.

The Envelope From Booneville

Eight days after Leigh disappeared, a McDonald's employee about 30 miles north of Tupelo, in Booneville, Mississippi, reported seeing a girl who looked like Leigh at the drive-through. The tip led nowhere. It was another child.

Then, five days after that — thirteen days after Leigh vanished — an envelope arrived at the house on Honey Locust Drive. It was addressed to Leigh's stepfather, with both his name and the street name misspelled. It carried six stamps, twice the postage needed, and was postmarked from Booneville.

Inside were Leigh's missing glasses. But there was no note. There was no ransom demand. Just the glasses, with no explanation.

The FBI took over forensic analysis, sending the envelope straight to Quantico. Handwriting analysis went nowhere. There were no fingerprints. The stamps had been moistened with water rather than saliva, closing off any hope of recovering DNA.

The lead detective on the case, Bart Aguirre, later said he believed the glasses were a deliberate distraction — that a genuine kidnapper would have asked for something in return. He would later tell CNN that envelope was the last real clue this case ever produced.

A Devastating Case of Mistaken Identity

Fourteen months after Leigh disappeared, a farmer discovered a human skull in a ditch near a soybean field in Monroe County. Dental records led the coroner to positively identify it as Leigh.

Days later, that identification was retracted. The examiner's office had been working from outdated records. The skull actually belonged to a 27-year-old woman named Pollyanna Sue Keith, who had gone missing from a neighboring county seven months later.

For Leigh's family, it was a false hope raised and then taken away within days.

The People Closest to Leigh

Leigh's stepfather, Barney Yarborough, had separated from Vickie about a month before Leigh disappeared and was no longer living in the home. He passed a polygraph and had what investigators have described as an airtight alibi. He died of cancer in 1996, at just 34 years old.

Leigh's father, Donald Occhi, was stationed in Virginia at the time and didn't learn his daughter was missing until the following day — and even then, he says Vickie initially told him only that Leigh had run away, with no mention of blood or a crime scene. He passed a polygraph and was ruled out as a suspect. He spent about a month in Tupelo searching fields and woods until his leave ran out. His theory has never wavered: that someone attacked his daughter inside that house, and that she never left Tupelo.

He's also said that while he searched, multiple locals quietly pulled him aside and told him to look closer at Leigh's mother.

Where This Leaves Us

Vickie Felton has never been charged, and has never been officially named a suspect. She has always maintained she had nothing to do with her daughter's disappearance. But she failed a police polygraph — and two more administered later by the FBI. In 2017, on the 25th anniversary of Leigh's disappearance, Bart Aguirre — by then the police chief — told a reporter he still considered her a person of interest, telling them there were still too many unanswered questions about her actions that morning.

But Vickie herself has spent decades pointing at someone else entirely — a man named Oscar McKinley Kearns, known to those who knew him as Mike.

That's where Part 2 of Leigh's story picks up.

Listen to Part 1

Don't miss Part 2, where we follow the investigation down a very different path.

Missing Person: Leigh Marine Occhi

Leigh Occhi has been missing from Tupelo, Mississippi since August 27, 1992. She is a white female with blonde hair and hazel eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was 13 years old, 4'10", and approximately 95 pounds. She has a strawberry birthmark at the base of her skull, small scratch scars on her right leg, and pierced ears. She would be 46 years old today.

If you have any information about Leigh's disappearance, please contact the Tupelo Police Department at (662) 841-6491, or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi at 1-800-773-TIPS.

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Karlie Gusé

On the morning of October 13, 2018, 16-year-old Karlie Gusé walked out of her family's home in Chalfant Valley, California — without her phone, without her wallet, and without a coat. She hasn't been seen since.

"She seemed really out of it — like something was very wrong."

That's how the night of October 12, 2018 was described by those around 16-year-old Karlie Gusé in the hours before she vanished. Karlie had gone to a party with her boyfriend and some friends in Chalfant Valley, California — a small, remote community in the high desert on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada. She smoked marijuana that night, and something about it sent her into a state of intense, escalating paranoia.

Her stepmother picked her up, brought her home, and stayed with her until she fell asleep.

When she woke up around 7:30 a.m. on October 13th, Karlie was gone.

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The Morning She Disappeared

Karlie left without her phone, wallet, or any other personal belongings. In the freezing pre-dawn desert, she walked out wearing what was likely a white t-shirt, gray sweatpants, and Vans sneakers.

She wasn't invisible that morning. Three witnesses saw her. According to them, she was walking near her neighborhood, holding a piece of paper, looking up at the sky, and moving in the direction of U.S. Highway 6. The last confirmed sighting placed her near some sagebrush at the edge of the highway.

Search dogs picked up her trail and followed it — until they reached Highway 6. There, the scent ended.

The ground search lasted nearly two weeks before it was officially called off. The FBI was brought in, but no trace of Karlie was ever found.

A Case That Refuses to Stay Quiet

Karlie's disappearance didn't stay contained to a small California county. It spread — through true crime forums, social media groups, and competing theories that split her own family publicly apart. Her mother went on national television to make allegations. People who had never met Karlie were convinced they knew what happened to her.

Through all of it, the case stayed open. Because the answer, whatever it is, has never surfaced.

Then, in 2021, a new lead emerged.

A witness came forward claiming to have seen a girl matching Karlie's description at a party in Tonopah, Nevada — a small mining town more than 100 miles from Chalfant Valley, connected to it by a single road: Highway 6. Investigators reportedly identified a vehicle that may have carried her there.

No further details have been made public. Karlie has still never been found.

Missing Person: Karlie Lain Gusé

Karlie Gusé has been missing from Chalfant Valley, California since October 13, 2018. She is a white female with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was 16 years old, approximately 5'7" and 110 pounds, with a piercing in her left nostril. She was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, gray sweatpants, and Vans shoes. She may wear glasses.

If you have information, contact the Mono County Sheriff's Office at (760) 932-5678 or by email at karliegusetips@monosheriff.org. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to her location.

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