Unknown Leah Rowlands Killer - Nebraska - 1997

I don't disagree with your theories. What angers me is she complied with all his demands and he shot her anyway. I wonder if he got overly excited or if this may have even been a thrill kill for him, and what he got from the robbery was not as important to him as bloodlust.

A new article was done regarding this case somewhat recently (mentions the murder was committed over 17 years ago so it was done this year, but it didn't mention a date). Authorities sent the surveillance photos of the killer to the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles so they could use their new facial recognition software to try and get a match, but nothing panned out.


www.krvn.com/news/index.php?more=fp66vx5m

This one stuck with me. What an extremely bizarre case.

Most cases of this nature happen in the overnight hours, but this one was in broad daylight. Plus the guy wandered around for a bit, let other witnesses see him and did nothing to hide his appearance or his car from the cameras. I agree that it seems this case should be solvable. Nebraska is a somewhat sparsely populated state with not much going on in the way of major crime and it wasn't from one of the bigger cities, so this is truly shocking.

I'm not sure I believe the transient angle. He doesn't seem disheveled enough to be homeless, plus that was a relatively newish car at the time. 

The connection to the interstate is interesting and I get the feeling he is not from the area.

I recall reading about this one previously on a site about Nebraska unsolved. I think one of the most famous cases to ever happen out of the Cornhusker state was the disappearance of Christi Nichols, who has never been found even 30 years later. The husband Mark definitely seems guilty. 

The Nebraska State Police released a new detail three years ago: In the surveillance video, the killer looked directly at one of the security cameras and took a sip from his pop before killing her minutes later.

nebraska.tv/archive/cold-cases-in-nebraska-leah-rowland

Interestingly, her family thinks this was a targeted hit where her ex-husband decided to have her killed, and the detective assigned to the case says that's definitely a possibility.

What I can see, though, is that this person has more than likely killed before, and the FBI believes the killing was random as discussed in the article above. I do think robbery, despite everything regarding a possible hit, is still very likely. In addition, the station appears to be under new management, but the thing of it is, it is right off I-80, so a transient easily could have hit the place.

The more I think of it, though, I do think that this was a hit. Here's why: Leah's brother noted how this person was dressed in attire that was popular in the Virgin Islands (where Leah used to own a restaurant with her husband), and as a Midwesterner, I know for a fact that early March can still be VERY cold in that area. Despite this, he had no problem walking barefoot and rolling his pants up. Here's another key tip: The Nebraska State Police have announced that they do have fingerprints available in this case in addition to the surveillance tape. With fingerprints done by computer these days, I'm sure that this person would have probably as a transient either popped-up by now from an arrest, or his prints would have been found at another scene.

One thing I think police could still do after all of these years (and this has led to arrests in other similar cases) is draw a composite of the suspect based off of the surveillance. Might be more recognizable by that one person who could crack the case.

Here's the thing: If he was a transient (and we know now that the NE State Police have his prints), I'm certain he would have been picked up for something else, and his prints would have been immediately linked to the killing in NE thanks to computer technology. That's why I think it sounds very plausible that he committed the killing and then fled back possibly to the Virgin Islands.

Well hey you doubted yourself on the I-70 when it looks now like you called it and were right all along so based on that you never know and never sell yourself short.

Seriously though, I happen to agree the cases aren't related, plus I don't think the surveillance images match up.

Also, Leah's killer seemed a little more brazen (or sloppy if you want to call it that) while the I-70 killer, despite also being seen on surveillance, seemed a little smarter in his planning.

True plus the weird thing is it seems like brazen sloppiness almost. He looked right at the security camera, like I'm not from around here and all you people watching this will never see me again anyway.