Key facts
- Name: Leah Toby Roberts
- Born: July 23, 1976, Durham, North Carolina
- Age at disappearance: 23
- Last seen: March 13, 2000, Bellingham, Washington (left Durham March 9, 2000)
- Location: Durham, NC → cross-country → North Cascades, Washington
- Height / build: ~5’6″, short dark hair, beauty mark above the right side of her lips
- Status: Still missing — Jeep found wrecked with signs the crash was staged
- Investigating agency: Durham Police Department (original report); Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, Washington
The note on the bed
On the morning of March 9, 2000, Leah Roberts called her sister Kara to talk about her uncertain future. They hung up understanding they’d see each other soon. That afternoon, Leah and her roommate Nicole Bennett agreed to babysit together the next day. Nicole left for work. When she came home, Leah was gone — and so were her white 1993 Jeep Cherokee, many of her clothes, and her kitten, Bea.
On her bed, Kara and Nicole later found a note. “I’m not suicidal. I’m the opposite,” it read. It mentioned Jack Kerouac. It had a drawing of the Cheshire Cat’s grin. Beside it: a bundle of cash, about a month’s worth of her share of the rent and expenses.
Leah Roberts was 23, from Durham, North Carolina, and she was driving west to find herself. She never came back.
The road west
The years before had hollowed her out. Both of her parents had died. She’d survived a serious car accident. She’d withdrawn from North Carolina State University one semester before graduation. Her siblings remembered her as directionless — spending her days in a Durham coffee house, writing poetry in her journal about spiritual questions, talking with her roommate and a friend about emulating Kerouac and the Beats, about a road trip to the West.
She drove for four days. On March 13, she was last seen at a restaurant in Bellingham, Washington — the end of the road, nearly 3,000 miles from Durham. Then she vanished.
Five days later, on March 18, joggers on a road near the Mount Baker Highway in Whatcom County spotted a wrecked vehicle at the bottom of an embankment near Canyon Creek, a tributary of the North Fork of the Nooksack River, in the shadow of the North Cascades. Deputies climbed down and found Leah’s Jeep with its North Carolina plates. Leah wasn’t in it. She was never seen again.
Years later, investigators determined the Jeep’s starter motor had been tampered with — suggesting the crash had been staged. One man called police to say his wife had seen Leah disoriented at a gas station in Everett, Washington, shortly after the car was found. Nothing came of it.
The search that became a tradition
Leah’s disappearance was featured on Unsolved Mysteries and on Disappeared. In 2024, Crime Weekly devoted a two-part series to her — “The Road Less Traveled” and “Desolation Peak,” the latter named for the Kerouac-haunted peak near where her Jeep was found. (The Dharma Bums, the Kerouac novel she took inspiration from, has scenes set at Desolation Peak.)
In 2005, volunteers from a North Carolina missing-persons group organized a cross-country caravan to draw attention to Leah’s case and others. It became an annual tradition — strangers driving the country every year for people like Leah, who drove it once and never came home.
The theories have never settled. Did she stage the crash herself, walking away into a new life the note seemed to promise — “I’m the opposite” of suicidal? Did someone follow her west, or find her on the road, a young woman alone at the edge of the Cascades? Was the disoriented woman in Everett her, or a ghost of wishful thinking?
Her brother Heath and sister Kara have lived with it for twenty-six years. Leah would have turned 50 in July 2026. The Jeep is gone. The kitten is gone. The note is all that’s left of the plan, and the plan is all that’s left of her.
Theories: what might have happened
She started over voluntarily. The note is the foundation: “I’m not suicidal. I’m the opposite.” The cash for the housemate, the packed clothes, the Kerouac inspiration — it reads like someone planning to disappear on purpose, not someone planning to die. What undercuts it: twenty-six years without a single contact with the siblings she loved, and the tampered starter motor, which suggests the Jeep scene was arranged rather than simply abandoned.
Foul play on the road. A young woman alone, driving cross-country, ending up at the edge of the North Cascades — the vulnerability is obvious. The staged crash could be a killer covering tracks. What undercuts certainty: no suspect, no witness, no evidence of anyone else at the scene; the Everett gas-station sighting was never corroborated.
An accident in the wilderness. The Cascades are unforgiving, and a staged-looking crash could have a dozen explanations. But searches found no trace of Leah in the surrounding wilderness, and the tampered starter motor points away from a simple accident.
The fairest summary belongs to the case itself: a 23-year-old drove 3,000 miles chasing a book, left a note with a grinning cat, and vanished at the edge of the mountains. Everything since has been people trying to read the note.
Have information?
Contact the Durham Police Department in Durham, North Carolina, the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office in Washington, or the FBI at 1-855-CALL-FBI (1-855-225-5324). In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- July 23, 1976 — Leah Toby Roberts is born in Durham, North Carolina.
- Late 1990s — Both parents die; Leah survives a serious car accident; withdraws from NC State.
- March 9, 2000, morning — Phone call with her sister Kara about her uncertain future.
- March 9, 2000, afternoon — Leaves Durham in her white 1993 Jeep Cherokee, leaving a note: “I’m not suicidal. I’m the opposite.”
- March 11, 2000 — Misses the babysitting appointment; family can’t reach her.
- March 13, 2000 — Kara reports her missing to Durham police. Leah is last seen at a Bellingham, Washington, restaurant.
- March 18, 2000 — Her Jeep is found wrecked at the bottom of an embankment near Canyon Creek, North Cascades.
- 2000s — Starter motor found tampered with; crash possibly staged. Featured on Unsolved Mysteries and Disappeared.
- 2005 — NC volunteers launch the annual cross-country missing-persons caravan.
- 2024 — Crime Weekly airs a two-part series on her case.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Leah Roberts still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Leah Roberts has been missing for more than 26 years.
Was Leah Roberts ever found?
No. Her Jeep was found wrecked in Washington’s North Cascades five days after she was last seen, but no trace of Leah has ever been found.
How old would Leah Roberts be today?
Leah was born July 23, 1976 — she turned 50 in July 2026.
What did Leah Roberts’ note say?
“I’m not suicidal. I’m the opposite.” It mentioned Jack Kerouac and included a drawing of the Cheshire Cat’s grin. She left it with a bundle of cash covering about a month of her share of rent and expenses.
Was Leah Roberts’ car crash staged?
Investigators later determined the Jeep’s starter motor had been tampered with, suggesting the crash was staged — but by whom, and why, was never determined.
What happened to Leah Roberts’ kitten?
Her kitten, Bea, disappeared with her and was never found.
Sources
- Reference: Wikipedia, “Disappearance of Leah Roberts” (retrieved Oct 2026).
- Media: Unsolved Mysteries; Disappeared; Crime Weekly, “Leah Roberts: The Road Less Traveled” / “Desolation Peak” (2024, 2 parts).
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.