Key facts
- Name: Leigh Marine Occhi
- Born: August 21, 1979 (Honolulu, Hawaii)
- Age at disappearance: 13
- Last seen: August 27, 1992, at home at 105 Honey Locust Drive, Tupelo, Mississippi
- Location: Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi
- Description: 4’10”, 95 lbs, blond hair, hazel eyes; strawberry birthmark at the base of her skull, lazy left eye, wore eyeglasses; scratch scars on her right leg, bumps on her knees, pierced ears; last seen in a nightshirt and green/yellow silk boxer shorts
- Status: Still missing — declared legally dead, but the case is an active missing-person investigation (NCMEC 771656)
- Investigating agency: Tupelo Police Department — (662) 841-6491; Mississippi Bureau of Investigation — (601) 987-1212; Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi — 1-800-773-TIPS (8477)
The morning the house was wrong
On the morning of August 27, 1992, Vickie Felton left for work between 7:35 and 8:00 a.m. It was the first time she’d ever left her thirteen-year-old daughter, Leigh, home alone. Leigh was supposed to go to a school open house that day with her grandmother.
Hurricane Andrew was churning through the region, throwing storms across Mississippi. Around 8:30, Vickie called home. No answer.
When she got back to 105 Honey Locust Drive, the house was wrong. The garage door was open, the light on. Inside, blood was smeared on a wall. Leigh’s favorite blanket lay crumpled on her bedroom floor. Her reading glasses were gone. Her shoes were gone. Some of her underclothes were gone. The nightshirt and green-and-yellow silk boxer shorts she’d slept in — gone from the bed, or on her, no one knew.
Vickie called 911 around 9:00 a.m.
Blood was found on the walls, the doorframe, the bathroom counter, her nightgown, the carpet. There was no sign of forced entry. A thirteen-year-old girl, home alone for the first time, in a house with blood on the walls and no girl in it.
The glasses in the mail
On September 9, 1992 — thirteen days after Leigh vanished — her eyeglasses arrived in the mail. They came in an envelope addressed to her ex-stepfather. Investigators deemed it a ruse: someone trying to steer the investigation, or torment the family, or both. The glasses told them nothing except that someone cruel knew the family’s address.
In November 1993, a skull found in a soybean field was briefly attributed to Leigh. It was retracted — the remains belonged to an adult woman from an adjacent town. Another dead end in a case made of them.
Her father, Donald Occhi, was in the Army, stationed in Washington state when Leigh vanished. He retired in November 1993 and moved to Tupelo to search for his daughter himself. Her mother eventually relocated and lived, as one account put it, a life of obscurity — the kind of sentence that gets written about mothers who lose children to cases like this.
Nancy Grace covered it. 20/20 covered it. Crime Junkie covered it. A podcast in 2017. Thirty-three years of coverage, and the house on Honey Locust Drive kept its secret.
January 29, 2025: they came back to the house
Then, this: on January 29, 2025, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation’s Cold Case Unit, the FBI, and the Tupelo Police Department launched a joint operation at 105 Honey Locust Drive. K-9 units. Ground-penetrating radar. Mississippi State forensic anthropologist Dr. Jesse Goliath was on site.
Dr. Goliath said what no official had said so plainly before: investigators believe Leigh’s body remains buried on the property.
The findings were not disclosed. The case is active, and active cases don’t share. But the meaning of that day was unmistakable. After thirty-three years, law enforcement went back to the house with radar and dogs and a forensic anthropologist, operating on the belief that Leigh Occhi never left Honey Locust Drive.
She was declared legally dead at some point in the years since — a civil procedure, not a finding. The missing-person case is active. The NCMEC poster (771656) is active.
The father who came home to search
Donald Occhi was in the Army, stationed in Washington state, when his thirteen-year-old daughter vanished from a house with blood on the walls. He couldn’t get there. He couldn’t search. He couldn’t stand in the rooms where it happened. In November 1993 — fourteen months later — he retired from the military and moved to Tupelo, Mississippi, to look for Leigh himself.
Think about what that means: a career soldier, giving up the Army to move to a small Mississippi town and search for a child the police couldn’t find. He walked the ground. He talked to people. He lived inside the case the way only a parent can — as if the answer were a matter of effort, as if looking hard enough and long enough could produce a thirteen-year-old girl from thin air.
It couldn’t. The skull in the soybean field — briefly, horribly attributed to Leigh in November 1993, then retracted when it proved to be an adult woman from an adjacent town — was the kind of false hope that breaks people. For a few days or weeks, the Occhi family lived with the possibility that Leigh had been found, and then they lived with it being taken away.
Her mother, Vickie Felton, eventually left Tupelo and lived what one account called a life of obscurity. There’s no judgment in that sentence that a mother who found blood on her walls hasn’t already passed on herself. Some parents search publicly. Some disappear into private grief. Both are responses to the same unlivable fact.
And then January 29, 2025. The MBI Cold Case Unit, the FBI, Tupelo PD — K-9s, ground-penetrating radar, Dr. Jesse Goliath from Mississippi State. Thirty-three years after Donald Occhi moved to Tupelo to search, law enforcement came back to 105 Honey Locust Drive with the tools he never had, operating on the belief he must have carried all along: that Leigh never left that property.
Theories
She was killed in the house
Blood on the walls, the doorframe, the bathroom counter, her nightgown, the carpet. No forced entry. The January 2025 operation — GPR, K-9s, and a forensic anthropologist working the property on the stated belief that her body is buried there — is the strongest signal yet of where investigators think this goes. Evidence level: This is the direction of the active investigation. No one has been charged. Any living person connected to this case is presumed innocent unless and until proven otherwise.
Abduction by a stranger
Evidence level: No forced entry, and the blood evidence points to violence inside the home rather than a stranger snatching a girl from the yard. Weak.
The mailed glasses
The September 1992 mailing of her glasses to her ex-stepfather was deemed a ruse by investigators. Evidence level: It establishes that someone with knowledge of the family tried to manipulate the investigation — but it was never traced to a sender.
She ran away
Evidence level: Incompatible with the blood evidence. Not viable.
Have information?
Contact the Tupelo Police Department at (662) 841-6491, Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi at 1-800-773-TIPS (8477), the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation at (601) 987-1212, or the FBI (Mississippi) at 1-800-225-5324.
In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- August 21, 1979 — Leigh Marine Occhi is born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
- August 27, 1992, 7:35–8:00 a.m. — Her mother, Vickie Felton, leaves for work — the first time leaving Leigh home alone. Leigh is to attend a school open house with her grandmother.
- August 27, 1992, ~8:30 a.m. — Vickie calls home during Hurricane Andrew storms; no answer.
- August 27, 1992, ~9:00 a.m. — Vickie returns to find the garage door open, blood smeared on walls, doorframe, bathroom counter, nightgown, and carpet; Leigh’s blanket crumpled, her glasses, shoes, and some underclothes missing; no forced entry. She calls 911.
- September 9, 1992 — Leigh’s eyeglasses arrive by mail in an envelope addressed to her ex-stepfather — deemed a ruse by investigators.
- November 1993 — A skull found in a soybean field is briefly attributed to Leigh, then retracted (adult woman from an adjacent town). Her father Donald Occhi retires from the Army and moves to Tupelo to search.
- 2017 — True-crime podcast coverage; Crime Junkie episode.
- January 29, 2025 — MBI Cold Case Unit, FBI, and Tupelo PD conduct a joint operation at 105 Honey Locust Drive with K-9s and ground-penetrating radar; forensic anthropologist Dr. Jesse Goliath says investigators believe her body remains buried on the property. Findings not disclosed.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Leigh Occhi still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Leigh Occhi remains missing. Although she has been declared legally dead, the case is an active missing-person investigation.
Was Leigh Occhi ever found?
No. No trace of Leigh has ever been conclusively found. In January 2025, investigators searched her former home with ground-penetrating radar on the belief her body is buried on the property, but findings were not disclosed.
What happened to Leigh Occhi?
She vanished from her home at 105 Honey Locust Drive in Tupelo, Mississippi, on August 27, 1992 — the first morning her mother ever left her home alone. Blood was found smeared in the house; there was no forced entry. Investigators believe she was killed, but no one has been charged.
How old would Leigh Occhi be today?
She was born August 21, 1979, so she would be 47 years old in 2026.
What was found in Leigh Occhi’s house?
Blood on the walls, doorframe, bathroom counter, her nightgown, and carpet; her favorite blanket crumpled on the bedroom floor; her reading glasses, shoes, and some underclothes missing; the garage door open with the light on; no sign of forced entry.
What happened in the January 2025 search?
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation Cold Case Unit, the FBI, and Tupelo police conducted a joint operation at 105 Honey Locust Drive with K-9 units and ground-penetrating radar. Forensic anthropologist Dr. Jesse Goliath said investigators believe Leigh’s body remains buried on the property. Results were not made public.
Sources
Official / law enforcement:
– Tupelo Police Department — (662) 841-6491
– Mississippi Bureau of Investigation — (601) 987-1212
– Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi — 1-800-773-TIPS (8477)
– FBI (Mississippi) — 1-800-225-5324
– National Center for Missing & Exploited Children — poster NCMC/771656 (missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/771656/1)
News:
– Local Mississippi media — coverage of the January 29, 2025 joint operation at Honey Locust Drive
Reference:
– Wikipedia — “Disappearance of Leigh Occhi”
Media:
– Nancy Grace — episode on Leigh Occhi
– 20/20 — segment on Leigh Occhi
– Crime Junkie — episode on Leigh Occhi
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.