Body was discovered in apartment's crawl space
By Courtney Hessler
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - Eight years have passed since Leah Hickman was last seen alive, and there are still few answers about who killed the then 21-year-old Marshall University student.
Although nearly a decade has passed, Huntington Police Chief Joe Ciccarelli believes the case is anything but cold. He could not elaborate due to the ongoing investigation, but said the case recently splintered off into smaller investigations.
Hickman, from Leon, West Virginia, was last seen alive Dec. 14, 2007. The disappearance was initially treated as a missing person case, garnering national media attention.
After a week of grueling searching, her body was discovered in the crawl space of her apartment building located in the 400 block of 8th Avenue in Huntington. Police said she had been strangled.
Investigators previously said they had a working theory about the killer's identity, but lacked evidence needed to prosecute. The theory indicated her death was not a random act, but was carried out by someone who knew the layout of her apartment.
The police department regularly meets to discuss unsolved cases, the Hickman case being one of the most important because of the mystery, Ciccarelli said.
DNA evidence was taken from the scene and police hoped mitochondrial DNA testing at a state-of-the-art crime laboratory in Phoenix would identify the student's killer.
They had no such luck when the results came back in 2009.
Now the detectives' hopes lie with the development of forensic science and the small sample of mitochondrial DNA left.
Published: Mon, Jan 04, 2016
