Beauty Queen Turned Aspiring Actress Vanished in Florida More Than 40 Years Ago

Tami Lynn Leppert, a Florida beauty-pageant winner and young actress, disappeared on July 6, 1983, in Cocoa Beach, and her fate remains unknown more than four decades later. She was 18, had already collected 280 pageant crowns, modeled for CoverGirl in 1978, and had small film roles, including uncredited parts in "Little Darlings" and "Spring Break." Her mother, Linda Curtis, said she spent years driving her to events and loved watching her succeed.

Family and friends say something changed after a cast party during the filming of "Spring Break." Leppert became withdrawn, fearful and convinced someone wanted to harm her. Her close friend Wing Flanagan said she would avoid answering questions about what was bothering her, while Curtis recalled Leppert asking, "What would you say if I told you somebody was trying to kill me?" and then answering, "Yes." She also began refusing food and drink at times because she feared poisoning.

Her behavior worsened in June 1983, when she smashed her home windows with a baseball bat and attacked Flanagan. After a three-day medical observation, doctors found no signs of drugs or alcohol. On the day she vanished, she left home without combing her hair, which her mother found out of character. She was last seen after arguing with a boyfriend, who left her near the old Glass Bank building in Cocoa Beach, about eight kilometers from home. Some reports say security cameras later showed her alone in a nearby parking lot, and she then tried repeatedly to call her aunt and a friend from a pay phone at a gas station, leaving urgent messages.

Leppert was last seen wearing a blue denim skirt, a blue floral shirt, an gray bag and sandals, though some reports said she may have been barefoot. A rumor that she was three months pregnant was never confirmed. Investigators examined several theories, including serial killer Christopher Wilder and John Brennan Crutchley, but found no evidence linking either man to the disappearance. Curtis also believed her daughter may have known too much about local drug trafficking and money laundering. Curtis died in 1995 without answers, and no body, named suspect or confession has ever closed the case.