Leigh Ann Wilson, 36, disappeared the evening of November 2, 1978, after leaving her Jefferson City apartment for a short errand to a nearby gas station. She was seen alone in her vehicle at the station; the next morning her body was found in a grassy area in Boone County, just north of a roadside park. An autopsy showed her throat had been slashed and she had been stabbed in the back.

Her car was not found at the scene; it was later located in a Jefferson City grocery store parking lot, suggesting she may have entered another vehicle. A witness reported seeing a gray 1970s car, possibly a Pontiac, stopped on the U.S. 63 median and described a white male with medium build and dark hair assaulting Wilson. Investigators questioned her ex-husband and later focused on a male acquaintance who failed two polygraphs and whose vehicle matched the witness description, but insufficient physical evidence prevented charges. Other witnesses reported two people arguing in a white pickup near where her body was found.

The case crossed Jefferson City and Boone County jurisdictions and eventually grew cold. Anyone with information about that night is asked to contact the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.