201. Looks Like A Ghost On Video - Leah Rowlands And Her Killer Who No One Knows

Published: July 20, 2021, 4:01 a.m.

One unseasonably cool (as opposed to freezing) late winter morning on March 10, 1997, at a small\xa0 travel stop gas station and convenience store right off Interstate 80 in Cozad, a tiny farming community in the heart of Nebraska, a late model Pontiac Grand Am pulled into the parking lot and up to the pumps.\xa0\xa0Inside the store, 41 year-old Leah Rowlands was behind the counter on her very first day in her new role as manager \u2013 her hard work and happy attitude had earned her that position after just a few months.\xa0 The divorced mother of two was finally getting her life back in order after a tough breakup with a new town, a new boyfriend and a future that appeared nothing but bright.\xa0\xa0Back at the gas pumps, a large man wearing a hoodie under a leather jacket, sweat pants rolled up to his knees and wearing no shoes got out of the Pontiac, filled the tank and headed into the store.\xa0 Once inside he grabbed a canned soft drink out of the cooler, opened it and started drinking from it while he waited for a mother and her young son to complete their transaction at the counter and leave.\xa0\xa0He then went up to Leah at the counter, told her to empty the cash register and get down on the floor.\xa0 Once she was face down on the floor, he calmly pulled a 9mm semiautomatic handgun from his right pocket, reached over the counter and calmly shot Leah Rowlands to death.\xa0\xa0After just three minutes after walking into the store, the killer nonchalantly walked out, carrying his soda, a pack of cigarettes and $150 in cash.\xa0 He got back into the Grand Am and drove off.\xa0 Never to be seen again.\xa0\xa0Right up to this moment, no one knows who the big man in the hoodie is.\xa0 There has never been an arrest.\xa0\xa0And here\u2019s the truly weird and truly awful \u2013 and awfully amazing \u2013 thing about all of this:\xa0 The convenience store was completely wired with surveillance cameras.\xa0 The entire event was caught on videotape, from several angles.\xa0\xa0The killer stared straight into one of the cameras as he waited for the store to clear out.\xa0 His unshielded face \u2013 while mildly blurry \u2013 is clearly visible on the footage from behind the counter, where the murder is recorded in horrifying detail.\xa0\xa0And no one \u2013 no one \u2013 has ever identified him.\xa0 A California license plate on the rear of the Grand Am is illegible.\xa0 And even though authorities have searched the for that car, it\u2019s never been found.\xa0\xa0The calmness of the killer\u2019s demeanor \u2013 his seeming complete lack of concern that his face, his body features, his clothing were being recorded \u2013 makes the entire episode not just tragic \u2013 but haunting\u2026to Leah\u2019s family and loved ones and especially to law enforcement.\xa0 Every available agency, from local police to state authorities to the FBI, continues to work on this case \u2013 but until that one person who recognizes her killer comes forward, the case is at a standstill.\xa0\xa0Take a chilling ride with Melissa back to that Nebraska morning 24 years ago and imagine that you or someone you know can be the one link to bring justice to Leah Rowlands.\xa0 ALSO - this week Melissa has an update on the Will Cierzan case - a new development that could finally bring justice to Will's family.