Kimberly Diane Leach was 12 when she vanished from Lake City Junior High School on the morning of February 9, 1978. She had been sent back to homeroom to retrieve a purse and never returned; eyewitnesses later reported seeing a man leading a young girl toward a white van that had been circling the school.

Investigators focused on Ted Bundy after his arrest in Pensacola six days later for driving a stolen car. A white van tied to Bundy matched witness descriptions, and credit card receipts placed him at a Holiday Inn three miles from the school the night before Kimberly disappeared. On April 7, 1978, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper found Kimberly’s mummified remains in a hog shed near Suwannee River State Park, nude except for a turtleneck; the autopsy recorded sexual assault and homicidal violence to her neck.

Forensic evidence presented at Bundy’s 1980 trial in Orlando included fibers from Kimberly’s clothing that matched the van’s carpet and bloodstains in the van matching her DNA; a firefighter also testified to seeing Bundy lead the girl to his van. The jury convicted him on kidnapping and murder charges, and he was sentenced to death. Anyone with information about Kimberly or who remembers that school day is asked to come forward.