Missing and Murdered Children

Updates

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has requested an Amber Alert issued for a 15-year-old female believed to be in danger.

Morgan Leppert of San Mateo, FL is believed to be traveling to the Houston area with 23-year-old Toby Lowry.

They are believed to be traveling in an aluminum-silver 2003 Toyota Tacoma truck with a Florida tag number 193KLR.

The last time ‘Blue-eyed Devil’ logged into her Myspace account was on the day of her disappearance - April 22, 2008. She listed her mood as ’sneaky’.¹

Also, on that same day, ‘baddest motherf****** in patalka’ had his last login to his Myspace account as well. He listed his mood as ‘excited’. The last comment in the comments section is made by him.

F*** off all ya’ll b**** a** hoes I’m Taken by Morgan Amanda Lowry²

He also lists his relationship status as ‘engaged‘.

It appears that the two have indeed decided to sneak off together.

The missing poster refers to Toby as the ‘abductor’, but does not call Morgan and abducted child. They consider her an ‘endangered missing child’.

The updated poster caught my attention because it suggests ‘using caution’ when approaching these two. I decided to search online for a reason why caution should be used and this is what I found:

Amber Alert Connected to Death in Melrose³

Lowry and Leppert were spotted in the truck mentioned earlier in this post. Apparently police were able to get the license number from the truck and found it was registered to 66-year-old James Thomas Stewart.On Thursday morning police were called by a relative who was concerned about not being able to contact Jame Stewart. When police went to talk to him about his truck check on him they found him dead. There were signs of foul play.⁴

So now not only is Lowry wanted for larceny and interference with child custody, he is now considered a person of interest in the murder of James Thomas Stewart. Morgan and Lowry were sighted two days ago in Stewart’s truck. I hope Morgan was not involved in his murder.

I really do not understand why it took 9 days to release a missing persons report on Morgan. I also do not understand why she was dating this man in the first place. I am hoping her parents did not know because if they did know, well you have to wonder what they could have been thinking.

Anyone with information or anyone who sees Morgan Lowry is asked to call 911 or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-277-TIPS. You can remain anonymous and you may be eligible for a reward.
Updates:
Saturday May 3, 2008:

Morgan Leppert and Toby Lowry are in custody in Texas.

I guess they didn’t think they would be recognized in Texas:

Investigators say the pair was panhandling along Interstate 10 in El Paso when a man driving through Texas on business recognized them and called the police.⁵

At least Morgan is safe. I hope she did not have anything to do with the murder of the owner of the truck.

Wednesday May 7, 2008:

It was a fear I had with this case that Morgan Leppert was involved in the murder of James Thomas Stewart. I had hoped that Toby Lowry had been the one to murder Stewart, steal his truck, and then pick up Amanda and make a run for it.

All that hoping and wishing was dashed today when I read that Toby Lowry and Amanda Leppert have been charged with murder. Also, it is still possible for Amanda to be charged as an adult. According to authorities this is what happened:

For two nights, they were in the woods behind Stewart’s mobile home, Kelly said, until the afternoon of April 25, when Leppert went to Stewart’s door to make a phone call. Kelly said Leppert told Stewart she needed to make a call because her vehicle was disabled down the road.

The call she made was to her own cell phone, which investigators found at Lowry’s home that same day. The call from Stewart’s place was in the cell phone’s memory.

Leppert left Stewart’s residence after making the call. …Stewart was beaten, stabbed multiple times and suffocated with a plastic bag that night…⁶

I forgot to mention Mr. Stewart was born without hands and he was hard-of-hearing.

I don’t know if Amanda could have been saved from ruining her life or not. Her mother claims when she found out Lowry’s age she forbade her daughter to see him anymore. So much for that plan. Amanda had been dating or seeing Lowry since November. I wonder where they met. It certainly was not at the local high school. Amanda was being home schooled and Lowry’s high school days were long past.

In retrospect I suppose her mother will think of ways she could have kept her daughter from having contact with Lowry thus avoiding this train-wreck of an outcome. I am thinking what I would have done if Amanda were my daughter. I would have taken away her cell phone, she would no longer have access to the internet and I definity would have contacted authorities to see if I could take legal action to keep Lowry away from my child. Certainly given the fact Lowry was a) an adult male and b) a convicted felon, authorities would have been more than willing to tell Lowry to hit the road or else.

It is unfortunate that all Amanda’s mother could think to do was forbid her daughter to see him.

Friday May 23, 2008:

Morgan Leppert and Toby Lowry were both indicted today by the Putnam County Grand Jury on 3 counts - first-degree murder, burglary with an assault and robbery with a weapon. Morgan Leppert will be tried as an adult. Prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty against her because of her youth. In Lowry’s case, the prosecutor has not made a decision regarding the death penalty.

Thursday June 11, 2008:

Morgan Leppert made her first appearance in court for a status hearing. While being escorted out of court reporters tried to ask her questions.

Leppert told reporters “I ain’t got nothing to say” as deputies transported her from the courthouse.⁷

Friday June 13, 2008:

Toby Lowry was supposed to be in court today for his arraignment but he waived that court appearance. Instead, today he was discovered according to one report hanging from a bed sheet in his jail cell.

One report indicated he was observed jumping from his bunk bed and hanging from a bed sheet on surveillance video and had been hanging for approximately 2 minutes. Lowry was only discovered hanging during a routine cell check.⁸

However, another report indicated he was discovered standing on his bunk with the sheet around his neck. When a corrections officer walked by the cell and saw him, Lowry then jumped from the bunk bed. He was transported to a local hospital. According to reports he was awake and talking to personnel while being transported to the hospital. When he is released from the hospital he will be placed in isolation and put on suicide watch.⁹

I wonder if this was a way of making a statement to his girlfriend. Maybe he was disappointed that she did not say to the media something like, “I love my man”.

June 27, 2008 - 5:30p.m. PST: The State Attorney’s Office filed papers today in the Palatka County Courthouse indicating that they will be seeking the death penalty in the case of Toby Lee Lowry. Authorities met and discussed the aggravating and mitigating factors before coming to the conclusion that the aggravating circumstance outweighed the mitigating factors of the case.

Toby Lowry and Morgan Leppert are both charged with the April 25, 2008 robbery and murder of 66-year-old James Thomas Stewart.  The death penalty is not being sought for Leppert because there is a Florida statute that prevents execution of minors.¹⁰

Authorities believe the motive for the slaying was the theft of Stewart’s truck so they could flee the area.

I will be blogging about any further information on this case on my other blog,  The End of the Story.