The Unsolved Murder of teenager Letha Rutherford
Tuesday May 8, 2024
The Heartbreaking Tale of Letha Rutherford: A Story of Friendship, Loss, and Unanswered Questions
In this week’s episode of the Murder Police Podcast, we delve into the haunting case of Letha Rutherford, a young woman whose life was tragically cut short, leaving behind a mystery that has remained unsolved for over three decades. We are joined by Shannon Crawley, Letha’s best friend, who provides a deeply personal and emotional recount of their time together and the events leading up to Letha’s disappearance.
Shannon and Letha’s friendship began in the late 1980s, a time when life was simpler and the world seemed full of endless possibilities. They met through mutual friends and quickly became inseparable, sharing countless adventures in the rural landscapes of Kentucky. Shannon paints a vivid picture of their teenage years, filled with joyrides in Letha’s yellow Gremlin, exploring the countryside, and the simple pleasures of small-town life.
However, the idyllic days of their youth were shattered when Letha’s father passed away from a heart attack. Shannon recalls how this event marked the beginning of a dark period for Letha, who struggled to cope with the loss. Despite the challenges, the bond between the two friends remained strong, until one fateful night when Letha disappeared without a trace.
The search for Letha was exhaustive, with friends and family scouring the countryside, hoping to find any clue that might lead to her whereabouts. Months went by with no sign of her, until a chilling discovery was made on a piece of land near her home. Letha’s remains were found, hidden under a piece of tin, bringing a tragic end to the search but leaving many questions unanswered.
Throughout the episode, Shannon shares her heart-wrenching journey of coming to terms with the loss of her best friend. She speaks candidly about the pain of not knowing why someone would commit such a heinous act and the frustration of seeing the case go cold. Shannon’s story is a powerful reminder of the enduring impact of unsolved crimes on the victims’ loved ones.
This episode is not just about recounting a tragic event; it is about honoring Letha’s memory and keeping her story alive in the hopes that one day, justice will be served. Shannon’s poignant reflections and the vivid memories she shares offer a glimpse into the life of a young woman who was taken too soon and the enduring bond of friendship that continues to inspire the search for answers.
Tune in to this deeply moving episode of the Murder Police Podcast to hear Shannon’s full story and join us in remembering Letha Rutherford. Your support and attention to this case could be the key to unlocking the truth and bringing closure to those who knew and loved her. Listen now on your favorite podcast platform or watch this episode on YouTube on The Murder Police Podcast Channel.
Show Transcript
Shannon Crawley 00:00
When her dad died. That’s when the trouble began.
Wendy Lyons 00:06
Can you tell us what you mean about trouble beginning when he passed Well?
Shannon Crawley 00:10
because whoever done this to her would not have done that had her dad been alive.
Wendy Lyons 00:18
Warning the podcast you’re about to listen to may contain graphic descriptions of violent assaults, murder and adult language. Listener discretion is advised. Who Killed Letha? An interview with Letha’s best friend, shannon Crawley. Welcome to the Murder Police Podcast. We are at Madison County Library today. We have with us Ms Shannon Crawley. Shannon, how are you? I’m good. Thank you for having me. Crawley Shannon, how are you? I’m good. Thank you for having me. Mr David, how are you over there?
David Lyons 01:09
Good, this is just another important piece of Letha Rutherford’s case is again to learn who Letha was, and there’s no better way to do that than talk to the people who were. I’ll tell you some best friends at the time of her disappearance, and Shannon, that’s you. So thank you for coming and sharing your story about Letha. This is important.
Shannon Crawley 01:26
Thank you. It’s very long overdue, in my opinion.
David Lyons 01:29
I would tend to agree. We agree 32 years, 32 years.
Wendy Lyons 01:32
Well, shannon, you’ve told me that Letha was your best friend, so why don’t you tell us a little bit, and tell our listeners who Letha was?
Shannon Crawley 01:49
Well, letha and I were kids of kind of the same neighborhood. We didn’t live in the same neighborhood but we had mutual friends and she had some family that you know came around there and we met through some other people and we hit it off and we became inseparable and she became family Like my big sister. She was a couple years older than me and we were inseparable.
Wendy Lyons 02:13
Yeah, it’s nice to have those kinds of friendships. I’ve told David before, when we had recorded one on my best friend who also was murdered, how, and I’m sure you and Letho were much the same oh yeah that best friend kind of becomes a soulmate best friend like you get to where you’re reading each other’s minds and movements and actions and you know them so well um, almost as well as you know your own self exactly speaking of that, what do you think it was that drew y’all together?
David Lyons 02:43
I mean, what did you see in her and what do you think she saw in you? Or what kind of things did you all have in common that made you so inseparable?
Shannon Crawley 02:49
Well, I think, for us just being in the same circle of people, same background, you know she was a younger sister of a brother and I was the younger sister of a sister who was pretty much a tomboy. We were close in age and you know this was the late 80s, so I mean you really didn’t have anything to do but meet friends and hang around and run up and down the country roads and just be kids.
David Lyons 03:21
You know, teenagers- Especially out there where y’all were off Jack’s Creek and Dry Branch and everything for people that aren’t familiar with the area. That’s a rural part of Fayette County, yeah.
Shannon Crawley 03:32
Now, she was from that area. I was not Gotcha, but she had family who lived on Union Mill, which is on the Jessamine County side, but like I was telling Wendy, all that runs together because it’s rural. She had, you know, family that worked in tobacco and fixed people’s cars and you know they, like I said, we all just knew everybody. They her father, you know knew the same people and you know it was just so small and there was a little store that we would all gather at and we would just have fun and just be kids. We, you know, neither one of us were driving at the time, so we would just walk the neighborhood and meet up with other people and just hang out. And you know she had an older brother, so when he started driving we would ride around with him and just do our typical teenage stuff for sure any idea where that little store was that?
04:30
um, it was on a road called logana road. The building’s still there but it’s closed. And then there was another store that was closer to where she lived and that’s called spear store. There was two stores. There was a spears country store, which was like right on the corner of Tate’s Creek and Spears, and then there was another one. We called one the Country Store and one the Regular Store.
04:53
Because, one store, the people that owned it, dawn and Irene. They would cook food and that’s where a lot of migrant workers would come out there, because there’s a lot of tobacco farms out there. Then you’ve got the river that goes down, valley view and all that and um. So we all just kind of migrated everywhere. It was kind of like right in the middle, but logana was the most popular place for kids that’s not too terribly far from our farm.
David Lyons 05:22
We come down logana to, yeah, make it to richmond.
Shannon Crawley 05:25
It’s one of the routes we take, so yeah, and I lived on the corner of union mill in logana, which at that time there was not that big house, and my dad had old cars and everybody loved them and people knew that that was my dad and they would, you know, come up there and be like, can I look at your cars, you know, and and let like this brother and cousins and everybody knew me and we were all just really good friends.
David Lyons 05:51
Gotcha. We’ll have to look for that place.
Wendy Lyons 05:54
We will I think I know the little store she’s talking about at the corner of going down towards the river Spears. We know Spears. Yeah, that’s a neat little store. The entire area is gorgeous. Oh yeah, the entire area is gorgeous. It is very beautiful.
David Lyons 06:07
The local listeners, we’re talking about it. It butts right up to Raven Run Sanctuary which is a place people in Lexington have flocked to for years when the weather’s right and whatnot. So more about you and Letha and who she was. Can you tell us when you met her and when you hung out with her, what was her personality like, what was her home life like and stuff like that? Just see if we can paint a picture of who Letha is.
Shannon Crawley 06:33
Well, when I first met her, you know, her father was still living. He eventually passed with a heart attack. But when I first met her, you know, neither one of us drived. I was about, probably about 12 or 13. You know, they lived out in the rural country. It was just your typical home life. I mean her dad she was a daddy’s girl and I mean he always. Just he let her do, he let her do whatever she wanted to, but she knew what not to do because she knew that if he didn’t like it she would get disciplined Not anything bad, but she knew he didn’t like that. He worked for a blacktop company so we would always go places with him. Sometimes we would go with him to pick up his check and he would take us to McDonald’s. Back then that was a big thing.
David Lyons 07:26
I think the ice cream machine worked back then too.
Shannon Crawley 07:28
Yeah, for sure, that’s back when the burgers were burgers. But, um, like you know, we just we didn’t really do anything special. They lived out in the country, they had game roosters. We would, you know, go out with him and check on the chickens and then they would go and do their you know their little cockfighting things and we were just always on the move. If we weren’t at her house, we were at my house. If we weren’t there, we were running around with her cousins, because she’s really the only girl she was very tomboy.
David Lyons 08:05
Yes, I was going to ask about that in a minute. Very tomboy, yeah.
Shannon Crawley 08:08
But she could be feminine when she wanted to be, which I was a tomboy, I mean.
08:11
I think all the girls in our neighborhood were tomboys, because we had you know, we had boy cousins, or we had boys out there that were like our brothers and they would, you know, beat us up and teach us to be tough, you know. But her home life it was, you know, good until her dad died. And then when her dad died, things weren’t so good, but it was always fun. And then when she started driving, her dad had bought her a little yellow Gremlin and we thought we were, we were like Thelma and Louise, we thought we were on top of the world. And I remember she had a Gremlin and the front grill it was kind of broken, and so her dad was always rigging things up and they had put a chain through it one time to keep it from, you know, coming open and the hood flying up.
09:05
And we would just, we would drive so fast down Spears Road and we’d jump the hills and we’d just giggle and we’d just have a good time. It was just me and her. When I got my driver’s license, she and I and a couple of guys, we knew that we were friends we went to the Winchester drive-in, which isn’t there anymore. I mean, we thought we was on top of the world. I had a Mustang, one of my old Mustangs, and we just thought we were really doing something. But we were just two little young teenage girls that didn’t care about tomorrow. We were living for today.
David Lyons 09:39
Living your best life.
Shannon Crawley 09:40
That’s right, or so we thought Exactly.
David Lyons 09:47
Now going back to where she was raised and stuff like that. I remember when we talked before that. Tell us about her house, not to demean it, but I don’t think people understand how rural parts of this county could be in the 80s.
Shannon Crawley 09:58
So when you go down Spears Road you’re going to turn onto Jack’s Creek and Jack’s Creek’s going to go down towards the river opposite of going like towards I-75. So when you would go down it was all country and her road would veer off of Jack’s Creek, dry Branch, and you go on down Dry Branch and it would white off and when you would go to that it was a dead end and I think her home at one time, years before they ever lived in it as a house, might have been like a little general store like long time ago and um it was.
10:39
It was small about three rooms, maybe four. It had um a kitchen sink that ran off. The well.
10:48
But there was no indoor facilities as far as bathrooms and things like that. But you know, they lived primitive and I loved going down there because I got to live primitive too, you know, and it was just fun. And I mean it was in the middle of nowhere. There’s a river that runs somewhere down through there. I never went that far, but we would just hang out in the house. She had a washing machine, one of those old ringer washers, and I remember her washing the clothes off of that and I was like, oh my God, let me do it, let me do it, you know, because to me that was fun.
David Lyons 11:26
So I felt like she lived fun and, ironically enough, there’s people now that work really hard to live what’s called off-grid, and that’s you know, because I’ve always been attracted to that primitive stuff too a little bit. That’s why I found it, Because I think didn’t you say before they had a dirt floor?
Shannon Crawley 11:39
I think it was dirt. Again, that’s been so long ago. I know it was either dirt or very, very old wood.
David Lyons 11:46
No, that would make sense. Yeah, it probably would be that. Yeah, yeah, that’s the thing. I think it’s funny when we see people live like that, but some of us look at that as the weekend getaway or the getaway.
Shannon Crawley 11:55
Oh yeah, yeah too, neat For sure. But you know, I never thought anything less of the way she lived or where she was at. I mean, my dad delivered mail. We had a big, you know, three-bedroom, big ranch-style home in a rural like in a suburb which you all know, that area it’s kind of suburban but rural I guess. But I’d rather have stayed with her than where I was at because we had so much fun. People were always down there. You know, like I said, she had an older brother. His friends would come and then their cousins would come and everybody. That was like the fun hangout place. A lot of people went to their house, like from Nicholasville, lexington, you know things like that, because they were a well-known family.
David Lyons 12:45
Well, that’s neat. That’s another way to get this out, 30-some-odd years later is to tickle the memories of all those people, which I think is the goal is to get that out too. But going back to her again too, what were her like favorite things? If she had particular things that really I knew you said before she fought because the tomboy in her yeah.
Shannon Crawley 13:10
She liked to go to the chicken fights.
David Lyons 13:12
Okay.
Shannon Crawley 13:13
Like I said, I think that’s just because that was bred in her. She liked to be adventurous, we liked to go places and do things and we she didn’t really have anything specific that I can recall Again. You know it’s been so long since she’s been gone that there are things I’m sure I don’t exactly remember, but she just really loved hanging out with her friends and my family adored her Like they. They loved her. A lot of times she and I would just go to my sister’s house, which my sister has passed away now. She had cancer she died in 2017. But I mean, she looked at Lita as her little sister.
David Lyons 13:55
Gotcha.
Shannon Crawley 13:57
I remember that, like my sister’s in-laws, they would have derby parties, they would have Halloween parties, everything, and you know we could go down there and do whatever we wanted. Because you know, my sister was like well, y’all do whatever you want to. You’re, you know, 16, 17 years old, whatever, go wild, we don’t care, just don’t drive. So you know, and we would go to the jessamine joree at that time, that’s when they still had it and we would go to the Jamboree and we would walk around and we would ride kick booty. That was our favorite ride. That’s when they would ride the swings and kick each other off and then grab each other in the air. Yeah, that was what she loved to do.
14:41
Of course she was so young and hadn’t really experienced a whole lot of adventure yet in my opinion. So I think that, for like this, she just loved to enjoy life.
David Lyons 14:52
Yeah, she didn’t really.
Shannon Crawley 14:54
I never really seen a lot bother her, except for when her father passed away. That really destroyed her because they were super, super close.
David Lyons 15:02
Yeah, that’s.
Wendy Lyons 15:03
So when the father passed, who took over the role of taking care of the household? Her brother, her brother. So it was just the two of them at of the household Her brother, her brother Mm-hmm. So it was just the two of them at that point.
Shannon Crawley 15:13
Yes so.
Wendy Lyons 15:15
I guess he had to kind of step up and be a dad role really to assist her.
Shannon Crawley 15:20
Yeah.
Wendy Lyons 15:21
Did she share with you, I guess, those intimate feelings of how losing her dad was? I’m sure, as any best friend, she probably confided in you and-.
Shannon Crawley 15:30
Oh yeah, she was very, very sad and very lost. I mean, her daddy was her world. You know, her and her father had more of a bond than her and her mom and her and her brother were like inseparable, which they’re only, I think, a couple years apart. He’s maybe two, maybe three years older than her.
Wendy Lyons 15:50
So did they anticipate he was having heart trouble, or did they?
Shannon Crawley 15:53
just find him past. I think it was just a massive heart attack. I don’t think that there was any indications. He was 54, which isn’t old.
David Lyons 16:02
That’s young yeah.
Shannon Crawley 16:05
I don’t really know what led up to it, but I remember she had called me when it had happened and she was very, you know, very lost. Had she come home and found him and I don’t recall how they found him. Maybe he had went to the hospital and he died that way. I wouldn’t really know that because, you know again, it’s been so long ago. I think he died in like 1991. I think he died the same year she went missing.
David Lyons 16:36
That strikes, if not very close. Yeah, I think you’re right.
Shannon Crawley 16:39
And I think when her dad died, that’s when the trouble began.
Wendy Lyons 16:48
Can you tell us what you mean about trouble beginning when he passed? Well, because whoever done this to her would not have done that had her dad been alive so shannon, her dad, had passed, and then, ultimately, what ended up happening is letha shortly thereafter went missing. Is that correct? Yeah, about how long was it before she disappeared now?
Shannon Crawley 17:11
don’t quote me on this because I don’t know exact dates, but I feel like he died around July-ish and she went missing in December. So about six-ish months give or take.
Wendy Lyons 17:22
So do you recall when she was missing? Was it just you were trying to call her so you all could hang out, or how did you come to learn about her missing?
Shannon Crawley 17:31
Well, I had been at another friend’s house a few houses down, because at the end, before she went missing, we still hung out but we weren’t as inseparable. You know, I don’t know what she had going on, but we were still very, very close. And one night I was at another friend’s house that lived like four houses down from me and when I came home the next day because my dad you know, my dad was a single dad- and everybody raised everybody’s kids down there.
18:03
So we ripped and ran and did what we wanted. So the next morning when I came home from my other friend’s house, my dad said Lita came by here looking for you last night and I said, well, where’d she go? Like, did she say anything? Because I was really wanting to talk to her, because I hadn’t really got to talk to her much. And he’s like, well, no, but she seemed to be a little distressed about something and I said, well, did you ask questions? He’s like no, I just told her I’d let you know and I never heard from her again, I called, and I called and.
18:38
I talked to her brother and couldn’t find her. So then me and another friend of ours who lived with Latha at one time her name was Carmen, she’s deceased now we went everywhere looking for her. We went Wilmore, we went Lexington, richmond, everywhere that we knew she might be calling people that you know she knows. And then her brother was like I’m going to file a missing persons on her.
Wendy Lyons 19:03
And that was it. So had her brother just come home and she wasn’t there, or waking up and she wasn’t there?
Shannon Crawley 19:11
You know, I don’t know for sure exactly how that transpired. I just know that you know, like I said, he was older than us, so he may have been out, you know, with his friends, or he may have been out working somewhere. But I had called him and I was like he’s like I haven’t seen her, is she with you? And I’m like no, so of course you know you’ve got to wait 24 to 48 hours, whatever it was at that time. And then he called and explained you know, she’s a minor, or was she 18? I can’t remember. She went missing. She was 18. That’s what it was. She had just turned 18. And I think they were like well, she’s an adult now we have to give it some time, because had she been like 12 or 13, it’d have been a different story. And then they gave it some time and she never showed up.
David Lyons 20:03
And then that’s when he called and whatever happened from there with the police, right, you know yeah, and just to go back to when you and your friends were looking for it, just to emphasize, uh, where she lived and went missing from is is not just rural but heavily wooded.
20:20
We’re talking thick and uh so for the listeners they can go to murderpolicepodcastcom and pull the show notes and I’ll put some images up. But obviously if you’re uh, if you’re on youtube, those are on this episode right now. Those will be available for people to see, just to get an idea of that. Even not going to Wilmore or Lexington, just to look within a mile of that house would have been a task.
Shannon Crawley 20:45
Yes, very much so, especially if someone is not an experienced investigator that knows what to do and things like that. Um, like, like I said, you know when, when she was growing up, her dad and them, they and cousins and uncles, they all had, you know, chickens. So I would think about places that we had been and then I thought, well, let’s go check there in that town, you know. And I mean we looked everywhere and we just we had no luck that was good work.
David Lyons 21:17
By the way, is that going to places that? Because the police don’t know those things yeah family and the friends do that’s yeah that’s always something everybody’s grateful for, because the people know her best, know where the likelihood of finding her is, so she goes missing so then days turn into weeks, I guess right.
Wendy Lyons 21:34
So what do you all do at that point? Do you just wait to maybe hear from the police, or maybe she’ll come rolling in home?
Shannon Crawley 21:40
and talking about an excursion she’s been on for a couple of days and you know, with letha, she, like I said, she liked to run around, she liked to have fun. So at first I thought, well, maybe she you, maybe she you know, maybe she was coming to tell me she was going somewhere for the weekend, or maybe she wanted me to come with her. And then I got to thinking, well, maybe she was scared, maybe something was going on, maybe she needed a place to stay for the night Because my dad said she was you know she appeared to be distraught.
22:09
You know, when I was thinking that I mean I’ve thought everything from the best to the worst. Then I was thinking well, you know, maybe she wanted me to go with her to take care of something that night, and who knows what that would have led to maybe both of us being missing and murdered. I didn’t really know what to think, but I knew that after a few days it wasn’t her, I knew that something was wrong. About a week later, I just felt that and it was close to Christmas.
22:42
The newspaper says November, but I’m pretty sure that it was December, december the 16th.
David Lyons 22:49
Yeah, December sounds right.
Shannon Crawley 22:53
But the papers from the old articles and these other people that have covered it say November but, it was December because it was cold and it was snowing a little bit. That’s when we had winters back then, not like what we have now. But yeah, I just knew something wasn’t right after a couple of days.
Wendy Lyons 23:15
So I guess, did you stay in touch with her brother and you all kind of stayed connected as far as, have you heard anything? No, have you heard anything?
Shannon Crawley 23:23
We didn’t stay connected every single day, but I would, you know, reach out to him from time to time and then, at that time, like I said, our friend Carmen was still living, and you know, reach out to him from time to time and then, at that time, like I said, our friend Carmen was still living and you know, I would reach out to her. You heard from little hog. If you heard from, you know, joe Bob, which was a cousin. If you heard from Phillip, which Phillip’s passed. Now a lot of these people that were in our circle have passed away. Um, but you know, have you talked to this one or have you talked to that one? Did you think to call so-and-so or did you know? Have you talked to this one or have you talked to that one? Did you think to call so-and-so or did you know? Did you all think to look here Like what are we going to?
Wendy Lyons 23:55
do, just trying to rack your brain and come up with anything. So at what point? I guess some months go on and it just kind of you all are kind of still looking, but nothing’s turning up, and then I guess in April it she was discovered. Yes, so can you talk about when you learned she was discovered and what that discovery was?
Shannon Crawley 24:20
yeah, so, um. So it was late. It was probably one or two o’clock morning when I got the phone call from a family member of hers and he said that he had discovered something out on the farm or I wouldn’t really say farm, out on the land. He had a four-wheeler, he was riding, just leisurely riding, and he had his dog with him, which was a pit bull, and he was just riding and he said that the dog just stopped in its tracks and it wouldn’t come and he yelled for the dog to come on. Well, the dog was just not moving. So he turns around and he goes back to where the dog was and he’s seen something sticking out of a piece of tin. He said he pulled it up and there she was, her remains.
Wendy Lyons 25:09
Wow Under the tin on the property where she lived.
Shannon Crawley 25:13
Where the police had already been with fine-tooth comb and dogs and horseback and people. And then now all of a sudden she’s found four months later.
Wendy Lyons 25:23
Which kind of would make me. You know how my mind works, david, make me think she was somewhere else and someone placed her under the tin and then she was mysteriously found yes, you never know, that’s always.
David Lyons 25:34
A good possibility is that we know people are moved, sometimes in the wake of exactly so did this person end up calling the police, or her brother, or who did they contact, or do you know those details?
Shannon Crawley 25:48
I’m not sure who he contacted. I just know that I just hung up the phone and just my world was destroyed Like I cried. My dad was away at a treatment center because he had struggled with some mental health and I called my dad and. I was bawling and it was like they found her and so he came home and then my dad became like super protective mode because, you know, he knew she was my best friend.
David Lyons 26:21
Sure.
Shannon Crawley 26:22
And a father’s mind. Now that I have children, he’s thinking, okay, what if my daughter’s next? It’s probably what my dad was thinking. He became super protective and so I mean I didn’t really go a lot of places after that discovery was made. Um, we did. I did go to her funeral service. What well, I wouldn’t call it a funeral service. It was a casket with her skeletal remains wow yeah.
Wendy Lyons 26:50
So I guess at that point her, did you stay in touch with her brother? Did you all kind of?
Shannon Crawley 26:56
just lose touch, just kind of drifted away a little bit. I feel like when she passed and it was, you know, it was proven that that was her and that she was no longer here. I think everybody just kind of went their own separate ways. She was kind of like the glue that held our group together.
Wendy Lyons 27:15
Were you ever interviewed? Yes, you were. How did that go? I guess, as a best friend, they were hoping you might know something or give some lead.
Shannon Crawley 27:24
I was a minor at the time, so my dad had to give them permission and so I was just very frank with them, very candid. There were things in her diary they asked me about. I answered truthfully, um, but I told them I really couldn’t give them any insight as to what happened to her gotcha that had to tear your world up, though it did it did.
27:48
I also remember when she was found I called my sister, because my sister was like my second mom and I just lost it. And you know, my sister was very upset too because, like I said, we were all so close with her Right.
David Lyons 28:05
During the time she was missing, did you find yourself preparing yourself for those worst news things, or or? How was that balanced by a lot of hope? How’d that feel?
Shannon Crawley 28:15
I think I, just, like I said, I just had that gut feeling after two weeks at the most and I just I was driving myself crazy, wanting to know where she was. Who did this? Why did they do that to her? Like, what did she do to be? What does she deserve? To be treated like a piece of trash? Like throwing her out there like she was nothing, that was somebody’s sister? Right somebody’s best friend somebody’s.
David Lyons 28:45
You know somebody’s world somebody only 18 that hadn’t been out in the world yet, to arguably make anybody mad. That’s the way I look at things like that too just cruel and evil. Cruel and evil.
Shannon Crawley 28:58
I mean, you know, back then everybody fought and they made up. So I mean I don’t think that it was anybody that she had ever, you know, had hurt like that that would want that done to her. Right, I think that whoever did this to her had a very personal problem with her but for you know, for the love of god, I don’t know who that would have been right, you know it.
David Lyons 29:23
Uh, at the time of this recording, when we’re making this, we’re probably a good 32 years out, if I remember, remember correctly time-wise.
29:30
right on top of that, yes, and there I know nothing of any motion on it. I know that it’s still down at police headquarters somewhere that a cold case detective could grab if they had a break. But what would be the best outcome for this right now, for you and I know it doesn’t bring Letha back, but if you could picture the best thing moving forward, if you had a magic wand tonight, what would that look like?
Shannon Crawley 29:56
Well, I don’t really want to know how it happened, because that’s irrelevant to me, I don’t want to think about that. I want to know why. Why would whoever did this do this to her? You know, did she know something about you that you didn’t want known? You know? Did she reject you in some way and you couldn’t handle the rejection? Why did you do it? Why didn’t you just go on and leave her alone and just let her live her life? Well, I mean, she was 18 years old. Like what can an 18-year-old kid do? Like? My children are 22 and 29 years old, and to me, 18 years old is a baby. So you know, what did this child do to you and why did you take her life? That’s all I want to know why, and I’d like to see this person rot in jail for the rest of their life.
David Lyons 30:55
For sure.
Shannon Crawley 30:56
What would you say to that?
David Lyons 30:57
person right now. If they were listening and we don’t know who that is what would you say? Would you ask of them? Would you give them advice? Would you demand anything? What would that sound like?
Shannon Crawley 31:07
Honestly I don’t know what I would say. Twenty years ago I’d probably pushed them in their face, but now I’m older and you know that doesn’t resolve anything. But I would say I hope nobody ever does this to your child gotcha.
David Lyons 31:24
So somebody’s out there carrying that on their heart that they know let’s, let’s, uh, go to another group of people to talk to. What would you say to somebody that knew, that knew? Now, we’re not going to get into the the rumors right podcast because of the case facts that might be present in those but this. There’s lots of rumors. Right, we’ll leave those be because we don’t, we don’t go in a rumor.
31:43
But, um, those rumors, if there was anything to them, would lead me to believe that people know that may not have been involved. What would you say to somebody that is walking around carrying that, right now that they have the information, they could go to the police and say this person or these people are the ones responsible. What would you say to them if they’re walking around, going to church, going to stores, going to movies, living their life knowing that they have that knowledge?
Shannon Crawley 32:08
What would you?
David Lyons 32:08
say to somebody like that to movies, living their life knowing that they had that. What would?
Shannon Crawley 32:11
you say to somebody like that, I would probably first ask them why didn’t you do something to help save her life?
David Lyons 32:23
Yes, would you want your daughter done that way, and I hope you burn in hell for what you know. I think that’s a strong possibility. I’ve said that many times before that if you carry that on your heart, you’re probably not too far from that person that was involved.
Wendy Lyons 32:32
Well, and it makes you wonder also, if a person on the outside knows of what happened, why have they not turned in the person or people who did it? Why are you protecting them? Of course, like you said, it can’t bring Letha back, but the guilt. That person hopefully, and maybe don’t even have guilt, but the guilt they should feel knowing. I know this and I know that this person or these people are out there walking around and has never had to pay for what they’ve done to her.
33:05
I can’t imagine trying to protect somebody who I know killed, really by all accounts, a child and murdered her. You know, we know that there’s some cases that we’ve heard about or talked about and it doesn’t make it right. But maybe there’s an OD and you don’t know what to do with the body, so you just put it somewhere. Not that that’s okay, but this young lady was murdered, murdered and you know someone did this to her. Why are you protecting the person who murdered her? Why is their life more valuable and why should they be allowed to walk around having committed this murder? I think it’s fear of the person or people.
Shannon Crawley 33:48
Yeah, yes, you know, like he said, we won’t get into the rumors, but of the rumors, I think the said person that people were afraid of that person and maybe fear of their own safety, their own, your own family, you know. But and how did he, how would that person know who said anything? Because a lot of people could have been there. I don’t know, but all I know is that I think a lot of people didn’t tell out of fear.
Wendy Lyons 34:18
Sure, and now we know there’s the anonymous tip line and I don’t know how that would work, along with this being a cold case, so to speak, but still, someone should at least have the courage to speak up. I understand the fear aspect and people want to kind of stay out of it for fear of retaliation. But 30 some years later, why are you still letting that person by with this?
Shannon Crawley 34:47
Exactly. And the thing, though, about anonymous tips people lie all the time.
David Lyons 34:53
Right, how do we?
Shannon Crawley 34:54
know what’s real and what’s not. You know what I mean. That’s right.
David Lyons 34:57
Welcome to the life of an investigator.
Shannon Crawley 34:59
Right.
David Lyons 34:59
Because you go through them. Tip lines will work Tip lines no matter where you go. If somebody provides the information, all that information, usually there’s no problem with that getting back where it needs to be. So that’s an option, and we could all agree that this is way overdue. And it’s just time to lay this down and get some justice for her.
Shannon Crawley 35:20
One last person If you could speak to Letha. What would you say today? I would tell her that I miss her so much and that she’s still my sister, and I would probably just tell her how I became a nurse how successful my life has become, not that I’m some millionaire, but people that came from our kind of lives.
35:51
they’t really do a lot, but there’s a lot of them quit school and raise families and you know things like that. But I would just tell her of my accomplishments and, you know, definitely tell her about my children and my grandchildren, because my daughter’s uncle used to actually know her and they were all very close at one time and so to know that my daughter is part of that family, she would really be tore up about it in a good way. I would just tell her that I really miss her and that I would love to see this person brought to justice and executed for it.
David Lyons 36:35
I think she probably knows all your accomplishments. I think that’s worth five bucks, as she does so well. Thank you for coming and sharing.
Wendy Lyons 36:43
Yes, thank you so much. Thank you for having me.
David Lyons 36:45
I think it’s an important part to keep people motivated, to move them emotionally, to keep her name alive and to uh with everything else that we’ll have on the podcast when we interview other people is to paint a picture of who Lita was an 18 year old woman living her best life, and Thelma and. Louise and around in the yellow gremlin. I’m picturing that now, by the way yeah. I’ve got a picture in my mind and she’s shooting down Spears Road and jumping the jumps and everything.
Shannon Crawley 37:10
Yeah, and we didn’t have air conditioning, so we had the hair, had the windows down, the hair blowing. My hair was longer than hers, but we had our little hairdos going on and we just, there was no fear, tomorrow didn’t matter, we’re living today.
David Lyons 37:25
So yeah, until someone interrupts that so. Yes, but thanks again, appreciate it yeah, until someone interrupts that so, but thanks again.
Wendy Lyons 37:31
Thank you so much, Shannon. Thank you.
David Lyons 37:35
The murder police podcast is ed by Wendy and David Lyons and was created to honor the lives of crime victims, so their names are never forgotten. It is produced, recorded and edited by David Lyons. The murder police podcast can be found on your favorite Apple or Android podcast platform, as well as at murder police podcast can be found on your favorite apple or android podcast platform, as well as at murder police podcast.com, where you will find show notes, transcripts, information about our presenters and a link to the official murder police podcast merch store where you can purchase a huge variety of murder police podcast swag we we are also on Facebook, instagram and YouTube, which is closed caption for those that are hearing impaired. Just search for the Murder Police Podcast and you will find us. If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe for more and give us five stars and a written review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you download your podcasts. Make sure you set your player to automatically download new episodes so you get the new ones as soon as they drop, and please tell your friends.
Lock it down, Judy.
00:18 / 38:37
Episode Keywords
Letha Rutherford, Shannon Crawley, Madison County Library, Murder Police Podcast, Violent Assaults, Missing Person, Cold Case, Rural Kentucky, 1980S, Best Friends, Heart Attack, Teenage Adventures, Yellow Gremlin, Primitive Living, Union Mill, Spears Road, Logana Road, Disappearance, Investigation, Justice