FFK Blog Fehmeeda Farid Khan Blog for Unsolved Miseries
Leah Ulbrich was a mother of two. They were 5 and 4 years old. Leah was a creative and artist poet of “exceptional potential”. Some of her work was even displayed in Connecticut’s Museum of Natural History. But life wasn’t always easy for Leah. She became addicted to drugs in her teenage years. This addiction grappled her for the rest of her life. She managed to get rid of drugs after enrolling in a rehabilitation program. It took several years but at last she succeeded. During this time she got married to Bobby Ulbrich and had 2 children. They divorced in 1991. She began to use drugs again and was surrounded by unsavoury people. But Leah wanted to get her life back on track. She graduated from a rehabilitation program in the summer of 1995. She dreamt of being a nurse.
Hartford Police received a call on October 29, 1995, at 5:00 AM. A newspaper delivery driver, Bill Flemming, comes across an altercation between a man and a woman in the intersection of Locust and Elliott Street. It is an industrial area of Hartford. The man witnessed the man in the car, who battered the woman next to him. The woman was screaming for help. So Bill took a U-turn to help her. As he get near the car of a dark compact, it took off at the highest speed. The woman was hanging out of the vehicle. He entangled her arm in the seatbelt. The driver didn’t stop for placing her inside. Bill tried to chase the car but due to speed, he felt that it wouldn’t work. Then he called the police.
The same car was spotted at Hartford when a police officer, Martin Burke, travelled ,down Wethersfield Avenue. Burke saw something dangling from the car and dragging along the road with a “fluidic substance” coming out of it.
Officers reported from the area of Jordan Lane in Wethersfield at 5:10 AM. They saw a gruesome scene. A marred and macerated body of a young woman was lying on the sewage. The body of Leah Ulbrich was so unrecognisable. Police identified by her tattoos. “It was close to four miles long. The poor woman suffered the whole time. Hartford detective Drew Jacobson later disclosed. The roadway was blocked for several hours. It is the largest crime scene in Connecticut state history.
An autopsy later revealed that Leah died from blunt force trauma to her entire body.
Witnesses provide little informatolice to police. They described the vehicle as a dark coloured Nissan Maxima. A temporary plate displayed in the rear window. It sustained significant damage to the passenger side door, right rear fender as well as the seatbelt.The driver was in his mid to late twenties with slick back hair and good dressing. He was a thin white or Hispanic male.
Police ruled out him as Leah’s ex husband or any former boyfriends as well as any acquaintances. Leah would not know her killer despite being in the car with him.
In March 1996, a lead finally emerged. Investigators announced they obtained significant evidence and identified the prime suspect. A vehicle used in Leah’s murder matched the description. The man who owned the vehicle had a history of violence against women. He charged with 8 counts of kidnapping and attempt to commit sexual assault. Several women came forward. The man picked them up and took them to East Hartford. They were ruthlessly beaten and ultimately forced out of his vehicle. Unfortunately, carpet fibres found on Leah didn’t match the suspect’s car. Hence he was dispelled as a suspect.
Several years later authorities reach out to the public again for assistance. Hartford Police published details of a previously unreleased piece of evidence in 2002. The investigators found a cord fastened with an electrical device in the suspect’s vehicle. Police did not sure what exactly the cord came from. But most probably area mechanics made it. However no one came forward.
Sadly, it’s been 28 years since Leah’s murder. She was working so hard to get her life back on track. But left this world in such a violent way. “She wasn’t a bad person. She struggles, as we all have struggles.” Her young daughter Abrielle Ulbrich told Fox 61 in 2022. There is a $50,000 reward for any information in her case. But perhaps her murder remains unsolved.
