UPDATE: 8/28/08
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- With the return of Marshall University students and the start of a new school year comes new questions about the status of the Leah Hickman murder case. The Marshall student was found murdered in her Huntington apartment last December.

Captain Steve Hall with the Huntington Police Department says they have a “person of interest,” but are awaiting the results of DNA tests. Detectives received some preliminary results from the WV State Police Crime Lab in January. They couldn’t release those findings. Instead, they sent the evidence to an FBI lab in Arizona for additional, highly specialized testing. Detectives continue to await the outcome of those tests which typically takes a minimum of six months, although they’re not giving any timeline for when they expect to receive the results.

“We believe we have the right “person of interest”, but won’t know until we receive the DNA results. That test could either lead to an arrest or clear the individual,” said Capt. Hall.

Hall says the wait is very frustrating for the department and the family, but they all remain hopeful there will be an arrest and eventual closure to this case. In the meantime, leads have significantly diminished, but they’re still following up on everything they get.

Hickman went missing December 14th from her 8th Avenue apartment in Huntington. Her body was found a week later in a crawl space in the basement of her apartment building. Police later released she was strangled, but not sexually abused.

---

UPDATE: 7/11/08
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Huntington Police say they're still actively searching for the person who killed Marshall student Leah Hickman last December.

Sergeant Williams tells WSAZ.com's Carrie Cline that they're still awaiting results from DNA testing. They’re having some intricate tests run that just finished one stage at an FBI lab in Arizona and are now headed to the next stage.

According to Williams, detectives are still talking to a small pool of people and are developing new leads. He adds that they still have their theories that they're working on.

The case is ongoing and police say they're aggressively seeking any and all information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Leah Hickman’s murder.

Hickman was found strangled in a crawl space in her apartment building in December -- one week after she was reported missing.

So far, no suspects have been named in the case.

---

UPDATE: 3/13/08 @ 2PM
HUNTINGTON, W.Va (WSAZ) -- Huntington Police say Marshall student Leah Hickman was strangled -- and there are no signs that she was sexually assaulted.

Police say they do not believe Leah's murder was a random act -- and they believe the person or people responsible for the crime was/were "familiar with" Leah and the layout of her apartment building.

Police say they are not going to release the results of the DNA tests at this point in their investigation.

Police say they haven't excluded anyone with regard to suspects in the case -- and this is still a very active case.

Police say they met with Leah's family Wednesday prior to Thursday's news conference.

Huntington Police say tests are continuing and the investigation continues to involve multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and West Virginia State Police.

---

UPDATE: 3/13/08
HUNTINGTON, W.Va (WSAZ) -- WSAZ has confirmed that the Huntington Police Department will hold a news conference at 2pm regarding the Leah Hickman murder case.

A news release from the Huntington Police Criminal Investigations Bureau states that it "will be a brief meeting on the status of the Hickman investigation" -- but WSAZ's Dave Benton has learned that police are expected to release cause of death, evidence, and direction of the case.

Leah Hickman was the Marshall student who went missing on December 14th. Her body was found a week later in a crawl space in the basement of her apartment building.

As far we know, nobody has been arrested in the case. Police have been tight-lipped about the investigation.

WSAZ.com & WSAZ NewsChannel 3 will carry a live feed of the news conference at 2pm.

Stay with WSAZ.com for the latest information.

---

Latest Comments