Ozark County Sheriff Darrin Reed confirmed Wednesday burned skeletal remains have been found on the property of Rebecca Ruud, the biological mother of missing 16-year-old Savannah Leckie. The autistic teen from the Longrun/Ocie area has been missing from her home off County Road 905 since July 20.
The Ozark County Times reports Reed says he currently has a forensics expert analyzing the DNA from the bones, and an odontologist, a scientist specializing in dental identification, analyzing multiple teeth that were also found. Reed hopes the scientists can confirm whether the remains are Leckie’s. Reed says at least one tooth found in the rubble had a filling, and dental records show that Leckie did have fillings.
Reed emphasizes that officers cannot comment as to who the remains belong to until the experts release their findings, which could take “some time.”
Officers with the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol reportedly executed a search warrant on the property Friday and discovered the human remains in a burn pile exactly 1,206 feet from the home that Leckie and Ruud occupied.
Reed says authorities executed three additional search warrants on the property Wednesday.
The Ozark County Sheriff says, “The only remains left in the burn pile were bones, no flesh or tissue, and they appeared to have been crushed and burned over and over again. A freshly cut cedar tree had been put on top of the burn pile,” Reed says. “We had two separate anthropologists examine the bones in the last few days, and they both confirmed that they are human remains and those of a human with a small stature matching Savannah’s size.”
Reed says officers found several cigarette butts around the burn pile, as if whoever was responsible sat there a long time while smoking.
Leckie was entered into the National Crime Information Centers Missing Person database on July 20 after her mother, Rebecca Ruud, called the sheriffs office around 10 that morning to report her missing. Ruud reportedly told the sheriffs office that Leckie was asleep in her bed around 11 p.m. the night before, but when Ruud awoke around 8 the next morning, she was gone.
Ruud said a neighbor helped her search the familys farm, but Leckie was nowhere to be found. Ruud has repeatedly posted for help in finding Leckie on her Facebook page, and she started a Go Fund Me account titled “I need an attorney,” in which Ruud is hoping to raise $20,000. On the crowdfunding account, Ruud posted, “I reported my daughter missing on July 20, 2017. Police are investigating me, which is good that they are eliminating me as a suspect. During this investigation they are infringing upon my rights, and I need an attorney. I cannot afford one. If I raise more funds for an attorney than I need, the balance will go toward a reward for information leading to finding my daughter.”
In response to those commenting on her Facebook page Wednesday about the search warrant being executed on her property, Ruud responded at 2:30 p.m. stating, “I have legal council, who has instructed me to say no more on the matter.”
Leckie’s aunt Lisa Orn told the Times Tuesday that although Ruud is Leckie’s biological mother, the girl had been adopted at birth by Orn’s sister, Tamile. The girl is said to have lived in Minnesota with her adopted family from infancy until last year, when she moved in with her biological mother at Ruud’s home in the Longrun area. Leckie was 15 years old at that time. Orn says Tamile is still Savannah’s legal parent.
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