A Mississippi 13-year-old who went missing over 32 years ago has been declared legally dead at the request of her parents.
Leigh Occhi vanished on August 27, 1992, from her Tupelo home. Her mother, Vickie Felton, left Occhi at the house to leave for work but shortly returned to check on Leigh because of an approaching storm. When she arrived, she found blood on the walls and floor – but not her daughter.
Law enforcement promptly canvassed the area after Felton notified the police. Other search parties were organized in the following month, but nothing was found. Several weeks after she was reported missing, Occhi’s glasses were mailed to her residence and addressed to her stepfather Barney Yarborough, who separated from Felton around two weeks before her disappearance. It was the final lead in the investigation.
Felton filed an amended petition for declaratory relief in Lee County Chancery Court on October 1 to have her daughter Leigh Marine Occhi declared dead under state law. Donald Occhi, Leigh’s father, signed the petition the next day.
“I just decided that I wanted to do it,” Felton told The Daily Journal. “It felt it was time to do it. It has been 32 years.”
Felton has mused in years past about what led to the disappearance of her daughter, citing a potential abduction or amnesia. And the man that Occhi’s family felt was responsible, Oscar Kearns, never spoke to police about her vanishing before he died in 2021.
Kearns was a Sunday school teacher at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, where Felton and Occhi attended. He was convicted of kidnapping a female minor, who was connected through the same church, eight months after Occhi’s disappearance. He pleaded guilty to rape, serving just over three years of an eight-year sentence.
Less than two years after his release, he kidnapped an adult couple and raped the wife – pleading guilty and spending two decades in Mississippi state prison. He died two years after his final release in 2019.
“Despite exhaustive investigation by state and federal authorities, as well as private investigation, the fate of Leigh Marine Occhi remains unknown,” Felton’s petition reads. “It has now been 32 years … and during that time, no evidence has come to light that she remains alive.”
The case of Occhi’s disappearance captured national attention in the decades following, including being featured on the critically acclaimed podcast Crime Junkie in 2021.
While Occhi was legally declared dead following Felton’s petition, Tupelo police say the case is still an open missing persons investigation. Those with information regarding the case are encouraged to contact the Tupelo Police Department at (662)841-6491, or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi at (1800)773-8477.
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