Ron Hickman keeps his daughter’s memory alive in many ways, from the wristband he wears to the car he drives.
MASON COUNTY, W.Va. — Whenever Ron Hickman is in Huntington, he drives to the apartment building where his daughter was found murdered, he sits outside in his car with the license plate “LEAHSDAD,” and he prays for justice.
“I have people praying for me, praying for the case..that’s (prayer) the only way I know to get through this,” Ron said. “People can feel sorry for you, and have empathy, but until it happens to you…it’s a feeling I can’t describe. I have to rely on God.”
The feeling Ron couldn’t find words to describe is the loss of his daughter Leah at the age of 21. Originally from Mason County and a student at Marshall University, Leah was last seen alive on Dec. 14, 2007. After an agonizing week of searching for the young woman, her body was eventually found in a crawl space in her apartment building on 8th Ave. in Huntington. She was strangled to death.
The anniversary of Leah’s death never gets any easier for Ron, though this year, media outlets in the Huntington area have reported the Huntington Police Department are not treating this as a cold case. The Huntington Herald Dispatch recently reported Huntington Police Chief Joe Ciccarelli as saying it is an ongoing investigation which recently splintered off into smaller investigations.
Ron said Chief Ciccarelli, who was working for the FBI at the time of Leah’s murder, has a “real desire” to see the case solved as do many in the Huntington community.
“They have assured me it (the case) is still active,” Ron told the Point Pleasant Register this week, reiterating he’s been told in the past this may be a situation where DNA and forensic technology will eventually catch up with the needs of the case…