Remains in a burn pit in southern Missouri were verified to be those of a Minnesota teen who went there to live with her biological mother, who is now in jail, according to authorities.
Ozark County Sheriff Darrin Reed said Monday that dental records from Minnesota helped confirm that the skeletal remains belong to 16-year-old Savannah Leckie, who had been missing from the 81-acre farm home where she had been living for 11 months with Rebecca Ruud. The remains turned up about 1,200 feet from the home during a search on Aug. 4.
"From information I received (Monday) from forensic specialists, and evidence that was obtained, the remains that were recovered are those of 16-year-old Savannah Leckie, of Longrun (Mo.)," Reed said in a statement. In a followup statement Tuesday, Reed said, "The investigation has intensified."
There had been little doubt among Leckie's adoptive parents, Tamile Montague of Minneapolis and David Leckie of Park Rapids, who are divorced, that the remains would be anyone but their daughter's.
Cary Steeves, a friend of Savannah's Minnesota parents and acting as their spokesman, said Tuesday that "we are grieving for the loss of our loved one." Leckie's parents in Minnesota intend to say more later in the day through the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, Steeves added.
Jail records Tuesday morning list the 39-year-old Ruud as being in custody. She has yet to be charged. Ruud had volunteered publicly that she was being investigated as a suspect in the case. She started an online campaign on GoFundMe to raise money to pay for an attorney.
Ruud has told authorities that the teen was home when she went to sleep on the night of July 19 and was not there the next morning. Ruud said she and a neighbor searched the property and then contacted authorities later that morning.
"Police are investigating me, which is good that they are eliminating me as a suspect," she explained on a GoFundMe campaign to raise money online for an attorney. The page has since been taken down.
Steeves said Ruud's boyfriend also was living at the farm at the time Leckie disappeared. Ruud and Robert E. Peat Jr. were married on the day the remains were found. Jail records in Missouri do not list him as being in custody.
Montague last spoke with her daughter on the teen's 16th birthday on June 3, Steeves said.
