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An Oklahoma dairy farmer disappears with a mysterious stranger.
CASE DETAILS March 14, 1998, began as a typical morning at Leonard Dirickson’s dairy farm near Cheyenne, Oklahoma. Leonard and his 19 year old son, Jared, sat down to eat breakfast before a long day of chores.  Lenny left with a stranger Then, at 9 AM, a visitor arrived unannounced in a white pickup truck. Leonard spent several minutes talking to the driver of the truck. They did not appear to know each other, but their conversation seemed friendly. When Leonard returned, he told Jared that the man wanted to look at one of his stud horses. According to Jared, his father found nothing unusual about the stranger:
 Suspect wanted for questioning Jared Dirickson is still waiting for his father to come home. Nobody has any idea what happened to him. Police have found no signs of a struggle, no evidence of foul play, and no body. Their only clue is the mysterious man who came to Leonard’s house. Apparently, Leonard did not simply vanish immediately after leaving his home. Two hours later, a waitress claimed to have seen Leonard eating breakfast with another man at a local coffee shop. Clif Gann was an Inspector for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation:
 Did the man know where Lenny lived? The man at the diner matched the description of the man who picked Leonard up at his home. According to the waitress, there was nothing suspicious about the man’s behavior. Police checked the barn where Leonard kept his stud horse. But Leonard never went there that day. An exhaustive investigation that followed turned up no information on Leonard’s whereabouts. Then six months after he vanished, a man phoned police saying that Leonard Dirickson was in a bar in Amarillo, Texas. The man described Leonard in detail but told police he couldn’t reveal his name. By the time local police arrived at the bar, both the caller and the man he claimed was Leonard Dirickson were gone. The following day, the Roger Mills County Sheriff’s Department interviewed the bartender. She remembered the caller being at the bar and corroborated his story. Joe Hay was the Sheriff of Roger Mills County:
 Lenny was spotted at a bar Before his disappearance, Leonard had gone through a painful divorce and was having financial difficulties. Could he have just decided to walk away from it all? Jared Dirickson doesn’t think so:
If Leonard would not have left his son behind, the focus then switches back to the mysterious man. How did the stranger know where Leonard lived? And why was he asking about a horse that Leonard had not advertised for sale? Without a motive, the search for Leonard Dirickson will continue to be hampered. Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season eleven with Robert Stack and in season two with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu. SUBMIT A TIP |
Dean
They said he had just went through a bad divorce,did they ever question the ex wife?
Anonymous
Are they sure Curtis Holman is deceased? Someone resembling him seems to pop up on Unsolved Mysteries episodes. Also I wonder if the pickup had blue on top. (Some of those models were made like that.) And I don’t know DNA information but a Doe found in Rural Luna County New Mexico had some similarities. The body was found in 1999. But it took some time to discover it. It was deceased since 1998. Earlobes were attached, the nose was aligned in a way to show a diagonal smile. (But the doe wasn’t smiling.) The person was murdered very violently.
Jojo
Could he have been homosexual and left with his lover?
Mv
Lmao
Anonymous
That is possible. The horse story may have been made up by Lenny. (He really couldn’t hold his horses.)
Suspicious in Seattle
I think it’s possible that Leonard didn’t want to explain to his son how he knew the man, so he simply told a lie and said “he wants to look at one of my horses… I’ll be back later”. He may have been protecting his son by telling the lie and by leaving with the man rather than dealing with their business right there with his son present. I think the sighting at the bar may well have been a ruse to make people think he’d left on his own. Notice the caller said he would wait for police, but was unwilling to give his name. That tells me he had no intention of waiting for police.
Herb Douglas
One angle that did not get sufficient consideration in my view is the possibility of a professional hit called for by the ex-wife. The guy who picked him up simply knew too much about his home, how to get to it, and what kind of horses he had.
If the son was in communication with his mother, he might have unwittingly provided information used in the construction of the ploy involving buying a horse from him.
This possibility was probably ruled out because the son ruled it out because he didn’t want to believe such a thing about his own mother.
My eye is very drawn to the line in the wikia about the marital status being ‘Divorced.’
I am unsettled by the fact that they seem to know the identity of the man who picked him up that day and have not searched his property and their reason for not doing so is because the suspect “doesn’t want them to.”
Anonymous
It looks like two people were involved. It is very difficult for one person to gather all that information and to pursue without assistance. But a person I’m thinking about is capable of doing that.
Dean
Totally agree. They said he had just went through a bad divorce. To my knowledge they have never even questioned the ex wife. Now let the roles be reversed. I gurantee the ex husband would have been questioned several times.
Frankie
The son did it , hes in cahoots with the waitress . Dont make sense why hed leave with stranger
Anonymous
That is unthinkable. His son is the most devastated victim in the case. I feel very sympathetic towards him.
Oliver Dirickson
Distant cousin of my dads would really like to see an episode on this case. Whole family still knows nothing about what happened to this day.
Tom
I am very sorry Oliver. I hope they find him soon.
thinkingoutloud
if he was going through financial trouble maybe he owed someone or people a large amount of money and was having trouble paying them. so a stranger, someone who is linked to someone or the people he owes money to, shows up offering to pay a large sum of money for a horse so he becomes interested. he travel with this man to talk pricing and he/them ultimately wind up killing him for not being able to pay.
i dont think he was in that bar in texas 6 months later. the witness couldve been mistaken or the man at the bar heavily resembled leonard.
Bill Blaski
. According to a relative, police do have a suspect in the case; the man knew Lenny, lives in Texas, and has allegedly refused to let investigators search his properties. However, no further information is available on the alleged suspect.
I pulled this paragraph above from a different site. Can anyone confirm there is a person of interest? Please tell me a name or provide a link?
Bill Blaski
I don’t pay for amazon prime, but I get Netflix for free b/c T-Mobile. I hope the new unsolved mysteries launches soon. I hope they mix in old cases and new cases.
Rich Harvey
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES complete episodes and seasons are now available on Amazon Prime!
Bill Blaski
Glad to see videos coming back to you tube! LEONARD DRICKSON case has always perplexed me. I hope the new unsolved mysteries show shines some light on this case.
Sis
I am thinking that maybe the dad new the guy. Maybe had a relationship with him (Gay) so maybe he left with him trusting that they was going to be together. It’s heart breaking for his son & family for sure. I would never be able to leave my children over my owne selfish gains. Lots of Prayers for the son & family. I have family in Cheyenne ok & Elk as well I spent lots of time there on my gramps & grandmas land my heart goes out to you.
Shurlock
http://crimeblogger1983.blogspot.com/2017/08/quick-entry-3-peculiar-disappearance-of.html
bed
why would you get into a person’s car and you really don’t know them??? That sound funny to me, I mean you don’t know if they got a gun or what? You just met the dude and your getting in his car??????? I’ll be like I’m getting in my own car follow me.
Cathy R
I agree you never get into someone’s car without knowing who they are and what their motives are.
Anonymous
This story really broke me, I really hope that the son has some sort of justice. Several years later and he’s almost the age his dad was when he went missing. Hope the son is staying happy and healthy and living a somewhat normal life. Hope we have answers soon!
Chanita
I’m Worried …… How Did That Man Know Where Know Lenny And His Son Was? It’s A Possibility That Lenny Might Have Been Murdered And I Am Starting To Suspect That The Man Was Someone That Knew Where To Look! What Did That Man Say To Lenny?! And Why Did Lenny Leave His Son?! And Finally Why Was Lenny At The Bar?!
Anonymous
The LGBT community has ways to find each other. Such encounters are very discreet and dangerous. Missing men are easier cases than missing women. There was a lot less suspects that target men for that time period.
Anonymous
This is a very sad story and it hit my heart also.. I find myself praying for him to be found especially for his son.
Beccaboo
I felt so bad for his son. This one has always stuck with me. Lenny seemed to be a hard worker and a genuine guy. Could the son provide anymore information? I must watch the segment again but did the son get the number plate?
Relative
Our family has no clue what happened to Leonard. My dad used to receive letters from someone stating that would see him all the time in Oregon, but nothing was ever found. Leonard never seemed like the one to walk away. The episode didn’t mention a suspect in Texas that Leonard had ties to. Don’t believe the man ever let the authorities gain access to his properties.
Lucy
If this person won’t allow authorities to search his property, that sounds 1000% guilty to me. If he has nothing to hide, he should GLADLY WELCOME the authorities to search his property.
Jason
Did the police ever investigate the ex-wife of Leonard, since he apparently owed several thousand dollars in debt and was about to have his farm sold? (This is public record now.) If Lenny had gone “missing”, wouldn’t that give the ex wife (who was divorcing him at the time) legal control of the farm land and therefore be the one to receive any payouts from its sale? His children wouldn’t be able to get it as they would have both been minors at the time. This case has haunted me from the first time I saw it, and I have a strong suspicion the ex-wife is behind all of this. I have no explanation for the mysterious sighting of him at the club, though; perhaps it was a red herring by the killer himself to throw them off his trail?
Anonymous
I don’t believe the wife had anything to do with it. He may have been headed west however. It is possible he was spotted there. But your possibility of a diversion is also possible. There is also the possibility of mistaken identity. But we know for sure he was in Texas. (He told his son he was going there.)
LUIS FREEH
HE LOOKS JUST LIKE THE LAST GUY WHO DISAPEARED WHEN HIS BOAT CAP-SIZED IN MEXICO! EXACTLY LIKE HIM!
Me
Does anyone know how to obtain the earlier episodes of Unsolved Mysteries? I loved that show and the only way I know how to watch it would be to buy the series on eBay for almost $400 bucks. No thanks. Anyone know of any way to buy the entire series any cheaper?? Again, I’m only interested in the Robert Stack Unsolved Mysteries.
That Other Guy Commenting
I’m looking also.
Miss watching this series
Vanessa
Amazon prime has them ALL !!!
Mimi
PlutoTv
Trevor
Has their been any update in this case?
Anonymous
How do I watch this one
unsolved
This story airs on Lifetime – check for the latest schedule here: http://www.mylifetime.com/lifetime-tv-schedule/
Hassan Elghoul
You cant. It used to be on youtube but youtube removed it.
Vanessa
AMAZON PRIME has them ALL 🙂