It was one year ago that Leitchfield teenager Savanna Crawford disappeared from her Parkway Villa Apartments on Penner Drive.
The 16-year-old Crawford was last seen on Monday night, April 10, at approximately 7:10, walking away from the apartment she shared with her mother, Amanda Akridge, and other family members.
For two months, the Leitchfield Police Department, Grayson County Sheriff’s Office, several search and rescue teams, and police departments from around the state followed-up multiple leads on Savanna’s whereabouts, with no success.
And then on June 12, Savanna’s lifeless body was discovered by fishermen in Hardin County underneath a bridge on Hwy 84 (Sonora Hardin Springs Road), near the Western Kentucky Parkway. She had been missing for 64 days.
The case has baffled investigators since Savanna vanished, with autopsy results offering no clues into Savanna’s death.
“Savanna’s autopsy showed an unknown cause of death and unknown manner of death,” Leitchfield Police Department Detective Kevin Smith said. Smith, though, did say that police are reasonably certain she died not long after she went missing.
Although a year has passed since her disappearance, the investigation into her death has not been closed, as Det. Smith pleaded, “I would like to stress again how important it is for anyone with information on Savanna’s case to please come forward.”
Officials reiterate how important it is for anyone who may have seen Savanna, or someone who could have been Savanna, during the days after she vanished, to please come forward and share the information. Any nugget of knowledge could be key to the investigation, and might lead to offering Savanna’s family a sense of closure as they continue to mourn her death.
The Hardin County Sheriff’s Office is leading the death investigation.
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact the Leitchfield Police Department at 270-259-3850, or the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office at 270-765-5133.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com or 270-259-6000
