Karen Lofland
Real Name: Karen Lyn Lofland
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Location: South Hadley, Massachusetts
Date: September 19, 1996
Bio[]
Occupation: Student
Date of Birth: February 15, 1982
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 135 pounds
Marital Status: Dating
Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes.
Case[]
Details: In 1996, fourteen-year-old Karen Lofland of South Hadley, Massachusetts befriended forty-one-year-old Jimmy Ray LeGate. She and her family apparently did not know about his criminal past. In the summer of 1996, Legate was released from a Florida prison after serving seventeen months for molesting his own daughter. When the Loflands discovered LeGate had been carrying on a "relationship" with Karen, the two vanished on September 19, 1996.
Due to his prior convictions for lewd and lascivious conduct against minors, authorities fear for Karen's safety. He is currently wanted for probation violation, which prohibits unsupervised contact with children younger than 16. Other charges may be forthcoming.
Suspects: Jimmy Ray LeGate
Extra Notes: The case was featured as a part of a Special Bulletin in the November 15, 1996 episode.
Results: Solved. On January 6, 1997, local police and FBI agents found Legate living with Karen in a Portland, Oregon apartment. He was arrested while she was placed in protective custody and later reunited with her family. In December of 1998, Legate pleaded guilty to statutory rape and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Links:
- Karen Lofland on Unsolved Archive
- Warrant issued for missing man
- 2 Montanans say missing pair stayed with them
- Man, kidnapped girl may be in state
- Kidnapper, girl spent week in Butte
- Man captured after fleeing with girl
- LeGate waives extradition
- Sex offender held in Northampton on charges he exposed himself at homeless shelter