How does a 17-year-old boy, still living at home, not involved with drugs or with gangs, with no enemies to speak of, who had never been in any real trouble before, end up alone in the woods with a single gunshot wound in his head?
An Aug. 19, 2021 story in The Augusta Press told the story of Glenn Hills High School student, Leon Ellison, who was devoted to his family and well-liked by all who knew him, according to sources close to him.
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On April 8, 1994, Ellison’s body was discovered in a vacant, wooded lot on the 4400 block of Peach Orchard Road.
Leomie Blocker, Ellison’s mother, said that a couple living in a mobile home community near where her son was found is to be credited with the discovery of his body. The couple had let the dog out, and it returned with a single shoe. Being familiar with the ongoing search for Ellison, the couple chose to alert the authorities.
Ellison had been missing for nearly two weeks by that time.
March 29, 1994 was Ellison’s 17th birthday. It was also the day that he disappeared, seemingly into thin air.
Ellison drove his mother to work in the family’s 1986 Oldsmobile Delta 88, as was his custom, and was supposed to pick her up at the end of her shift. Instead, that was the last goodbye Blocker ever shared with her son.
When Ellison didn’t pick her up, Blocker said she immediately phoned the authorities but was met with resistance. Richmond County deputies dismissed the issue as a boy who had likely run off to be with a girl or get into some other kind of trouble, Blocker said.
It took a call from a friend in law enforcement from their home state of New Jersey to the then-Sheriff Ronnie Strength, Blocker said, before deputies began to show interest or effort into finding her son.
They began by retracing Ellison’s steps the day he went missing. After dropping off his mother, Ellison drove to Regency Mall. The mall was still open at the time; it would not fully shut down operations until 2002.
While there, Ellison visited a record shop where he had befriended the store owner.
“Leon had a baseball collection, and whenever he needed money for gas or something, he’d go in and trade off some of the cards. The guy would give him $15 – $20, and when Leon got his paycheck from the gas station, he’d go in and buy them back,” Blocker said.
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The owner told deputies that Ellison left the shop around 1 p.m., Blocker said.
This would have given him plenty of time to drive to Applebee’s on Wrightsboro Road for the job interview Blocker said Ellison had scheduled for 2 p.m., but he never made it to the interview.
Three days after his disappearance, Ellison’s Oldsmobile reappeared not only in the Regency Mall parking lot, but in the exact spot where Ellison always parked. Only now, it had suffered extensive damage to both the exterior and the interior of the vehicle. It was certain that the car had not been there in the days prior, because a security guard who was friends with the family had scoured the parking lot daily, looking specifically for that vehicle, Blocker said.
“Whenever we went to the mall, he’d go and get whatever he wanted and then come find me. So, we would park in the same spot so he would know where to come,” Blocker said. “Only one other person knew where we parked.”
Looking back, Blocker recalled that all the paperwork that would typically have been in the glove compartment – proof of insurance and the car’s registration – had been removed. While she found that strange, what she says she has never been able to shake is that the car was parked in her son’s usual spot.
Betty Ellison, the eldest of Leon Ellison’s three siblings, said even 28 years later, she remembers hearing that whoever dumped the car had used some kind of acid or acid-like fluid on both the front and back seats, as well as the steering wheel in an attempt to wash away evidence and remove fingerprints.
The discovery of the family car was significant, but Leon Ellison was still nowhere to be found. In fact, his body wouldn’t be found for another week.
When deputies were finally led to Leon Ellison’s body, it was badly decomposed and, according to the coroner’s report, had likely been the target of wildlife. The report shows that Investigator (now Captain) Pat Young only found parts of the body at the scene. A backbone and rib cage were recovered along with a decomposed skull and one foot still inside a shoe.
Identification was recovered with the remnants of clothing found nearby, but it would take dental records to prove that the remains belonged to Leon Ellison.
Despite being able to narrow down the window of his disappearance to just one hour, investigators were never able to gather enough evidence against any one person to make an arrest.
Drugs and gang activity were ruled out as possible motives early on. Leon Ellison had no ties or affiliation to that lifestyle.
Blocker said that investigators did approach her about a tip they received that her son had gotten into an argument with someone not long before his disappearance. While she was aware of the argument and the extent to which it had troubled her son, Blocker told investigators at the time that she did not believe it was connected to her son’s death.
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Richmond County investigators interviewed at least 50 people and several polygraphs were done, according to Blocker, but each road was a dead end.
Over the years, with no solid leads the case eventually went cold.
It is said however that there is no love like that of a mother for her child, and Leomie Blocker proves that true each day. Every day, for more than 28 years Blocker has prayed for her son. She has never stopped searching, championing for justice for her child.
“There’s not a day goes by that I don’t think, I hope something happens today,” Blocker said. “If I could find out what really happened, I could put that part of it to rest.”
Leon Ellison’s siblings too, pray for closure, which Betty Ellison said can only be found through the resolution of her brother’s case and justice being served.
“When Leon died, I really believe it shook my father’s faith,” Betty Ellison said. “My father died without my brother’s case being resolved. I don’t want that for my mother.”
“When Leon was kidnapped and murdered, the world missed out on the opportunity to have a decent human being in it,” Blocker said.
If you have any information on the slaying of Leon Ellison, please contact the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office at (706) 821-1020 or The Augusta Press at (706) 834-8677.
Anna Virella is the newsroom coordinator with The Augusta Press. Reach her at anna@theaugustapress.com.
