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TV show features Leighty murder

A Blair County murder that took nearly 14 years to solve is the topic of an Investigation Discovery channel crime documentary set to air Tuesday.

“Buried Deep” explores the story of Sherry Jean Leighty. It is the sixth episode of the Investigation Discovery series, “Welcome to Murdertown.”

When the 23-year-old Leighty disappeared in late September 1999, the explanation that the mother of three, who was in the middle of a divorce, had simply run away with a boyfriend to Maine didn’t make sense to Leighty’s family.

It took another 12 years for the family, led by sister Shelly Nagle, to convince Altoona police to look into Leighty’s disappearance. Meanwhile, rumors had circulated among Leighty’s eventual ex-husband’s family that the 23-year-old was buried somewhere on the family’s wooded hunting property in Huntingdon County. In April 2013, state police arrested Kenneth Leighty — Leighty’s former father-in-law and the last person to see her alive — on murder charges.

Britespark Films, a British production company, set out earlier this year to document the case as part of its series for Investigation Discovery that focuses on small town cold cases where those who know what happened stay silent.

“I was surprised,” Nagle said this week at her Altoona home. “I really wanted to do it, but I was undecided at the time. But … it gave me another platform to tell Sherry’s story.”

The producers had read Nagle’s book, “Through a Sister’s Eyes: My Struggle to Find the Truth,” about the struggle to get police to investigate Leighty’s disappearance, so when they arrived in Altoona in June to start filming.

They already knew the background, Nagle said.

Nagle said she tries to be a voice for Sherry and in doing so, perhaps help another family that has a missing loved one.

“There were times I didn’t know if we would ever find my sister,” Nagle said of the more than 13 years the family waited for answers. “Of course, I wasn’t giving up.”

Nagle said she hasn’t been given a sneak preview and will see the finished episode for the first time on Tuesday, just like everyone else.

Sitting down for the five hours of interviewing for the show was difficult, as it brought all of the emotions of her sister’s disappearance and murder back to the surface.

“We know Sherry’s gone,” Nagle said. “Just when you think you can move on, it all comes rolling back. But Sherry deserves for people to know she didn’t abandon her family.”

Her killer, Kenneth Leighty, was sentenced in February 2014 to seven to 14 years in state prison after reaching a deal with prosecutors that he would reveal the location of Sherry’s body in exchange for a guilty plea to third-degree murder. It’s a deal that her family remains unhappy about, particularly because Kenneth Leighty has never divulged the details of how or why Sherry Leighty was killed.

“He got a sweet deal,” Nagle said, adding she will be there in 2020 when Kenneth Leighty is eligible for parole.

Nagle said that as hard as it can be to talk about it, she won’t stop speaking on Sherry’s behalf.

“I will continue to be my sister’s advocate and use any forum available to tell her story and allow her memory to live on,” Nagle said.

The episode on Leighty airs Tuesday on Investigation Discovery, so check with your television provider for details on time and channel.

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