Betrayed: Pregnant 15-year-old Becky Stowe murdered by her 16-year-old boyfriend Robert Leamon Jr

This week Betrayed highlights the tragic death of pregnant teen Rebecca Stowe, who was murdered just days after telling her boyfriend she was pregnant.

July 13, 1993, in Niles, Mich., and 15-year-old Rebecca Stowe disappeared without a trace. Police questioned various suspects, family, friends and her 16-year-old boyfriend Robbie Leamon, but the case went cold.

Then two years later Leamon confessed to a new girlfriend that he’d killed Stowe. Her body was eventually discovered buried on the farm belonging to Leamon’s uncle. His cousin also testified that at the time around the killing Leamon had told him a ditch they saw was big enough to bury Stowe, though the cousin claimed he thought Leamon was joking.

Eventually Leamon confessed to killing Stowe, but he claimed it was accidental. The trial took place in 1997 and the jury did not believe Leamon, convicting him as an adult of first-degree murder and giving a life sentence with no possibility of parole.

His reason for killing Stowe seems to be that she was pregnant and wanted to keep the baby, she’d told him the day before he killed her. He’d pre-dug a grave at the farm and took her there on the pretext of a picnic, before breaking her neck when she relaxed.

The autopsy was unable to determine whether Stowe was pregnant at the time of her death.

Betrayed airs on Thursdays at 10:00 PM on Investigation Discovery.