The stripper and the steelworker

Betsy Leppink: He called us and said "I’ve met the most wonderful gal in the world."

Kent Leppink was - for the first time in his life - in love.

And, so what if she was an exotic dancer at The Great Alaskan Bush Company. He told his family so often for a year and a half that they were already planning the wedding.  He'd put her name on his fishing business, had written up a will leaving everything to her, named each other as beneficiaries on their life insurance policies. Kent was covered for a million dollars and Mechele was approved for 150,000.

Kent even asked his brother Ransom to be his best man.

Ransom Leppink: He was excited to be getting married. And excited to be engaged.

But of course, Kent's family didn't have any idea about the living arrangement in the home of that ex-steelworker, John Carlin. Or that Mechele and Carlin had taken son John Carlin IV aside and...

John Carlin IV: I don't remember exactly how it was said. But Mechele showed me her ring. And they were getting married. Oh, cool! (laughs)

Nor did the Leppinks know of Mechele's previous engagement to Scott Hilke. That's three engagements in a year and a half.

Nor did the family realize that Carlin and Leppink seemed determined to outspend each other on Mechele. Carlin spent thousands on a fur coat, both men contributed thousands to her home renovation, and both men bought jewelry for her --from the same jeweler.

Dana Danford: Kent would ask me for an estimate to make something or how much a particular item was. And generally that day or by the next day, John Carlin would either call me or come in and ask for the same exact thing.

In fact, Carlin spent $11,000 on a ring for Mechele. At the same time, Kent was rapidly burning through cash he'd need for the fishing season.

So now, the competition was a contest larded with misinformation. Though they all seemed to be very fond of each other, they weren't exactly truthful.

And the lies? Well, that took some keeping track. For example: Kent had been led to believe by somebody that Carlin was impotent. Carlin thought that Kent was actually gay and therefore not a serious competitor.

Mechele was still occasionally going to visit Scott in California. That romance was still quite hot.

Kent, however, explained to his family that it was Scott, the ex-fiancé, who was the gay one.

He, Kent, was going to marry Mechele. They'd even set tentative dates, though, lately, that wedding date seemed to have been sliding. Mechele seemed less available and Kent's finances were spinning out of control.

His dad flew up to Alaska again to sort out the money and a date for the wedding.

But the very day his father was to arrive, Kent called his mother back in Michigan. Said Mechele was missing -- had gone to a secret cabin in a tiny town 90 miles away. To a place called Hope.

Betsy Leppink: He said, "Mom, I’m on my way to Hope." I said, "You're going to Hope? Why?" And he said, "I have reason to believe that Mechele is in Hope, at a cabin in Hope. I’m looking for her."

Kent had found a note in the house he shared with Mechele and Carlin suggesting Mechele was having some secret rendezvous - with someone else - in Hope.

So he drove the 90 miles down the highway, a photograph of Mechele in hand. He stopped in at the Discovery Cafe to ask around.

Maria Motoyama: He said that she was his fiancée. And she was in town for the weekend to help a friend with the roof over a cabin.

No one had seen her. So Kent returned to Anchorage empty handed, and picked up his father at the airport.

He told his father Mechele was in Hope with a friend, and that John Carlin knew where she was and wouldn't tell him.

It was worrisome, yes, and strange, and about to get even stranger.

Keith Morrison, Dateline NBC: He gave you something while you were there.

Ken Leppink: Yeah, he did. He reached in his pocket and he comes out with an envelope. And he said, "Here, this is for you." And so I, opened it up. And it was a change of beneficiary to a life insurance policy.

It was a million-dollar policy on Kent's life. Kent, unable to find Mechele, and upset, had changed the beneficiary from Mechele to his own parents and a brother.

The policy, he told his father, was a wedding gift from Mechele's grandfather.

Ken Leppink: I said, "Nobody gives a life insurance policy for a wedding present." I said, "Kent, this is dangerous." I said, "You better either cancel this policy. You better do something with it real quick because I don't like the smell of this." "Well," he says -- "I’m a big boy, you know, I can handle myself."

And so Kent's father flew home to Michigan. And soon he received a package from the son he had just left back in Alaska.

The package Kent sent to his parents back here in Michigan was very strange indeed. It was an envelope, about that big, and inside were a letter and a second, very carefully sealed envelope. If anything bad should happen to me, Kent had written in the letter, open that second seal.

Betsy Leppink: For us it was panic.

Here is some of what he wrote:

"Put the enclosed envelope in your safe deposit box. Do not open it. I talked to you about "insurance policies." This is mine. If I didn't think that things could get a little "rough" up here, I wouldn't have sent you this. Don't get all nervous and call me on the phone about this."

But of course, Kent's mother Betsy called right away. No answer. She left a message.

Betsy Leppink: "Kent, this is mom. This is an emergency. Call us as quickly as possible."

Oh, there was a call, alright. But it wasn't Kent.

Ransom Leppink: A sheriff's deputy showed up at my house. It was about 3:00 in the morning. He knocked on the door. So I jumped out of bed and rushed to the door. And he shared with me that, "Your brother's been involved in a homicide in Soldotna, Alaska." And it struck me and confused me. And I said, "My brother is dead?" He said, "Yes."

They found his body on a dirt access road not far from the little hamlet called Hope. The first bullet was to his back, the last to his face. The killer did not try to hide him, or bury his body. Just left him there.

Betsy Leppink: It never stops, Keith. Never. It never, ever will be over. They take a piece of your heart and destroy it. And you never grow that back again. Just have a hole there.

But why? Who? Of course, Kent had sent his family that letter: open if something happens to me. They did.

Ransom Leppink: In the letter, he spelled out who his murderers were.

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