Snapped Mechele Linehan and Kent Leppink

Status: Released 

In season 7, episode 4 the murder of her fiancé Kent Leppink by Mechele Linehan is shown. This murder occurred in the state of Alaska. Oxygen describes this episode of Snapped as Mechele Linehan's fiancé Kent Leppink is gunned down in the Alaskan wilderness in May 1996, and ten years later she is charged in the murder.

Between mid-1994 and mid-1996 Mechele Linehan (whose name was then Mechele Hughes) maintained romantic relationships with several men, three of whom are important to this case: Scott Hilke, John Carlin, and Kent Leppink. Linehan's romantic relationships with these three men were essentially simultaneous, and all three men were aware (to a greater or lesser extent) of the nature of the others' relations with Linehan. Indeed, for several months, Linehan, Carlin, and Leppink all lived in the same house in Anchorage. (Hilke lived in California.)
On the morning of May 2, 1996, Leppink was found shot to death outside of the small town of Hope (about 90 miles by road from Anchorage). According to the pathologist's investigation, Leppink was killed sometime between 6 hours and 48 hours before his body was discovered-that is, sometime between mid-day on April 30th and the early morning hours of May 2nd.

Mechele Linehan is found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison. The Alaska Court of Appeals overturned Linehan's conviction in 2010. Anchorage Superior Court dismissed the murder indictment against Linehan on 2011. She returned to her life in Seattle with her doctor husband and continues to insist she is innocent.



You can not write to Mechele Linehan as she is not incarcerated.

Mechele Linehan

To view graves or obituaries, click on the victim name link. To read the full appeal filed by the killer, use the link on the killer's name.

Looking for other female inmates? Try these sites

Deadly Affairs | Deadly Women | Fatal Attraction | For My Man 

Snapped Killer Couples | Twisted Sisters | Women Behind Bars