Zachary Michael Bernhardt (4 of Diamonds, Florida)

The Deck

This final episode of The Deck revisits the unsolved disappearance of eight-year-old Zachary Michael Bernhardt from his Clearwater, Florida apartment

Key takeaways

• Zachary's mother, Leah Hackett, claimed she left the apartment unlocked after a midnight swim, which raised suspicion despite no evidence of forced entry or struggle.
• The investigation has long focused on Leah, but new leadership is seeking fresh perspectives and public input to re-examine old leads.

Main topics

• Cold case investigation
• Missing child case

Notable quotes

"Zach was eight years old and living with his mother... he wouldn't do things to put himself in harm's way."

Conclusion

As The Deck concludes its run, this episode serves as both a final tribute to unsolved cases and a call

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) When we think of national parks, we picture peaceful hikes, scenic overlooks, and quiet moments. But Park Predators reminds us that even in the most beautiful places, dark secrets might be lurking. This podcast explores true stories of crimes that took place in the outdoors, places meant to bring people together with nature, but where things went tragically wrong. If you're drawn to the storytelling here on The Deck, you'll want to check out Park Predators. Listen to Park Predators anywhere you get your podcasts. Our card this week is Zachary Michael Bernhardt, the Four of Diamonds from Florida. Almost 26 years ago, eight-year-old Zachary vanished from a second-floor apartment in Clearwater, Florida, while most of his neighbors were sleeping. Speaker 1 (1:08) There was no sign of forced entry, no sign of a struggle, no trace of him leaving. Speaker 1 (1:21) This was one of the early cases I covered on Crime Junkie more than seven years ago. But it's time to revisit it. And this time, we have the inside track on what is now the longest-running Amber Alert in the state of Florida and one of the largest cold case investigations in the history of Clearwater PD. This investigation was extremely thorough. They interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people as part of this investigation. They searched miles and miles of area. And, you know, we're talking about this case almost 26 years later, and we're no closer to finding Zach. For years, the investigation appeared to focus on Zach's mom, Leah. What was she doing away from home that night? Why would she leave the apartment unlocked? It could have been an innocent middle-of-the-night walk, or... The second theory would be that Leah just isn't telling us the truth. Speaker 1 (2:19) about what occurred that night. A new lieutenant recently took over the case, and he is hoping that you can help him find answers. I'm Ashley Flowers, and this is The Deck. It was around 4.45 in the morning on September 11th of 2000 when a call came into Clearwater PD Dispatch that would rearrange assignments for every officer on duty. Speaker 1 (3:24) The caller identified herself as Leah Hackett. She was calling from a second-floor apartment at the Savannah Trace Complex on the east side of Clearwater. Her eight-year-old son, Zachary, was missing. Speaker 1 (3:47) Lieutenant Anthony Monti was on shift that morning. He was a beat cop on patrol in another part of the city. He wasn't part of the first brigade of officers dispatched to the apartment complex. But by the end of that day, the entire department was consumed by this mysterious disappearance. I was one of a few patrol officers that was actually brought up to the criminal investigations to assist with. ongoing everyday cases while the entire division was investigating the disappearance of Zachary Bernhardt. Lieutenant Monte is now the one in charge of the investigation as part of the Clearwater Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division. Anytime we get a call of a missing child, those calls are handled urgently. We send, you know, as many resources as we can to start searching for that child. And those types of calls are taken very seriously. Speaker 1 (4:43) Even though he's been with the department for just about 30 years, it was only this year that he was assigned the Bernhardt case. And he sat down with the files, all 38 binders full, chronicling an investigation that has gone on for nearly 26 years. One that started with that panicked 911 call. Speaker 1 (5:12) It only took about 30 minutes for the first detective to arrive at Leah's apartment. On that 911 call, Leah had mentioned leaving the apartment to go for a swim and having left the apartment unlocked. So it wasn't a surprise that they didn't find any sign of forced entry. No broken windows, no pried open doors. Zach's clothes, his stuffed animals, his Super Nintendo, all in place. Nothing packed, nothing taken. The apartment complex where Zach and his mom lived is now called the Eden at Clearwater. But in 2000, it was Savannah Trace, which faces Drew Street. Back then, trees lined the sidewalk, separating the complex from the road. Those trees are mostly gone today, but even back then, anyone walking down Drew Street could see the front door of their unit from the street. But it was before sunrise when Leah said that Zach vanished, so not a lot of people around to be paying attention. Speaker 1 (6:08) And when police talked to Leah in those early hours, she told them that Zach would never have left on his own. Now, we don't have audio of that first police interview, but Lieutenant Monty confirmed it was along the lines of what Leah told the 911 operator when she first realized that Zach was gone. Speaker 1 (6:33) I never want it all. Speaker 1 (6:44) Zach was eight years old and living with his mother and their dog, Kasha, in the two-story apartment unit. He also had a half-sister, Leah's other child, who was living with her own father in Michigan. Zach lived with Leah, but actually for most of that summer, he had been staying with his grandmother, Carol. Zachary had only recently moved back in with Leah because he was getting ready to start school at Eisenhower Elementary School. So that was why he obviously returned. Zach was in third grade that year. He was a very polite, well-mannered boy. Some described him as timid, kind of a rule follower. Whatever his mom told him, he did. And just a very well-mannered, polite boy. Speaker 1 (7:27) All the things Leah told the 911 operator were true, including, by everyone's account, that she was a strict parent. You know, she had strict rules for him. And, you know, during the course of this investigation, we learned that he wouldn't do things to put himself in harm's way. And I know part of the things that I read is he wouldn't leave the apartment complex without permission from his mother. And if she wasn't in the apartment. he was not to leave the apartment. So those kind of things tell us or kind of lead us to believe that Zachary wouldn't have just left the apartment that night on his own. Speaker 1 (8:05) On the evening of September 10th, according to Leah, Zach had been outside playing with the other kids in the complex until dusk. He had a crush on a girl, actually, who lived there named Autumn. They had gotten into a mud fight, which, like, mud fight with your crush names something better. You can't. He came in dirty, showered, then he and his mom had dinner together and watched a movie. At around 10, 30, or 11, Leah told police that Zach climbed into her bed rather than his own and fell asleep. on the far side of the bed against the wall. But Lita didn't have the same bedtime as her eight-year-old son. She was a night owl who regularly burned the midnight oil. Speaker 1 (8:43) So after Leah put Zachary to bed that evening, she did various things in the apartment. She at times would be utilizing her computer and would be in chat rooms. There were times that she said she read for about an hour or so. And then she also started to watch the movie again that her and Zachary had watched earlier that evening. You know, as the night went on, she described being restless. was looking for something to do and she decided at that point that she was going to go to the pool and go for a swim. That was around 4 in the morning. The pool officially closed at 10 and was locked. But Lieutenant Monte took us to the scene to show us how she might have gotten in. She told us that she walked over to this area here between this building and this fence pole here. And at the time, there was a gap between those areas. And she snuck into the pool area and went for a swim in the pool. Speaker 1 (9:44) Leah told investigators that she always locked the door behind her when she left Zach alone in the apartment. But her decision to go swimming in the dead of night made her do something else that she normally wouldn't do. She put on shorts that did not have any pockets, so she had no place to put the key that would have been utilized to lock the door of the apartment. So she explained that she exited the apartment, didn't have her key, so she didn't lock the door that evening. But she simulated locking the door. Speaker 1 (10:15) Leah said she did this lock simulation just in case anyone was watching. But apparently, no one was. No one saw her leave or squeeze through a gap between the fence and the building or jump in for a quick dip. One that she said took just a minute or two. And then there were no cameras in the complex at that time that would have captured any of her movements. All told, by the time she squeezed back out and made it back to her front door, she said she'd only been gone about 50. When she came back to the apartment, she described being soaking wet from getting into the pool. She had told investigators that she runs the air very low in her apartment so that when she reentered the apartment, she was extremely cold. So the first thing she decided to do was to take a shower, to rinse off, maybe warm up a little bit. And it was after her shower. Speaker 1 (11:13) that she went into her bedroom and did not see Zach on the bed. For 20 to 25 minutes, by her own telling, Leah was in the only shower in the apartment, upstairs between the two bedrooms, before she noticed that Zach was missing. When police arrived, the officer noticed that Leah's pixie-cut hair wasn't wet. Odd, if she had just gotten out of the shower like she said. And the responding detective even pointed that out. Now, Leah said she didn't dry her hair, but she did take some time to knock on her neighbor's doors before she called the police, you know, trying not to jump to the worst-case scenario. Even though Zach didn't have a history of sleepwalking and wasn't allowed to leave without her permission, she just wanted to rule out the possibility. Speaker 1 (12:01) So her first instinct after she couldn't find Zachary in the apartment was maybe Zachary wandered off. And if he did wander off, maybe he would wander off to a location that he knows. Obviously, neighbors that have watched him before or kids that maybe he has played with before. So she immediately went over and started banging on the windows of Fred and Ruth Jasper because they were known to watch Zachary at times. And I think her thought was maybe Zachary had went there. Obviously, they tell Leah that Zachary's not here. They then returned to Leah's apartment with Leah to search again, right? Maybe Leah missed something during her search. They searched the apartment again. Zachary's nowhere to be found. It was at that time that Leah contacted 911 to report Zachary missing. Speaker 1 (12:54) Monty says the first detective to arrive on the scene that morning described Leah early on as tearful, red-eyed, emotional. But when she began recounting her story of going to the pool, her demeanor, according to the detective, dramatically changed. She was calm and relaxed, no longer watery-eyed. It's obviously something that any detective would take notice for, especially the mother that's reporting their child missing. Obviously, not only are you interviewing them about what occurred, you're evaluating their state of mind, their emotional reaction to things. I just don't know if it commits to one thing or