Vanished from His Bed: The Unsolved Disappearance of Zachary Bernhardt

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[00:01:30] CrimeCon yet. See you there. The case featured in this episode has been researched using police records, court documents, witness statements, and the news. Listener discretion is advised. All parties mentioned are innocent until proven guilty, and all opinions are my own.

[00:01:48] Hey everyone, my name is Nikki Young, and this is Serial Napper, the true crime podcast for naps. I'm back with another true crime story to lull you to sleep, or perhaps to give you nightmares.

[00:02:20] The date was September 11, 2000, in Clearwater, Florida. Eight-year-old Zachary Bernhardt was asleep in his bedroom when his mother, Leah Hackett, stepped out of their apartment on Dew Street. It was the middle of the night, but Leah said insomnia had gotten the best of her. She went for a walk, maybe a swim in the apartment complex's pool, hoping that the movement and cool water, maybe it would help her settle her racing thoughts.

[00:02:47] She claimed she was gone only about 15 minutes, but when she returned just after 4 a.m., her son was gone. No signs of a struggle, no broken windows, just an empty bed where Zachary should have been. Clearwater police launched an immediate and extensive search of the area. Officers scoured the apartment complex, the surrounding woods, and nearby retention ponds.

[00:03:13] Canine units, helicopters, volunteers, every available resource was deployed. But they found nothing. No witnesses, no clues, no trace of Zachary. As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into years, suspicion quietly began to turn inward. Some investigators believe Leah Hackett knows more than she's ever disclosed.

[00:03:37] She's always denied any involvement, claimed she's innocent and that she too wants answers. Since then, she's moved out of state, avoiding much of the public spotlight. Zachary's father, he was never involved in his life and he's never been considered a suspect. So, what really happened that night? Did someone sneak into the apartment while Leah was out? Or is there something in her story that doesn't quite add up?

[00:04:05] Over two decades later, there are still no answers, no leads, no closure. Just a little boy who vanished without a trace. So, dim the lights, put your phone down, and listen as I dive into the story of Zachary Bernhardt, the boy who disappeared into the night and the questions that still remain. So let's jump right in.

[00:04:29] To understand the mystery surrounding Zachary Bernhardt's disappearance, we need to go back to the beginning. Zachary was born on December 18th, 1991. His birth certificate listed no father. At the time, his mother, Leah Hackett, was just 20 years old, living in Lakeland, Florida with her boyfriend. But shortly after Zach's birth, a paternity test revealed that this boyfriend wasn't the biological father of Zach.

[00:04:59] Apparently, a surprise to him that would cause them to break up. So, Leah packed up and moved out with her baby. To this day, no one in Leah's family will say who Zachary's real father is, or if he even knows he has a son. With no father in the picture, Leah gave Zachary her mother's married name, Bernhardt. And from that moment on, it was just the two of them. Zachary was a thoughtful, curious little boy.

[00:05:25] The kind of child who would take bits and pieces of things around the house and turn them into something new. Whether it was a tower of stacked cups or a makeshift car from spare parts, his creativity never stopped. His family used to smile at his creations and say, that one's gonna be an architect someday. While he seemed to be a well-adjusted little boy, life for Zach was anything but stable.

[00:05:51] In 1994, Leah had a second child, a baby girl. For a time, she was with the child's father, but the relationship didn't last. Eventually, Leah returned to Florida with both children in tow. Then came a moment that raised eyebrows even years later. During a visit with her ex, Leah left both children, including Zach, with this ex-boyfriend and asked if he'd watch them while she stepped out for a bit.

[00:06:19] She said that she was exhausted, struggling with being a single mom, and she just needed a night out. The ex agreed to watch both children for a few hours. But Leah didn't come back for several days. No phone calls, no checking in. She just disappeared for several days. The man would later fight for custody of his daughter, believing that Leah was far too irresponsible to care for their child. And he'd win.

[00:06:47] From that point on, Leah had little to no contact with her daughter ever again. It was just her and Zachary. The two of them bounced from place to place, evictions, financial struggles, temporary shelters. By the time Zachary was five, he had already lived in more places than most kids his age could count. His life was a patchwork of brief stability, sudden moves,

[00:07:13] and the constant shuffle of new adults entering and exiting his world. In 1996, Leah Hackett moved into a district in Tampa known for its nightlife. There, she met a 22-year-old young man and moved into his apartment at Mallard Point on 4th Street. But Zachary didn't come with her. Instead, Zachary lived with Leah's sister in Plant City. This wasn't really unusual at the time.

[00:07:40] It was fairly common for their family to take turns caring for Zach while his mother stumbled her way through life. But Leah's relationship with this new man, it was volatile. Violent, even, with him ultimately being charged with domestic battery in an incident where he shoved Leah. By November of that year, they had broken up, with Leah remaining in the apartment all by herself.

[00:08:04] The following year, in May of 1997, Leah's sister tried contacting her at this apartment. She wanted to get in touch with her as she had been caring for Zachary for about a year now. However, there was no sign of Leah, not at the apartment and not reachable by phone. Out of fear that something horrible had happened to her, her sister reported her to the police as missing. Leah had threatened suicide in the past.

[00:08:32] She sometimes drank heavily, and she hadn't shown up for work in two weeks. A few days later, after this missing persons report, Leah resurfaced like nothing had happened. Eventually, Leah and Zachary ended up in a crumbling apartment complex in downtown St. Petersburg. One of the owners, Richard Martinez Jr., made Leah the apartment manager in June of 1998. In return, he paid her rent and utility bills.

[00:09:00] She had no other job and no income, according to court records. But just three months later, Martinez fired her. The fallout wasn't quiet. Leah filed a complaint in court, alleging that, during a heated dispute, Martinez ripped off her shirt while trying to take the apartment keys from her. A judge ordered Martinez to have no contact with her. From there, Leah and Zach moved in with a friend at Wintree Village in High Point.

[00:09:29] Zachary was pulled from Lakewood Elementary, and he was enrolled in first grade at Frontier Elementary in Largo. That's where LaRue Pearson, his teacher, first met him. This teacher would say, quote, He was a sweet little boy, quiet, well-mannered. If another student was upset, Zach would ask what he could do to help. He just had that empathy, that heart. Pearson met with Leah once and walked away thinking that she was a devoted mother.

[00:09:58] But then something strange happened. Leah told Pearson that she was dying of cancer. That later raised eyebrows when Pearson saw Leah on TV years later. Plot twist? Leah was not, in fact, dying of cancer. Why she made up such a lie, we don't know. Perhaps for attention or sympathy. But sympathy only went so far. Leah would soon be evicted from her apartment for non-payment of rent,

[00:10:26] so she and little Zachary, they had to move once again. This time to the Savannah Trace Apartments on Drew Street in Northeast Clearwater. It was a quiet neighborhood nestled between the waters of the Gulf and Tampa Bay. Things, it seemed, were finally stabilizing. Zachary was enrolled at Eisenhower Elementary School nearby. Leah took a night shift job. She helped organize a school carnival.

[00:10:54] She seemed, by all outward appearances, to be trying. School staff remembered her as being engaged and involved. Zach's principal described her as, quote, a parent who showed up. Friends and family described her as a doting mother, devoted to Zachary, always by his side. Her mother, Carol, said that she noticed something had changed after the custody loss of her daughter. That Leah began to treat Zachary like he was all she had left.

[00:11:24] At 29, Leah had a bit of a reputation for partying in her early years, but by all accounts, she was trying. Trying to provide. Trying to settle. Trying to build something stable for her son. And then, just like that, he was gone. It was a Monday night in Clearwater, Florida. The air was still humid even after midnight.

[00:11:48] Inside Leah Hackett's apartment at the Savannah Trace Complex, she has decided that she's going to stay awake through the night. Something that she was already very used to doing. She didn't have to work that evening. Unusual for her, as she typically worked the night shift. But she decided to try to stay up anyway. According to her family, Zachary didn't want to be late for school in the morning. Leah had overslept before and she didn't want to risk it again.

[00:12:15] So instead of going to bed, she kept herself moving. Cleaning. Taking out the trash. Wandering around the complex. Sometime between 2am and 3am, Leah decided to step outside for a cigarette. She says she checked in on Zachary before she left and he was asleep in bed. He looked very peaceful. She stepped out into the warm night air. What happened next is still debated.

[00:12:43] Leah says that she felt the heat pressing in. And in a spontaneous decision, she made her way to the pool in the center of the apartment complex. Despite not wearing a swimsuit or bringing a towel, she slipped into the water and swam a few laps. Just enough to cool off. To pass a little more time. She says she then walked back to the apartment, changed into dry clothes, and peeked in on her son again. But this time, his bed was empty.

[00:13:12] At first, Leah told police she thought Zachary might have just rolled out of bed. She searched his room, calling his name, but there was no answer. Then she tore through the rest of the apartment, but there was nothing. That's when panic set in. She picked up the phone and called 911. Next, Leah called her mother, completely hysterical over her missing child. Leah's mom would say, quote,

[00:13:38] She was all upset and crying and told us that she couldn't find Zachary, that someone took her baby. We just figured he went hiding with one of his friends, and that when we got over there, they would have found him. Unfortunately, that would not be the case. Exactly how long Leah had been outside has never been firmly established. In some versions of her story, she was gone for only 15 minutes.

[00:14:07] In others, it may have been closer to two hours. What's not in question is this. At some point during that window, an 8-year-old boy vanished without a trace. When Clearwater police arrived at the apartment on Drew Street in the early morning hours of September 11, 2000, they found no sign of forced entry. No sign of a struggle. Nothing out of place. Except the aching absence of a little boy named Zachary.

[00:14:36] Leah admitted to the officers that, when she stepped out, she had left the door unlocked behind her. But she was certain that her son would not have wandered out into the streets on his own. As the sun rose over Clearwater, Florida, the search for 8-year-old Zachary Bernhardt exploded into a massive operation. Police wasted no time. By the afternoon of September 11, the woods surrounding the Savannah Trace apartment complex

[00:15:05] had been transformed into a command center. Search dogs weaved through the underbrush. Helicopters circled overhead. Hundreds of volunteers, neighbors, strangers, parents, they all joined in. They scoured every corner, every alley, every storm drain. But there was no trace of Zachary. No backpack, no shoes, not even a footprint. Flyers went up on every corner.

[00:15:32] Bright, wide-eyed photos of this adorable little boy who loved to build things, who wanted to be an architect someday. A child who was, by all accounts, deeply afraid of the dark. And yet, he had vanished without a sound into the night. It's time for a quick break and a word from tonight's sponsors. Hang on, I'll be back before you know it. We all want to feel our best, right?

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[00:17:20] Because wellness should be simple, effective, and delicious. Don't wait. Visit goalie.com today. Now back to our story. From the very beginning, something just didn't sit right with investigators. The story of a mother going out for a casual swim at 2 or 3 in the morning while her young son slept alone, it raised some eyebrows.

[00:17:46] One neighbor told police that they just didn't buy this story. The pool, they said, closed at 10 p.m. Why would anyone go swimming that late knowing it wasn't allowed? And then there were the inconsistencies. The timeline, it shifted constantly. Leah said she was gone 15 minutes. Later, it may have been closer to two hours. They could never definitively establish a timeline.

[00:18:11] Police also noted how often Leah moved, how frequently she faced eviction. In fact, at the time of Zach's disappearance, she was behind on rent and facing another move. For some investigators, that raised even more questions about stability and about motive. Still, Leah Hackett, she held firm. She insisted that she was innocent, that she had nothing to do with her son's disappearance.

[00:18:39] The case drew heavy media coverage in Florida. The public response was swift and emotional. Parents held their children tighter. Tips flooded in, but none led anywhere. Zachary's biological father, who was never involved in his life, was ruled out early on and he's never been considered a suspect. That left investigators circling back to the one person who had last seen Zach alive.

[00:19:07] Authorities would later go on record stating that they believed Zachary disappeared under suspicious circumstances. And many within the department, they believed that Leah Hackett knew more than she was saying. But there was no physical evidence, no confession, no eyewitnesses, and no Zachary. In the early days of the investigation into Zachary Bernhardt's disappearance, suspicion largely centered on those closest to him, particularly his mother, Leah.

[00:19:35] But as months turned into years, other names began to surface. Some were tips from the public. Others emerged from darker corners of confessions, rumors, and disturbing coincidences. One of those names was Kevin Gelbert. In 2001, just a year after Zach vanished, Gelbert, a Clearwater resident who lived near the Savannah Trace Apartments, made a chilling statement to an acquaintance.

[00:20:04] He said he was a child murderer. The acquaintance went to the police, and the authorities launched an undercover operation to see if there was any truth behind Gelbert's words, or if he was just another man seeking attention. In September of that same year, Gelbert attempted to solicit an undercover officer for the abduction, sexual assault, and murder of a child. Thankfully, he was attempting to hire an undercover police officer

[00:20:33] and not another disgusting monster like himself. Otherwise, there may have been yet another victim in our story tonight. When investigators searched his property, they found a disturbing cache of child sex abuse materials, evidence that suggested a deeply troubled individual. Gelbert was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to 40 years in prison. But what caught investigators' attention wasn't just what he said. It was what he showed them.

[00:21:03] Gelbert took detectives to the Savannah Trace apartment complex, the very place where Zachary had disappeared. He claimed that he himself had abducted a child from there. But when pressed for further details, the story started to crack. He couldn't identify Zach's specific apartment. He couldn't remember what the child was wearing. And the more he talked, the more inconsistent it all became. Still, the implications were serious enough

[00:21:31] that police administered a polygraph. Gelbert failed. When asked directly about Zachary Bernhardt, he denied any involvement. He maintained that he had nothing to do with the case. DNA evidence collected in Zachary's disappearance didn't match Gelbert either. Back when Zachary had first been reported missing, authorities had collected some DNA evidence from the crime scene, the apartment. However, the specifics of this DNA,

[00:22:00] like what kind of DNA it is, those details haven't been publicly disclosed. While whatever DNA they had didn't match, Gelbert has never been officially ruled out as a suspect. We just don't know if he was involved with Zachary's disappearance. However, Gelbert claims to be a serial killer. But his sister, she tells a different story. She says that he's actually just a chronic liar, that he's prone to exaggeration,

[00:22:27] that he says these things for attention, to feel powerful, to control the narrative, even behind bars. So where does that leave us? With a man in prison for unspeakable crimes who claimed involvement in Zach's case, but couldn't back it up. A failed polygraph, no DNA match, and a case still wide open. In the years following Zachary Bernhardt's disappearance,

[00:22:54] several other leads and potential suspects have surfaced, each adding layers of complexity to an already perplexing case. One particularly disturbing incident occurred in January of 2002, just over a year after Zach vanished. A five-year-old boy was abducted from the very same apartment complex, Savannah Trace, in Clearwater, Florida. Witnesses reported seeing a man in a white pickup truck with ice cream symbols lure the child.

[00:23:24] This is the stuff that parents have nightmares about, the things you typically only see in movies, luring a child with an ice cream truck. Thankfully, the boy was later found alive in a dumpster behind a closed restaurant, approximately 65 miles away from where he had been taken. It has been assumed that he was likely sexually assaulted, but thankfully, he managed to escape with his life. Despite the similarities in location and circumstances,

[00:23:54] authorities stated that they didn't believe this abduction was connected to Zach's case, which is kind of crazy to think about because what are the chances that two young boys would disappear from the very same apartment complex just a year apart? Apparently, the chances aren't impossible. Another unsettling lead emerged in September 2001, when a photograph was discovered in the parking lot of a grocery store in a mountain town about 55 miles west of Denver, Colorado.

[00:24:24] The image depicted a bound and bruised blonde boy who bore a striking resemblance to Zachary. However, despite extensive investigations, police were unable to determine the identity of the child in the photo or whether it was connected to Zachary's disappearance. While it doesn't appear that this child is likely Zachary, it's a disturbing photo of a very real child victim. The photo is available online if you want to go searching for it. However,

[00:24:54] I don't really recommend it. It's haunting. In a more recent development, a photo surfaced on social media showing a man who appears to be a random drifter in Ocampo, Mexico. People were quick to point out that this man resembles the age-progressed images of Zach. And the resemblance certainly was striking enough to catch the attention of Zachary's family, with his cousin expressing that her heart stopped upon seeing this image.

[00:25:23] However, authorities have not been able to establish any concrete connection between this individual and Zachary. These leads, while intriguing, have yet to provide definitive answers. As of April 2025, as of recording, the disappearance of Zach Bernhardt, it remains an active and unsolved case. Zachary is the subject of Florida's longest-running Amber Alert, which continues to be active.

[00:25:52] Despite extensive investigations, including searches and public appeals, no definitive leads have emerged to explain his disappearance. Zachary's mother, Leah Hackett, she has since relocated to Hawaii and changed her last name to Hanson. At some point, she basically stopped being involved in the investigation, which is unsettling to me as a mother. I can understand losing hope after so many years, but if it were my child who went missing,

[00:26:22] I would never stop looking for him, no matter if that meant finding him alive somewhere or bringing home his remains to lay to rest. Losing a child is like losing a piece of yourself and I can't imagine that I'd ever be whole again without answers. Early on in the investigation, authorities considered the possibility that she might have more information than she disclosed. Throughout the investigation, Leah's timeline and details about the night that Zach went missing, they changed

[00:26:51] multiple times. This inconsistency paired with the bizarre detail that she went for a swim fully clothed in the middle of the night without a towel after pool hours, it fueled ongoing suspicion. It's important to note, though, that Leah has consistently maintained her innocence and no charges have been filed against her in connection with Zachary's disappearance. There's also the chilling possibility that Zachary was kidnapped by a complete stranger,

[00:27:20] a random abduction during that short window of time when Leah stepped out of the apartment. While rare, stranger abductions do happen, and what's particularly unsettling is that another kidnapping had reportedly taken place in the very same apartment complex. Could it be that someone in the area had been watching them? Is it possible that this predator waited for the right moment to strike? During the early morning hours of September 11,

[00:27:50] 2000, when Leah was unexpectedly off work, that moment may have come when she stepped out. Perhaps the abductor seized the opportunity and Zachary was gone. Another theory, though deeply tragic, is that Zachary may have wandered away from the apartment on his own. Florida's landscape is covered with lakes, canals, and other waterways, many of them just steps from residential neighborhoods. Savannah Trace Apartments,

[00:28:19] it sat on Drew Street, a road that runs between the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay. In between are countless bodies of water and, with them, the ever-present danger of alligators. So, could Zachary have woken up in the middle of the night, realized his mother wasn't home, and gone outside in search of her? It's certainly within the realm of possibility. He was only eight years old. But, if that were the case, why didn't the search dogs

[00:28:49] pick up his scent? Why was there no trace of him? No clothing, no shoes, no sign that a child had made his way toward any of the nearby waters. Also, Zachary was reportedly afraid of the dark. This makes it difficult to believe that he would voluntarily leave the apartment alone at night. It also raises the unsettling possibility that he either knew the person who took him or he was forcibly removed. Then, there's Kevin Jalbert.

[00:29:19] Might he have been guilty of something more than he was convicted for? Jalbert lived near Zachary, and he later told an undercover officer that he had kidnapped and murdered a child from Savannah Trace. He eventually recanted that confession, but the damage was done. Authorities discovered that he was guilty of multiple crimes involving children and found disturbing materials in his possession. So, was he telling the truth and then just backing out?

[00:29:49] Or was he just a twisted individual bragging about a high-profile case that he had seen on the news? It sounds unbelievable, but unfortunately, it's not uncommon. Criminals do this. They insert themselves into investigations for attention, ego, or even just to toy with law enforcement. Whether Jalbert had anything to do with Zachary's disappearance remains officially unproven, but the possibility continues to haunt this case.

[00:30:19] Zachary Bernhardt vanished from his bed on a humid Florida night over two decades ago, and since then, his name has never been far from the hearts of those who knew and loved him. His face, frozen in time at eight years old, still haunts missing person flyers, police reports, and the memories of a community that once rallied to find him. Was he taken by someone who had been watching him? Did he wander off into the dark searching for his mother, or was the truth much

[00:30:49] closer to home? So many theories, so many possibilities, and yet no answers. Today, Zachary would be in his early 30s. What would his life look like now? Would he have become the architect that his family once imagined? Would he still be that sweet, agreeable little boy who just wanted to play whatever game made the other kids happy? We may never know, but we do know this. Someone, out there knows what happened to Zachary

[00:31:18] Bernhardt. And until the truth is found, this case cannot and should not be forgotten. If you know anything about the disappearance of Zachary Bernhardt, no matter how small, please contact the Clearwater Police Department or your local law enforcement, because someone out there knows. That's it for me tonight. If you want to reach out, you can find me on Facebook at Serial Napper. You can find my audio on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. I post all of my episodes

[00:31:48] in video format over on YouTube, so go check it out. And if you're watching on YouTube, I'd love if you can give me a thumbs up and subscribe. Every little bit helps. I'm also on Patreon. If you'd like to get your Serial Napper episodes early and ad-free, hop on over and check out the details at patreon.com slash Serial Napper. Until next time, sweet dreams, stay kind, especially in the comments. Bye.