A 33-year-old bowling coach sent disturbing text messages to a teenage girl he groomed before shooting her dead and turning the gun on himself.
Ryne Leist had been sending inappropriate texts to Gwendolyn Smith, 17, before killing her in her stepfather’s home in a small Michigan town, claimed her father, Levi Smith.
‘I’ve seen enough of the emails he sent my daughter before he killed her to know it’s not speculation,’ Levi wrote in a Facebook discussion group for Bedford Township.
‘He deserves to rot in a special hell.’
The grieving dad did not elaborate on the texts.
Leist, who was a volunteer coach for the Bedford High School bowling club that Gwendolyn was a member of, is believed to have shot her several times.
Gwendolyn’s stepdad got home around 6pm on June 14 to find her and Leist wounded and dead.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office found that Gwendolyn died by and that Leist died by suicide.
Beside the Leist’s cryptic texts that Levi mentioned on Facebook, others have come forward with stories of alleged red flags they saw from him.
Kara Thornton, who said she knew Leist when he was 20 years old and she was 15, said they never dated because she didn’t want to, but that he still got her name tattooed on his arm. She claimed that he tried to sleep with her and her friends and would take them to remote places and bring alcohol.
‘A few years back he was trying to be a “photographer” to take nudes of women,’ said Thornton.
‘It’s hard looking back and realizing how f***ed it all was; haven’t thought about him in years.’
Meanwhile, tributes have poured out for Gwendolyn.
A GoFundMe page to remember Gwendolyn and support her family stated that she was a ‘standout athlete’ on the bowling team, a ‘gifted student’ academically and a passionate artist studying music.
‘Gwen was an extraordinary young woman whose presence left an indelible mark on our school community,’ states the fundraiser.
‘Most of all, Gwen will be remembered for her kindness, her bright spirit, and the joy she brought to those around her.’
The GoFundMe page had raised more than $21,000 as of Monday.
‘This tragic and unnecessary loss cannot be explained,’ the page states.
‘It has shaken our entire Bedford community, and our hearts and prayers go out to Gwen’s family and the many friends whose lives she touched so deeply.’
Bedford Township is about 55 miles southwest of Detroit.
The murder-suicide happened more than four years after 2012 Olympics team USA coach John Geddert fatally shot himself in Lansing, Michigan, after being charged with child sex assault and human trafficking
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