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The story I have for you today is one
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that for a long time would have fallen
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into our missing category. But a strange
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discovery and a mysterious letter would
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reveal that this wife and mother didn't
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just disappear into [music] thin air.
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And that truth begins to unravel a web
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of [music] stories that will make you
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wonder who we can trust.
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This is the story of Linda Sherman.
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The official investigation into Linda
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Sherman's disappearance began on
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Wednesday, April 24th, 1985.
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That's when her husband, Dawn, filed a
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report with police in St. Louis County,
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Missouri, where he and Linda live. And
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he tells them he hasn't seen his
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27-year-old wife since Monday night when
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she left for work.
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>> And it's Wednesday now,
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>> right? Yeah. So he says he waited this
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time because she's pieced out on him
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before and they've been having problems
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recently. He thinks that she's been
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seeing another guy, one of her
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co-workers. So at first he thought maybe
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she just ran off with him. But even if
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that's the case, he says that he's still
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really worried about her and he's
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already been checking with [music]
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friends and family trying to find her.
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She hasn't even so much as called to
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check in on their 9-year-old daughter,
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Patty. So, he gives police a playbyplay
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of the last day that he saw Linda. Now,
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Linda works nights at the National
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Personnel Records Center, which is
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basically like this facility in St.
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Louis that stores US military and other
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federal files. And Don says that Linda
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got home from work early Monday morning.
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So, this would have been around 3:00
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a.m. They argued for a little bit, like
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probably like an hour, and then she went
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to sleep on the living room couch.
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>> And what did they argue about?
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>> What took her so long to get home? So, I
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guess the drive from the record center
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to their house on Monroe Avenue is like
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less than 10 minutes, but he says it
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took her like 45 to get there.
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>> And he's already suspicious, right, that
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she's seeing someone else. So, I'm sure
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he was just like there stewing waiting
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for her and like their fight probably
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started the second she walked in the
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door, [music]
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>> right?
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>> Anyways, he does not work nights. He
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works days. So, he goes to bed after the
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fight and a couple of hours later, she
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tries waking him up to go to work. He's
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too tired, you know, from all that like
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staying up and stewing. So, he called in
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sick. He says that Linda drove Patty to
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school that morning like she always did
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since he usually was at work by then.
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She would do drop offs and then Linda
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was sleeping when he got up in the early
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afternoon and he woke her up, but she
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had drifted off again by the time that
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he went to pick Patty up [music] from
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school. He says that he then dropped off
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Patty at his mother's house before going
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to an hour-long counseling session with
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this woman who I'm going to call Dr. W.
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She's basically the therapist that he
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and Linda have been seeing both
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individually and as a couple.
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>> Now, when he got home Monday evening
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around 6:00, he says that Linda was
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there and she's agitated that she'd
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overslept. She had actually missed her
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own counseling appointment and was
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running late for work. So, she's
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hustling out the door at around 6:45
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p.m. And he says that is the last time
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he saw her. She's wearing blue jeans,
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tennis shoes, and a blue jersey with the
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number 76 on it. She also had a necklace
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with the same number, which was her
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graduation year. He says she drove off
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in her yellow 71 Volkswagen Beetle,
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presumably to start her shift.
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But, weirdly, [music]
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that wasn't the last time he claims he
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saw her. Kind of. So, Don says that he
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went outside to talk to a neighbor at
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around 8:00 p.m. And while they're
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standing there chatting, Linda's car
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pulled onto the street and then just
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like left. And after that, Don says that
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he went to get something to eat. And
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then later that night, he called Linda
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at work, but then was told she never
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came in. So, that's when he drove to her
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job and checked the parking lot for her
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car that wasn't there. And when he got
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back and looked around the house, he
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noticed that some [music] of her things
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were missing, like a suitcase and some
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toiletries and clothes and shoes. Hence
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why he thought that she maybe just like
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left him on Monday. Now, the timeline
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gets murky here because the information
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that's available is limited. But we
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pulled what we could through records
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requests from like multiple police
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agencies. And our reporter, Nina,
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interviewed everyone she could get to.
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But still, what we don't know could fill
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a book. And I I'll get more into that
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later, but I'm not sure how seriously
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the agency, the Venita Park Police
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Department, took [music] this at first.
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But according to Riverfront Times
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reporter Laura Higgins, Linda's family
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begins their own search right away. And
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two more days pass where they just get
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nothing. So by Friday, April 26th,
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Linda's sister and her brother-in-law,
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so this is Fran and Sam Miller, they're
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starting to grow desperate. They feel
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like they've searched everywhere. And
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that's when Don suggests that they check
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this hotel near the St. Louis Lambert
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International Airport. He's saying that
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sometimes Linda stays there with her
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boyfriend. So, I mean, again, they'll do
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anything at this point. They go there.
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Her car is not in the hotel parking lot.
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But when they come up empty there, they
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figure like, "We're already out this
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way. We might as well have a look at the
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airport, too."
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>> And lo and behold, they pull into the
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airport's short-term parking, and there
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it is. Linda's yellow beetle. Now,
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nothing appears disturbed, but they
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don't want to go poking around, so they
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call airport police to take over.
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Officers arrive and check the doors,
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which are locked, but the trunk isn't.
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And as they lift it open, Fran and Sam
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brace themselves because as they told
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Unsolved Mysteries, there is this
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sinking feeling in their stomachs that
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Linda's body is going to be inside. The
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trunk pops open and they breathe this
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sigh of relief, even if it's just
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momentarily because she's not in there.
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But now they're also no closer to
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figuring out where she actually [music]
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is. And here's where things get weird.
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While all of this is happening at the
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airport, Dawn is over at a local
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7-Eleven talking with a cop and he's
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asking if maybe police at the airport
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can check there for Linda's car. an idea
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that he says Sam gave him, not the other
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way around.
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>> Yeah.
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>> And literally as they're discussing
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this, dispatch radios the officer that
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they found the missing woman's car at
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the airport.
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>> Well, isn't that convenience?
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>> Yeah. And just in case you're not like
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fully sick of me bringing up that
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coroner's conference I went to, I'm just
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going to do it like one more time
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because one of the things they covered
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were staged scenes
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>> for legal reasons. Let me put a
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disclaimer. I'm not saying that this
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scene is stage, just sharing interesting
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info that I found. But they said that a
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telltale sign of a stage scene oftent
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[music] times is that someone will lead
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you to the evidence they want you to
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find. Like they think you're too stupid
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to piece it together on your own, so
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they make it overly obvious like, oh, my
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wife is dead in her room and right here
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in a place that no one keeps their pills
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is a prescription bottle of pills. Like
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here are all the pieces. It must be
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suicide.
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Anyways, whether this is sus or not to
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[music] them, finding the beetle does
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seem to light a fire under the Venita
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Park PD. They finally assign a patrol
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supervisor, Michael Webb, to work the
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case.
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And in the early days, they do confirm
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parts of Dawn's story. Linda's time card
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shows that she clocked out at 2:16 a.m.
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on Monday, April 22nd. And Don's
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suspicions were right because she did
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hang back after work to talk to a guy
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named Randy for a few minutes. He's the
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co-orker that Don says she's having an
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affair with, which is probably why she
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was late coming home. But Randy tells
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police that the conversation was normal.
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And he expected to see her at their next
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shift, which is later that same night.
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>> And even though she wasn't at work
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Monday night, he actually spotted her
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car out early Tuesday morning when he
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left work. He saw her Beetle parked at
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this strip mall less than 2 mi from her
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home. And Randy said that he recognized
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it instantly because the back bumper was
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missing. And he even pulled up next to
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it to check it, but no one was inside.
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And police also talked to Dr. W. She
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confirms that Linda did miss her
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appointment that day, but they connected
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later that Monday. Linda called sometime
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between like 3:30 and 4:15 to apologize
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for being a no-show. She explained that
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she'd been sick. She slept through it
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and like said she was heading to work
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soon. And then not long after that call,
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Dr. W, I guess, got a second call, but
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she was busy or like her receptionist
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took a message or whatever, but the only
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thing the message was was just Linda's
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work number. And then finally, there's
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that neighbor who says that he saw
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Linda's car drive back onto their street
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Monday night at 8:00 p.m., more than an
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hour after she supposedly left for work,
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just like Don said. Webb also documents
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a couple of unconfirmed sightings in the
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days after Linda is reported missing.
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Like this woman named Vicki, [music] a
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neighbor of the Shermans. She apparently
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tells police that she saw Linda take off
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with a suitcase and a man that she
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didn't recognize wearing the same blue
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jersey that Don had described. And then
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Don says that he saw her riding in a van
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with somebody and she ducked when he
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spotted her. So, does that mean that
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Dawn's telling the truth and she did
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just run off with someone?
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>> Yeah, not so fast. I didn't say that.
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Yes, a lot of things on the surface look
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good for Dawn. But if you go one layer
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deeper,
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>> always go a layer deeper. It stinks
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[music] to high heaven. Starting with
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the car at the airport. According to
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Laura Higgins reporting, Officer Webb
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pulls the parking log from the lot,
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which shows that the car had been
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sitting there since either Tuesday,
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April 23rd, or maybe even Wednesday,
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April [music] 24th, and there is no
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record of her taking a flight. So, was
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it her driving from home to the mall to
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the airport? And even if it was, why
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park at the airport if you're not taking
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a flight?
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>> Also, was it even her driving? Because
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that neighbor witness who was outside at
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8:00 talking to Dawn when the car her
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car came and went from the street, not
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as strong of a sighting of Linda as you
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might think. He later tells police that
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he actually couldn't see who was
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driving. Didn't even know if it was a
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man or a woman because I guess the
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driver seemed to be intentionally like
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hiding their face. So, it's probably not
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her at 8.
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>> Yeah, we only have Don saying he saw her
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leave at 6:45. So really that last
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confirmed time that she was alive at was
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whenever she called her therapist when
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she overslept, right?
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>> Well, let's talk about that call to her
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therapist. If it happened as Dr. W said,
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then yes, Linda was fine as of late
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afternoon,
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>> right? That was like 3:30 to 4:15,
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[music]
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>> right? However, I don't know if that
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call was even real because the whole
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dynamic with this counselor, therapist,
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whatever is super strange.
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[music]
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Now, I mentioned that Dawn and Linda
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weren't just seeing Dr. W like together.
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They also spoke to her individually.
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[music] And that happened in person, but
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also over the phone. They were actually
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on the phone with her a lot, especially
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Dawn and at like all hours of the day
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and night. For instance, according to
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Dawn, he was on the phone with Dr. W
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from 900 p.m. to 100 a.m. the night that
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he reported Linda missing.
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>> M that seems unorthodox
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>> to say the least, but she obviously had
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a front row seat to what was going on
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between them, like whatever that call
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was. And she does agree to speak with
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Officer Webb, at least about Linda given
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the circumstances. Now, she describes
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Linda as sentimental and steady, this
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loving mother to Patty. And despite
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Don's accusations, she says that Linda
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denied having any kind of affair.
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>> Okay. So maybe Don is just being
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paranoid.
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>> Well, no, he was actually right. So when
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Officer Webb interviewed Randy,
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>> the coworker
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>> Mhm. he was pretty open about the whole
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thing. He said that he and Linda had
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been involved for about 4 months and he
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really cares about her, but he'd been
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clear with her that he wasn't planning
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on leaving his wife. Even though Linda
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had been telling him about her
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intentions to leave Dawn.
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>> Oh,
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>> yeah. And not in like a vague, you know,
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maybe someday kind of way. She had a
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plan in place, [music] one that her
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sister Fran knew about. So, I mean, it
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didn't take long for Fran's alarm bells
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to start going off because she had been
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there for the whole tumultuous ride of
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their relationship, which started when
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Linda and Don were just high schoolers.
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[music] Linda got pregnant with Patty
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when she was like 17, and she had to
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finish high school with a baby, and her
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and Don were struggling to make ends
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meet, and things didn't improve as they
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got older. Linda's family says that Dawn
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became physically and mentally abusive,
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and court records show that Linda tried
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to leave him multiple times. She filed
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for divorce in 1977,
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though that ends up getting dismissed
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when they reconcile a couple of years
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later. But by 1982, they reached a
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breaking point and they split again.
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Linda even moved out with Patty that
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time and according to Laura Higgins
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reporting, she filed for an order of
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protection that September, alleging that
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Dawn had threatened her and Patty. Now,
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she told the court that he was mentally
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unstable, but then just a few weeks
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later, Linda informed the judge that she
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and Don were trying to work things out.
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So, the two of them started seeing Dr. W
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around that time. But it seems like
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Linda was finally trying to break the
00:14:02
cycle because she actually filed for
00:14:05
divorce again on April 11th. And [music]
00:14:09
this time, her family felt like it was
00:14:10
different, that Linda seemed determined
00:14:13
to leave him for good. And we know that
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leaving is one of the most dangerous
00:14:18
times for people in abusive
00:14:20
relationships.
00:14:20
>> And yeah, and this one was serious. I
00:14:21
mean, she was trying to find an
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apartment. [music]
00:14:23
She was having her mail rerouted to her
00:14:26
sister Fran's house. Police also end up
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finding a bunch of personal records in
00:14:30
Linda's work locker. Things like Patty's
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birth certificate and report cards
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stretching back to kindergarten. She had
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letters, momentos, family financial
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paperwork.
00:14:40
>> All things you'd want to take with you
00:14:41
if you were starting over.
00:14:42
>> Yeah. I mean, it was all stuff that she
00:14:44
had cleared out of her and Don's [music]
00:14:46
joint safety deposit box. And Patty, her
00:14:49
daughter, thinks that Linda was stashing
00:14:50
things there so that Dawn couldn't get
00:14:52
to them. Although, I will say Don
00:14:54
actually knew, I guess, that she had
00:14:56
moved all of her stuff to the work
00:14:58
locker. And even after she went missing,
00:14:59
he never tried to go get any of it back.
00:15:02
But all of that to say, she was being
00:15:06
cautious and she was planning because
00:15:09
she knew that Dawn wasn't going to take
00:15:12
her leaving. Well, but she never got the
00:15:15
chance to leave. Even though Patty is
00:15:18
pretty sure that her dad knew the split
00:15:20
was coming, Dawn wasn't actually served
00:15:22
with the divorce papers until [music]
00:15:24
after Linda went missing. Now, all of
00:15:27
this started with Randy, right? that he
00:15:29
told Webb about the divorce, but he also
00:15:31
added some color to just how controlling
00:15:34
Dawn was with Linda. According to what
00:15:36
Linda told him, Dawn had been recording
00:15:38
her phone calls. And she told Randy that
00:15:41
she found the device rigged to a phone
00:15:43
line in their basement. And it didn't
00:15:46
even stop there. She said that Don had
00:15:47
been spying on the both of them, even
00:15:49
using this thing that he called a big
00:15:50
ear, which is basically like this long
00:15:52
range listening gadget. And when they
00:15:55
talk to Dr. W, Dr. W backs that story
00:15:58
up. In fact, she tells investigators
00:16:00
that Linda had brought some of the
00:16:02
recording equipment that she found in
00:16:04
their house along with some cassette
00:16:06
tapes to her office. And she still has
00:16:08
them to turn over to police. But they
00:16:11
don't even need to press play to confirm
00:16:14
that Dawn was monitoring Linda because
00:16:17
when they confront Dawn about this in
00:16:20
late May, he just straight up admits it.
00:16:22
>> What? Yeah. But I think in his mind,
00:16:24
like he's very nonchalant about it. He's
00:16:26
just like, you know, marriage. And like
00:16:28
he even brings Officer Webb down to the
00:16:31
basement and like shows him his setup.
00:16:34
And at that time, he also walks Webb
00:16:36
through some items that he claims are
00:16:38
missing from the house. Items. I I
00:16:39
assume he's like, "Oh, look. She took
00:16:41
these with her."
00:16:42
>> But the thing that Webb notices most is
00:16:44
that most of Linda's belongings are
00:16:47
still there. And Don has already boxed
00:16:50
some of it up. He then pulls out this
00:16:52
short journal that he's been keeping at
00:16:54
Dr. W's suggestion [music] detailing
00:16:57
everything he can remember about the
00:16:59
days around Linda's disappearance. And
00:17:02
so this is like when Web presses a
00:17:04
little bit. He tells Don like, "Listen,
00:17:07
Linda's family thinks that you did
00:17:09
something to her. So would you take a
00:17:11
polygraph to prove them wrong?" Don
00:17:14
declines. He says that he had a bad
00:17:16
experience with one during a burglary
00:17:18
investigation. This is a charge that he
00:17:20
was later convicted of. Plus, he says
00:17:23
that his lawyer told him not to.
00:17:25
>> I didn't even know he had a lawyer.
00:17:28
>> I don't think investigators knew that
00:17:30
either. So, working backwards, we don't
00:17:34
know how her car got to the airport or
00:17:36
who was driving because the neighbor's
00:17:38
sighting means pretty much nothing,
00:17:39
>> right?
00:17:40
>> It's TBD what we think about Dr. W's
00:17:42
account of getting a call from Linda.
00:17:44
So, if we take that out of the mix for a
00:17:46
second, then really the last time anyone
00:17:50
who isn't Dawn put eyes on Linda is when
00:17:53
she is leaving work in the early morning
00:17:55
hours of Monday headed home where she
00:17:57
has a fight with her husband.
00:17:59
>> Wait, didn't her daughter Patty see her
00:18:01
mom that morning when she took her to
00:18:03
school?
00:18:04
>> Well, kind of, but in a way that is
00:18:07
actually pretty disturbing in hindsight.
00:18:14
In Dawn's version of events, he claimed
00:18:16
that Linda drove Patty to school that
00:18:18
Monday like she did most mornings, but
00:18:21
Patty told us that's not true. Don
00:18:26
actually brought her that day, which was
00:18:28
basically unheard of, she said. And the
00:18:31
moment that is burned into Patty's mind
00:18:34
now is her mom on the couch as she heads
00:18:37
out the door to school. She says that
00:18:40
her mom's face was turned [music]
00:18:41
towards the back cushions. She didn't
00:18:44
stir. She didn't say goodbye. And that
00:18:47
is the last image she has of her because
00:18:49
remember when Don picks her up from
00:18:51
school, he takes her to his mother's
00:18:52
house and she ends up staying there for
00:18:54
a couple of nights. So by the time Patty
00:18:57
gets back to her own home, her mom is a
00:18:59
missing person. Now, as sus [music] as
00:19:02
Dawn's behavior and his stories are,
00:19:05
it's the Patty of it all that has people
00:19:08
so convinced that Linda didn't just walk
00:19:10
away.
00:19:12
Everyone agrees that Linda was not going
00:19:14
to leave Patty. [music] I mean, yeah.
00:19:16
You said that she had brought Patty with
00:19:18
her last time she left Dawn. She was
00:19:20
storing all those documents. Like, why
00:19:22
wouldn't she bring her?
00:19:24
>> Exactly. Exactly. And Officer Web is
00:19:26
keenly aware of this after talking to
00:19:28
everyone. So, the more that he learns
00:19:31
about Linda, the more certain he becomes
00:19:32
that she didn't just run [music] off and
00:19:34
that something is very, very wrong. And
00:19:37
that's what keeps him so invested in the
00:19:39
case even after he's promoted to
00:19:41
lieutenant. He follows up on tips. He
00:19:43
checks out anything that might lead
00:19:45
somewhere. [music]
00:19:46
He even subpoenas Dawn's phone records.
00:19:48
Nothing really useful comes there. So,
00:19:50
he subpoenas his bank records where he
00:19:52
does note that the day after Linda went
00:19:55
missing, Dawn filled up his gas tank and
00:19:57
spent almost $16 at a hardware store.
00:20:00
Although it's not clear what he bought,
00:20:03
but it's like all smoke and no fire
00:20:07
because no matter how they try, what
00:20:09
they cannot find is Linda. Did they ever
00:20:13
get anything from searching the car or
00:20:15
the house? Like I imagine if something
00:20:17
happened to her.
00:20:18
>> Like it had to have happened in the
00:20:19
house and it seems like someone else was
00:20:21
driving her car all around town, not
00:20:24
her, right?
00:20:24
>> So as far as the house goes, Don won't
00:20:27
give them permission to search. I mean,
00:20:29
he lets them inside that one time when
00:20:31
he's showing them like the stuff and the
00:20:32
recording equipment, but he won't let
00:20:34
them just like have at it
00:20:35
>> and they must not be able to get a
00:20:37
search warrant or maybe they don't even
00:20:39
try then because like it ends up being
00:20:41
years before they get the chance to look
00:20:42
through the house. As for the car, they
00:20:46
never impounded it or even secured it
00:20:48
after it was found at the airport. So,
00:20:50
make of that what you will. They just
00:20:53
like left it there like in the airport
00:20:56
parking lot. That That's my
00:20:57
understanding. I guess the next day they
00:20:59
let like Don, Linda's dad, and Sam just
00:21:01
pick it up and drive it to the station
00:21:03
themselves. So,
00:21:05
>> I'm sorry. They let her husband, the
00:21:08
last person to have like confirmed to
00:21:10
have seen her, have access to the car.
00:21:13
>> I know. So, part of me is like, you
00:21:14
know, perhaps all this smoke and no fire
00:21:16
was a beast of their own making.
00:21:18
>> Yeah.
00:21:19
>> But a whole year ends up going by with
00:21:22
no developments because of all of this.
00:21:24
And during that time,
00:21:27
Dawn isn't exactly a grieving husband.
00:21:30
He stands firm that Linda just left him
00:21:31
and Patty. And so, he takes a big step
00:21:34
to sever ties with Linda about a year
00:21:36
after she disappeared. That's when he
00:21:38
files his own divorce petition, claiming
00:21:40
that Linda abandoned him. Oh, so now
00:21:44
he's [music] divorcing her.
00:21:45
>> He's trying to. He's got the same guy,
00:21:48
the same lawyer who advised him not to
00:21:50
take the polygraph. That guy's
00:21:52
representing him now. He's this
00:21:54
well-known local criminal defense lawyer
00:21:57
named Frank Analone.
00:22:00
>> I'm sorry, Ashley. When do criminal
00:22:03
defense attorneys, like local well-known
00:22:06
criminal defense attorneys, do divorce
00:22:08
cases?
00:22:09
>> That's what Linda's own lawyer was
00:22:11
wondering. Now, in fairness, the guy who
00:22:14
helped her file for divorce before she
00:22:16
went missing wasn't a divorce attorney
00:22:17
either. Frank Vat, her lawyer,
00:22:20
specialized in real estate. So, I guess
00:22:23
he took Linda on as a client through a
00:22:24
referral. So, we're like, you know,
00:22:26
we're all stretching our skill set here.
00:22:29
>> But, as he told Nah, in his experience,
00:22:32
criminal defense attorneys don't
00:22:33
typically handle divorces unless there's
00:22:36
some,
00:22:37
>> you know, crime involved,
00:22:39
>> right? Yeah. That's like I don't know,
00:22:42
the whole purpose of a criminal defense
00:22:46
attorney,
00:22:47
>> right? Or maybe they'll take the case if
00:22:50
they're like family friends. And I don't
00:22:54
know if that's what you would call
00:22:55
Frank, Anelone, and Dawn, but they
00:22:57
definitely had a connection because you
00:23:00
see, Analone had represented Dawn's
00:23:04
mother, Audrey, when she killed his
00:23:07
father.
00:23:08
>> What?
00:23:08
>> Mhm.
00:23:09
>> Okay, I need like a pause sign here. I
00:23:12
need details on that right now.
00:23:14
>> I don't have a ton. Uh, what I know is
00:23:16
that in February of 1974, police were
00:23:19
called to the Sherman home and they
00:23:20
found 47year-old Charles Sherman shot to
00:23:23
death at the breakfast nook there in
00:23:25
their house.
00:23:26
>> Audrey and the kids told officers that
00:23:28
they'd all been asleep, woke up to the
00:23:30
sound of a gunshot. And his death
00:23:32
certificate says that he was shot in the
00:23:33
back. So, I doubt anyone even tried to
00:23:35
like push suicide or anything. But if
00:23:38
they were trying to say intruder, like
00:23:39
that didn't stick either because when
00:23:41
police searched the house, they found a
00:23:43
gun hidden inside of a heating duct.
00:23:45
>> And Don was like in the house when this
00:23:47
happened.
00:23:47
>> Yeah. As far as I know, all of the
00:23:49
Sherman kids who still lived at home
00:23:50
were there. So his mom Audrey got
00:23:53
indicted for first-degree murder. She
00:23:55
ended up taking a plea deal and she only
00:23:57
served 6 months in jail. And it seems
00:23:59
like prosecutors may have taken like
00:24:01
possible family dynamics into account
00:24:03
because Don said that the shooting
00:24:04
happened during one of their arguments
00:24:06
and that they both struggled with
00:24:07
alcohol use disorder.
00:24:10
>> All of that to say Don's choice of
00:24:12
attorney strikes Vat, Linda's lawyer, as
00:24:16
odd. Like he remembers Linda coming to
00:24:18
him scared, genuinely afraid of her
00:24:21
husband. But he also does have this part
00:24:23
of him that wonders if she really did
00:24:25
just take off to get rid of this guy or
00:24:27
get away from this guy. Either way,
00:24:29
Vatarat is not about to let Dawn end the
00:24:32
marriage while Linda is nowhere to be
00:24:34
found. [music] So when Dawn's lawyer,
00:24:36
Analone, moves to finalize the case as
00:24:39
uncontested in 1988, Vatar pushes back
00:24:43
and the following year in June of 1989,
00:24:45
the whole thing just gets tossed. So on
00:24:48
paper, the Shermans stay married,
00:24:50
>> right? In practice, Don has already
00:24:53
moved on long before he even filed for
00:24:55
divorce, by the way. [snorts] And guess
00:24:58
who his first girlfriend is after Linda
00:25:00
disappears?
00:25:02
Vicki. You remember Vicki, right?
00:25:05
>> Wait, Vicky who?
00:25:07
>> Vicky is the neighbor who had the like
00:25:09
supposed sighting of Linda after where
00:25:11
she's like, "Oh yeah, I saw Linda and a
00:25:12
man together."
00:25:13
>> Oh, yeah. One and the same. But I mean,
00:25:16
his relationship with Vicki doesn't last
00:25:18
long. Dawn goes through a few
00:25:20
girlfriends over the next few years,
00:25:22
>> but by the late 80s, he wanted to settle
00:25:24
down and get remarried, which must have
00:25:27
made his legal tie to Linda pretty
00:25:29
inconvenient.
00:25:30
>> Hard to plan a wedding when your wife is
00:25:31
still missing.
00:25:32
>> If only she could turn back up, even if
00:25:36
it was just part of her, that would sure
00:25:38
be helpful for Don, right?
00:25:41
>> And what do you know? After more than 5
00:25:44
years of Linda being considered a
00:25:45
missing person, a skull pops up in the
00:25:50
strangest of places. But you won't
00:25:52
believe people's reaction to it. On
00:25:56
Thursday, June 28th, 1990, two TWWA
00:26:00
flight attendants are having lunch at
00:26:02
this restaurant called Kasa Gallardo,
00:26:05
which is this Mexican restaurant in
00:26:07
Bridgeton, which is 20 minutes away from
00:26:09
Bonita Park. And that's when they notice
00:26:11
something outside the window laying
00:26:14
under a bush. Clear as day, it is a
00:26:17
skull. The restaurant manager calls the
00:26:20
Bridgetton PD, but according to police
00:26:23
records, he also moves the skull. I know
00:26:26
because customers are like crowding
00:26:28
around it.
00:26:29
>> Oh, okay.
00:26:30
>> So, he shows officers the original site
00:26:32
about 3 ft from the window on the east
00:26:35
side of the building. Everything looks
00:26:37
neat and undisturbed. And the landscaper
00:26:40
who like works that area tells police
00:26:41
that he was there 9 days ago. Definitely
00:26:44
didn't notice any skull.
00:26:45
>> You would remember that.
00:26:46
>> Yeah. So, it seems like someone wanted
00:26:48
this to be found. It's not buried.
00:26:50
[music] It's barely even tucked under
00:26:52
the bush that it's found by. I mean,
00:26:54
it's so deliberately placed that
00:26:56
officers wonder if it's some kind of
00:26:58
youthful prank. Like maybe somebody dug
00:27:01
it up and set it up there just to mess
00:27:03
with people.
00:27:04
>> Wait, do they think it's fake?
00:27:05
>> No, no, no. They definitely know that
00:27:08
it's real. There's even dirt on it. Like
00:27:10
they can tell that it had been dug up.
00:27:11
>> Okay.
00:27:12
>> But a police official told reporters at
00:27:14
the time that I guess bodies were being
00:27:16
exumed from a nearby cemetery to make
00:27:19
way for a Lambert airport extension
00:27:21
project. And so seemingly because of
00:27:25
that, everyone just decides that there's
00:27:29
no reason to suspect foul play.
00:27:32
Okay. And the problem I have with that
00:27:34
explanation is that from everything we
00:27:37
could find, which like a ton of media
00:27:39
reports, that airport project that he's
00:27:41
like writing this off for, the one where
00:27:43
like supposedly graves from the cemetery
00:27:45
were being uprooted, that didn't
00:27:47
actually start until 1993.
00:27:49
>> We're in 1990.
00:27:51
>> Oh, yeah. And I mean, to be clear,
00:27:55
Washington Park, the cemetery, was in
00:27:57
trouble long before the airport project.
00:27:59
I guess it's one of St. Louis's oldest
00:28:01
historically black cemeteries and it had
00:28:03
been the center of complaints about
00:28:06
neglect and mismanagement for years. In
00:28:09
fact, according to St. Louis Post
00:28:11
Dispatch reporter Yvon Samuel Kirkwood,
00:28:13
bones had resurfaced there the year
00:28:15
before the skull was found. So, like not
00:28:18
out of the picture, but the weird part
00:28:20
is nobody seemed to like like frame that
00:28:22
as a prank. If anything, what was
00:28:24
happening there was very serious.
00:28:26
Families were raising alarms about
00:28:28
everything from overturned markers to
00:28:29
bodies getting dumped in unmarked plots.
00:28:32
The then state attorney general ended up
00:28:34
filing a civil fraud suit against the
00:28:36
cemetery owner who ended up taking her
00:28:38
own life before any of it could be
00:28:40
resolved.
00:28:41
>> Okay. All of this background only makes
00:28:43
this feel like less of a prank. Ashley,
00:28:46
>> I know. And I didn't find anything in
00:28:49
official records or reporting that
00:28:52
supports the idea of a prank. I mean,
00:28:54
unless I'm missing something, this just
00:28:56
seems like a huge leap to take to like
00:28:58
>> huge leap.
00:28:59
>> Someone must have dug this up. No, it's
00:29:02
a prank. It's not even worth looking
00:29:03
into to find out who this is, how this
00:29:05
got here, or if there's a mystery here
00:29:06
to be solved.
00:29:07
>> And like the this prank like didn't
00:29:09
happen before, didn't happen after, just
00:29:12
a oneoff silly prank with nothing to go.
00:29:15
Okay. Either way, they at least do the
00:29:18
bare minimum and officers canvas the
00:29:21
area to see if, you know, is there
00:29:23
anything like anything else they can
00:29:24
find? Did anyone see anything? But there
00:29:26
is nobody who saw who left the skull or
00:29:29
even when exactly it got placed there.
00:29:32
So, they photograph it, they bag it,
00:29:34
they send it off to the St. Louis County
00:29:36
Medical Examiner, who is really only
00:29:38
able to determine that it is the skull
00:29:39
of a female of quote recent origin. But
00:29:43
that is pretty much all they can tell.
00:29:46
So it gets shelved at the morg,
00:29:48
unclaimed, unidentified.
00:29:51
Nobody connects it to a missing woman
00:29:53
from Venita Park until September 1991.
00:29:58
That's when someone is clearly tired of
00:30:01
waiting. If police can't see what was
00:30:05
put right in front of them, then
00:30:07
someone's going to make them see it. So,
00:30:09
on the morning of Friday, September 6th,
00:30:11
this clerk at the Bonita Park Police
00:30:13
Department is flipping through the mail
00:30:15
when she notices something odd. It's
00:30:18
this unsealed envelope with no return
00:30:20
address on it. And, you know, curious,
00:30:22
isn't like the normal mail she gets. She
00:30:24
peaks inside and she sees this bright
00:30:26
orange flyer. It's from the Kasagardo
00:30:29
restaurant advertising Super Bowl Sunday
00:30:32
specials for the 1991 game back in
00:30:35
January. Like the kind of promotional
00:30:37
thing you'd find sitting on a table next
00:30:39
to chips and guac.
00:30:41
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So on one side, happy
00:30:43
hour deals, drink promos, whatever.
00:30:45
>> On the other side, there is just one
00:30:48
sentence stamped in purple ink.
00:30:54
In all caps, it reads, quote, "The
00:30:57
Bridgeton police have L. Sherman's
00:31:00
skull."
00:31:01
End quote.
00:31:02
>> What? When Lieutenant Webb sees this, he
00:31:05
is blindsided because as he told Laura
00:31:08
Higgins, he hasn't heard a word about
00:31:10
Bridgen police recovering a skull. So,
00:31:12
he honestly figures that it must be a
00:31:14
mistake. But he heads over to their
00:31:16
station to ask them anyways, [music]
00:31:17
thinking that they're going to look at
00:31:18
him like he's lost his mind. And
00:31:21
instead, they're like, "Oh, yeah, that
00:31:23
skull that was found last year outside
00:31:25
that restaurant. Like, come right this
00:31:27
way. We'll show you."
00:31:29
So, Lieutenant Webb brings Linda's
00:31:31
dental records in for comparison, and
00:31:33
the very next day, it is confirmed that
00:31:36
skull is Linda's. Their case is now a
00:31:39
homicide. Can they tell how she died
00:31:40
from her skull?
00:31:41
>> No. I mean, the Emmy, like I said, was
00:31:43
only able to tell that it was female and
00:31:45
like of recent origin. So, her death
00:31:47
certificate just lists homicidal
00:31:49
violence as the cause. Actually, an
00:31:51
anthropologist said that parts of the
00:31:53
skull were broken, but it's not clear
00:31:56
whether that damage came before or after
00:31:58
death. And if police know more than
00:32:00
that, they're not sharing. Now, by the
00:32:04
time this is all happening, Patty is a
00:32:06
teenager. So, during the week, she lives
00:32:08
with her paternal grandmother, so she
00:32:10
can go to a school in a different
00:32:12
district. And on the weekends, she stays
00:32:14
with Don, who still lives in the same
00:32:17
Bonita Park house that he once shared
00:32:18
with Linda. Same address, same
00:32:21
furniture, new serious girlfriend there,
00:32:25
but not the woman that he was with when
00:32:27
the skull was initially found. So maybe
00:32:29
he wasn't trying to get remarried.
00:32:31
>> Oh, no. Patty told us that he definitely
00:32:33
wanted to get married to that woman that
00:32:35
he was with at the time the skull was
00:32:37
found.
00:32:37
>> Okay.
00:32:38
>> Something must have happened. The
00:32:40
relationship fell apart. Whatever. In my
00:32:41
mind, that woman dodged a bullet. But
00:32:44
he's with someone new now.
00:32:45
>> Okay. Now, Patty stayed connected with
00:32:47
her mom's family, but it's like a
00:32:49
complicated situation. They can't stand
00:32:52
her father since they think he killed
00:32:54
Linda. [music] And Dawn's relatives
00:32:56
won't talk about Linda
00:32:58
>> at all. So, Patty's really caught in the
00:33:00
middle in all this.
00:33:01
>> Totally. And like by this point, she
00:33:03
said she really had learned just to like
00:33:04
keep her feelings to herself. When she
00:33:07
was younger, she said she used to like
00:33:09
run to the mailbox, hoping that this
00:33:11
letter was going to come from her mom
00:33:13
and she would look for Linda everywhere
00:33:15
she went. But every time she tried
00:33:17
asking her dad about this, all he would
00:33:19
say is that he didn't know where she was
00:33:21
or he would imply that she just ran off
00:33:23
with a boyfriend. And so, it didn't take
00:33:25
long for her to realize that mentioning
00:33:27
her mom made things tense.
00:33:29
>> But she never let go of the hope that
00:33:31
one day Linda would come back to her.
00:33:33
But that hope got shattered on Sunday,
00:33:36
September 8th of 1991.
00:33:38
That is a weekend where Patty is at her
00:33:41
[music] dad's house for a visit and
00:33:43
there's this knock on the door. And the
00:33:45
moment that she sees police standing
00:33:48
outside, she said this wave of dread
00:33:50
just washed over her.
00:33:52
>> So instead of answering it herself, she
00:33:54
like runs to wake up her dad and his
00:33:56
girlfriend from a nap. And after Don
00:33:58
talks to the officers for a few minutes,
00:34:01
he comes into Patty's room and basically
00:34:03
tells her they found your mom. And then
00:34:06
he turns around and goes back to his
00:34:08
bedroom.
00:34:09
>> That's it.
00:34:10
>> That's it. That's all he told her.
00:34:12
>> No explanations, no comfort. I mean,
00:34:15
nothing.
00:34:16
>> He doesn't even tell her that the only
00:34:18
thing recovered was Linda's skull. Patty
00:34:20
actually has to learn that from her
00:34:22
cousin who picks her up and brings her
00:34:24
to Aunt Fran and Uncle Sam's house where
00:34:27
there like for the first time she hears
00:34:30
the full story and she is angry because
00:34:34
in her mind she knows exactly why Dawn
00:34:38
left out the detail about where her
00:34:40
mother was found. You see, Kasa Gallardo
00:34:43
isn't just some random restaurant. It is
00:34:46
like Dawn's second home. Patty told us
00:34:49
that he went there five nights a week.
00:34:52
He knew all of the staff. [music] They
00:34:54
literally had a hat rack set up for him
00:34:56
with his name on it. And Patty spent
00:34:58
much of her childhood there, like looked
00:35:00
after by bartenders while her dad drank
00:35:02
just a few feet away. And get this,
00:35:05
police learn that Dawn was at the
00:35:08
restaurant on the same exact day that
00:35:10
Linda Skull was found. But he denies
00:35:14
having [music] anything to do with her
00:35:16
death. He tells reporters that someone
00:35:19
might be just trying to frame him, that
00:35:21
whoever [music] left the school there
00:35:23
must have known that he was a regular.
00:35:25
And he maintains that Linda just left
00:35:28
with someone else and that whatever
00:35:30
happened to her happened to her after
00:35:31
that and it wasn't his doing. Okay,
00:35:34
genuine question here. If he's trying to
00:35:37
get away with murder, why leave her
00:35:39
skull somewhere that points directly
00:35:42
back to him? I mean, that's practically
00:35:45
gift wrapping an arrest, right? Yeah. I
00:35:48
don't
00:35:49
Again, I go back to this like this idea
00:35:51
of like you you have an intention,
00:35:53
right? Like if you if you wanted her to
00:35:54
be found, you make sure it goes
00:35:57
somewhere where you like know it will be
00:35:59
found, you can like witness it being
00:36:00
found, you know,
00:36:01
>> can confirm it.
00:36:03
>> Yeah. I mean, like maybe that's it. If
00:36:05
it's just all too contrived.
00:36:08
>> Well, and also there's like the like the
00:36:10
red herring that's too obvious, right?
00:36:12
Like how could it have been? Like he
00:36:13
goes here all the time. Like there's no
00:36:15
way it could be him cuz he wouldn't have
00:36:17
left it here, right? Like it feels too
00:36:18
stupid to be calculated. Like yeah, it
00:36:20
it feels
00:36:22
like too
00:36:24
>> maybe maybe it's arrogant. Like nothing
00:36:26
has happened so far and it feels pretty
00:36:29
obvious that like he is lying about some
00:36:32
like major points in seeing Linda,
00:36:34
right? He has this girlfriend who
00:36:36
potentially gave a a sighting of her
00:36:39
that may or may not have been real. and
00:36:41
he hasn't been caught so far. Why would
00:36:43
it happen now?
00:36:45
>> I don't know. I keep coming back to the
00:36:46
fact that like
00:36:48
usually like in cases where someone goes
00:36:50
missing and then they're found, all the
00:36:52
detectives I've ever talked to have
00:36:53
always said like look at where the thing
00:36:55
happened or where they're found because
00:36:57
that's where someone feels most
00:36:59
comfortable
00:37:01
>> like a regular hangout.
00:37:02
>> So, I don't know why it's found there. I
00:37:05
don't know like again it could mean a
00:37:07
million things but instead
00:37:08
>> it could mean nothing.
00:37:09
>> Yeah. But instead of getting lost in the
00:37:11
whatifs or trying to psychoanalyze Dawn,
00:37:14
what investigators do then is they try
00:37:17
to focus their attention on something
00:37:19
more tangible. Webb believes that the
00:37:22
note was sent by somebody who really
00:37:24
wanted police [music] to connect the
00:37:26
dots between the skull and Linda
00:37:28
Sherman. So he sends the note and the
00:37:31
envelope to the FBI lab, hoping that
00:37:33
there's some evidence on it that might
00:37:35
tell them who sent it. But according to
00:37:38
Laura Higgins, [music] nothing useful
00:37:40
comes back. No fingerprints, no saliva.
00:37:43
Even the stamp kit used to mark the
00:37:46
message is like the kind anyone could
00:37:48
buy at any office supply store. Then I
00:37:51
think you still have to like keep
00:37:53
looking backwards like who wins, if
00:37:56
that's even the word you want to use.
00:37:57
Like if Linda is dead versus just
00:38:00
missing.
00:38:01
>> Yeah. I mean the only one that it
00:38:03
changes things for is Dawn.
00:38:04
>> Mhm. but only in the sense that he could
00:38:07
get remarried, which he ultimately does
00:38:10
a couple of years later. And then he
00:38:13
goes on to have another daughter. But
00:38:15
police still aren't letting go of things
00:38:18
just cuz they don't have anything
00:38:18
physical. Nothing like no physical
00:38:20
evidence. They at least now have proof
00:38:22
that she was murdered. More than just
00:38:25
their suspicions, more than even the
00:38:27
stories they'd heard in the years before
00:38:29
her skull was found.
00:38:30
>> Wait, what stories?
00:38:32
>> Yes. So, at one point there was this ex
00:38:36
of Dons's who told investigators this
00:38:40
bizarre story. She says that when they
00:38:43
were living together, she had asked him
00:38:44
to box up Linda's photos and belongings
00:38:47
because, right, he's telling everyone
00:38:49
she ran off and she didn't want there to
00:38:51
be any drama if Linda ever came back. I
00:38:54
guess she figured like having everything
00:38:55
ready to go would just make it easier.
00:38:57
But Dawn told her, "You don't need to
00:38:59
worry about that because I know that
00:39:01
Linda's not coming back since [music] I
00:39:04
killed her with my bare hands."
00:39:07
He just like came out and said that.
00:39:10
>> That's what she said. Claims he even
00:39:12
showed her this like green and white
00:39:15
aerial photo map thing and he pointed to
00:39:18
a spot near a river or stream and said
00:39:20
that Linda was buried there under a
00:39:22
concrete slab. [music] And listen, back
00:39:24
then, police did even have this woman
00:39:27
like try and wear a wire, have her go to
00:39:29
Dawn to get a confession,
00:39:31
>> but when she did, Don wouldn't confirm
00:39:34
or deny anything.
00:39:36
>> And unfortunately, she couldn't tell
00:39:38
police exactly where it was that he
00:39:40
pointed to.
00:39:42
>> But in that time, investigators had
00:39:45
started focusing on this stretch of
00:39:48
land, which was about 90 mi south of St.
00:39:51
Louis. And it's where Dawn's mother's
00:39:53
side of the family is from. You know,
00:39:55
it's a place that he spent plenty of
00:39:56
time hunting like turkey and deer, like
00:39:59
a remote wooded terrain. And
00:40:01
interestingly, when Lieutenant Webb paid
00:40:03
Don's aunt and uncle a visit down there,
00:40:06
they mentioned that Don had actually
00:40:08
showed them the exact kind of map, this
00:40:11
detailed aerial view of the area, which
00:40:14
included their property. So they've
00:40:17
always kind of wondered,
00:40:19
is that somewhere in there where the
00:40:22
rest of Linda is? So now that her skull
00:40:26
has been found, investigators have like
00:40:28
at least like some like momentum by
00:40:30
right like proof, right? We're looking
00:40:31
for something real here. So they make a
00:40:33
few trips to the area, even search it
00:40:35
with cadaavver dogs, but they never end
00:40:37
up finding anything, which like it kind
00:40:40
of got me wondering going back to like
00:40:42
is Don too stupid to do this? Like for a
00:40:46
second I was like, do you think there's
00:40:48
a chance that someone else I mean he's
00:40:52
he's talking about this. He's showing
00:40:53
people that someone else knew where she
00:40:56
was and put it there like knowing he
00:40:59
would be there that day. Like I don't
00:41:01
again nobody wins but like did someone
00:41:03
just like was this their way of getting
00:41:06
people to know but then like nobody
00:41:09
nobody knew.
00:41:11
It would literally be like a quiet nod
00:41:13
only to Dawn. Yeah.
00:41:18
But like bringing up like a different
00:41:20
person also makes me think about like I
00:41:22
know it's it's very unsure but like the
00:41:24
sighting of her car on the street like
00:41:26
he isn't driving the car there. So, who
00:41:30
like we can't confirm it was Linda. We
00:41:31
can't confirm it wasn't Linda, but
00:41:33
>> is there someone else that he was like
00:41:34
ever working with? Because
00:41:36
>> right like is there a second person?
00:41:38
>> I'm not saying it I'm not saying not
00:41:40
him. But what about plus someone?
00:41:43
>> Yeah. Like I I actually this kind of
00:41:46
like unravels later. I don't like I
00:41:47
don't 100% believe this, but I do wonder
00:41:49
if there's someone else. Even if there
00:41:51
was though, police are confident that
00:41:53
like Don's at the heart of this, right?
00:41:55
Like Don's responsible. Yeah. But in an
00:41:58
interview with Laura Higgins, Don
00:42:00
insists that he's innocent still. He
00:42:02
insists that he loved Linda. He mentions
00:42:04
an ex-girlfriend who told police he
00:42:06
confessed, but he's like, "Oh, she just
00:42:08
wanted the reward money." And bottom
00:42:10
line, he's like, "I just have no idea
00:42:12
what happened to Linda." Although, he
00:42:14
does throw out that he heard this rumor
00:42:15
that she was killed because of a cocaine
00:42:17
ring at her workplace. Which,
00:42:20
>> hold up, did I miss something? Like,
00:42:22
>> what cocaine ring? Everyone is like,
00:42:25
"Where did this even [music]
00:42:26
come from?" Lieutenant Webb has never
00:42:28
heard of a cocaine ring. Dawn has never
00:42:31
said anything like that to him, the lead
00:42:33
investigator. So, it sounds like
00:42:35
nonsense. Now,
00:42:37
>> they're not finding the rest of Linda.
00:42:39
They do eventually have to release her
00:42:42
skull, but Don doesn't even want it. So,
00:42:45
it gets released to Linda's mother, and
00:42:47
the family arranges a burial, which
00:42:50
Patty isn't invited to. Oh my god. Why?
00:42:54
>> She said that like she still isn't sure.
00:42:56
Like maybe it was the tension between
00:42:58
like Don's family and Linda's family.
00:43:01
Maybe they thought it would just be too
00:43:02
painful for her.
00:43:03
>> I mean, it's going to be painful. It's
00:43:05
her mom.
00:43:06
>> Yeah. Well, you wouldn't know it was her
00:43:09
mom from the gravestone, though. I guess
00:43:11
it only identifies Linda as a daughter.
00:43:14
And somehow even like the birth year is
00:43:16
wrong.
00:43:17
>> But Linda doesn't even stay buried for
00:43:19
long. Webb is desperate for a real
00:43:22
break, which isn't surprising. Like he
00:43:24
has this suspicion that she the rest of
00:43:27
her is probably buried somewhere in this
00:43:28
like general area, but like no
00:43:30
specifics. Like every search they've
00:43:31
done hasn't turned up anything. So when
00:43:34
he learns about this new advanced type
00:43:36
of soil testing at this crime scene
00:43:39
archaeology conference in the late '9s,
00:43:41
>> so specific.
00:43:42
>> Yeah. Like it's one that might actually
00:43:43
help pinpoint a specific burial site. He
00:43:46
just jumps [music] on it. So, in August
00:43:48
of 1999, Linda's skull is exumed and
00:43:52
shipped to a college in Pennsylvania
00:43:54
along with soil samples collected from
00:43:56
places that police think Linda might
00:43:58
have been buried.
00:44:00
>> Now, the first batch of samples is
00:44:02
examined that fall, and it helps like to
00:44:04
start at least narrowing down the scope
00:44:06
of where they're looking. Although, web
00:44:09
won't say to what extent it narrows down
00:44:13
in the media interviews,
00:44:14
>> but they're at least eliminating areas,
00:44:17
right? That that that's like progress.
00:44:20
Yeah. But it's slow and it's
00:44:22
frustrating. And all the while, Patty
00:44:25
has been living with her own growing
00:44:28
suspicions about her dad. Over the
00:44:32
years, she does end up becoming
00:44:34
convinced that her father killed her
00:44:35
mother. And it's beyond just the like
00:44:39
obvious bright red flags that we've
00:44:40
already talked about. There's something
00:44:42
about the anonymous letter and more
00:44:46
specifically the materials used, the
00:44:48
purple individual letter stamp text pad
00:44:51
and the like pre-stamped envelope. She
00:44:54
says that those are the same kinds that
00:44:57
her father kept. And she also learned
00:45:00
that some of Linda's personal belongings
00:45:02
that Dawn swore Linda took with her,
00:45:05
like that 76 necklace, were actually
00:45:08
still in the house. And what really
00:45:10
haunts Patty is that morning, the last
00:45:13
time she saw her mother, she started
00:45:16
having dreams that dragged that scene
00:45:19
back into focus. Linda laying silently
00:45:22
on the living room couch, perfectly
00:45:24
still, her face pressed into the
00:45:26
cushions. An account that Dawn doesn't
00:45:29
contradict when he even appears on
00:45:31
unsolved mysteries later. But Patty now
00:45:34
believes that Linda was already dead
00:45:36
before she walked out the door for
00:45:37
school. So, who do we think called Dr. W
00:45:41
that afternoon? Then
00:45:42
>> we asked Patty. She suspects that maybe
00:45:45
either Dr. W either had the dates mixed
00:45:48
up or straight up lied. And like and
00:45:51
Patty got the same weird vibe from the
00:45:53
whole situation of like like her, as you
00:45:57
called it, unorthodox relationship as we
00:45:59
did. And if what Don relayed about their
00:46:02
communication is true, like the frequent
00:46:03
phone calls at all hours, the level of
00:46:06
involvement, Patty thinks that their
00:46:08
relationship was she what she would say
00:46:11
is abnormal. [snorts]
00:46:13
>> So what does Patty think happened?
00:46:15
>> So Patty thinks or her theory is that if
00:46:19
Linda was killed at home that it [music]
00:46:21
was quick and it was quiet. Maybe Dawn
00:46:24
strangled her during the argument and
00:46:27
then she thinks that maybe he got some
00:46:28
of his relatives to help cover it up.
00:46:31
And strangulation is significant here
00:46:33
[music] in my mind because Patty told us
00:46:36
that around the time Linda's remains
00:46:37
were exumed, Dawn's second wife, who was
00:46:40
Patty's stepmother, got a restraining
00:46:42
order against Dawn because she alleged
00:46:44
that he strangled her. And remember how
00:46:46
I said that police couldn't actually
00:46:49
search the Venita Park house for years,
00:46:51
like a long time? It is this incident,
00:46:54
this assault that finally opened that
00:46:56
door. Literally, once investigators
00:46:58
heard about it and realized that Dawn
00:47:00
was out of the house, they figured that
00:47:02
this second wife might be willing to let
00:47:04
them in.
00:47:05
>> They were right. They ended up
00:47:07
collecting a few things like the living
00:47:09
room couch cushions.
00:47:12
>> What? He still had the same couch after
00:47:14
all those years.
00:47:15
>> Girl, he did not change a thing about
00:47:17
the place. But, you know, they collect
00:47:19
it. Nothing comes of anything that they
00:47:22
collect. Nothing incriminating. I mean,
00:47:24
the most incriminating thing that they
00:47:26
could find would be Linda's remains. But
00:47:30
Patty doubts that those will ever be
00:47:32
found. She believes that her father
00:47:35
eventually dug up the skull from
00:47:37
wherever he originally buried Linda and
00:47:39
planted it outside the bar. And she
00:47:41
thinks that he either moved or scattered
00:47:44
the rest of her remains, which could
00:47:46
explain why searches keep coming up
00:47:48
empty. But that is all just speculation.
00:47:52
The only people who really know what
00:47:54
happened are whoever killed Linda and
00:47:57
anyone else who helped them. And the
00:47:59
investigator who basically devoted his
00:48:01
life to trying to solve this, Lieutenant
00:48:03
Webb, he died of pancreatic cancer in
00:48:05
2009. While Dawn maintained his
00:48:08
innocence until his own death in 2015.
00:48:11
So, both the lead detective and the only
00:48:14
suspect are gone along with Dawn's
00:48:17
lawyer and the Bridgton investigator who
00:48:20
chocked that whole skull thing up to
00:48:21
like cemetery relocations and probably a
00:48:24
whole lot of other people are gone, too.
00:48:26
>> Mhm.
00:48:27
>> The only people left fighting for Linda
00:48:29
are her family and more recently us
00:48:33
>> because we actually tried reaching out
00:48:34
to police for this episode, but right
00:48:37
away we hit a wall. And it's a wall I'm
00:48:41
really concerned about because no one is
00:48:44
claiming this case.
00:48:47
>> What do you What do you mean no one's
00:48:48
claiming it? It's an unsolved homicide.
00:48:52
Like it's listed as a homicide now. Like
00:48:54
there must be some police agency in
00:48:56
charge of it. You think, but apparently
00:48:59
about a decade ago, Venita Park PD was
00:49:01
absorbed into the North County Police
00:49:03
[music] Cooperative, which is this like
00:49:05
shared department that serves multiple
00:49:07
small cities. And for some reason after
00:49:09
that, jurisdiction over Linda's case
00:49:11
just becomes murky. The co-op says that
00:49:14
they can't find a full case file. Their
00:49:16
attorney insists that the co-op is not
00:49:18
the lead agency. And in fact, against
00:49:21
all evidence to the contrary, he told us
00:49:24
that he would be surprised if Venita
00:49:26
Park was ever the lead agency because a
00:49:28
department that small wouldn't have the
00:49:30
resources. Okay. How would it basically
00:49:33
be Lieutenant Webb's life's work with
00:49:37
two drawers full of files like his
00:49:39
passion project he worked on this his
00:49:41
like even after he got like promoted to
00:49:43
Lieutenant like his whole career.
00:49:45
>> Yeah. With Venita Park PD
00:49:49
>> and but but there's no
00:49:50
>> but but it wasn't theirs.
00:49:52
>> It's like
00:49:52
>> that doesn't make any sense.
00:49:53
>> It's infuriating. Patty has even tried
00:49:56
going to the Venita Park mayor. She
00:49:58
tried going to the Missouri Attorney
00:49:59
General's office and everyone would meet
00:50:03
with her and tell her they cared, they
00:50:04
wanted to help,
00:50:06
>> and then communication would just stop
00:50:09
after that.
00:50:10
>> Which is to Patty like this slap in the
00:50:13
face like her mother has just been
00:50:14
forgotten
00:50:16
>> or maybe worse, like doesn't even matter
00:50:19
to people. And the fact is this case
00:50:22
should still be open. Yes, the prime
00:50:24
suspect is dead, but no one was ever
00:50:27
charged. And most of Linda's body was
00:50:30
never recovered. So even if it's too
00:50:32
late to get justice in a courtroom
00:50:35
and like Patty's like, I still deserve
00:50:36
answers.
00:50:37
>> Yeah. So she's hoping like the goal of
00:50:40
this and talking to us and still pushing
00:50:42
for her mother, she is hoping that
00:50:44
someone close to Dawn, maybe an aging
00:50:46
relative, a friend who has kept this
00:50:48
secret for decades, will finally speak
00:50:51
up. Now, normally this is when I would
00:50:54
tell everyone which police agency to
00:50:57
contact if you know anything about
00:50:58
Linda's murder, but as everyone just
00:51:01
heard, that's complicated. A co-op
00:51:04
captain suggested routing tips through
00:51:06
St. Louis Regional Crimestoppers, but
00:51:08
like
00:51:09
>> we know how Crimestoppers works.
00:51:10
>> That's how I got here, folks. Like,
00:51:12
Crimestoppers is a conduit. Like, what
00:51:14
they do is they take the tip and then
00:51:15
they're supposed to pass it along to law
00:51:16
enforcement to investigate. They are not
00:51:19
an investigating agency. So, I don't
00:51:21
know how helpful that will be.
00:51:24
>> I'm still going to put their info in the
00:51:25
show notes, but I also think it's worth
00:51:26
reaching out directly to the co-op's
00:51:28
general number if you know anything.
00:51:30
That is 314-4287374.
00:51:32
[music]
00:51:34
I mean, maybe even just a few calls or
00:51:36
emails or letters showing them that
00:51:37
people are still paying attention to
00:51:39
Linda's case and you care about Linda's
00:51:41
case will convince them to take it up
00:51:43
even if they don't believe it's their
00:51:44
responsibility. Like, someone just needs
00:51:46
to care enough. And you guys can always
00:51:49
email us [email protected].
00:51:52
And just a reminder, if you or anyone
00:51:54
you know is experiencing abuse, help is
00:51:56
available. You can contact the National
00:51:58
Domestic Violence Hotline at 18007997233
00:52:03
or text start to 88788.
00:52:07
You can find all the source material for
00:52:09
our episode on our website
00:52:10
crimejunkkey.com. [music]
00:52:12
And if you want to listen to more
00:52:14
episodes like this, you want all of our
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00:52:18
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00:52:22
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00:52:25
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00:52:29
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