In the fall of 1978, a young woman named Linda Lou Taylor moved from Minnesota to Reno, Nevada, seeking a new start. At 23 years old, she was known by her loved ones as a responsible and dependable person. She settled into an apartment on Wixom Drive and found a job as a bartender at the Gold Dust West casino. In the days leading up to her disappearance, friends noted she was upset over a disagreement at work and had mentioned she did not intend to return to her job.
Despite this, her family described her as someone who was very organized, kept in regular contact with them, and had never missed a payment on her car. Her sudden silence and failure to make her next car payment were, therefore, deeply uncharacteristic and raised immediate concern among her family.
The last confirmed sighting of Linda was on March 7, 1979. That day, she visited the First National Bank of Nevada to have some documents notarized. While there, she met a young, bearded man who worked as a self-employed locksmith. The two struck up a conversation about backpacking and made a lunch date for later that day. After her bank errand, Linda went to a shoe store on South Sierra Street to purchase a pair of shoes before her planned date. While there are unconfirmed reports that she may have been seen at her apartment complex on March 9, and a receipt shows she bought groceries on March 8, she was never definitively seen or heard from again after her stop at the shoe store. Her roommate, concerned after not seeing her for several days, officially reported her missing on March 9, 1979.
The investigation into Linda's disappearance took a grim turn on March 18, 1979, when her station wagon was discovered abandoned in the parking lot of a Raley's supermarket on Pyramid Way in Sparks, a considerable distance from her home. Investigators determined the vehicle had been driven for 23 miles that could not be accounted for. Inside the car, they found the leotards and shirt Linda typically wore for workouts at a nearby health spa. Foul play was immediately suspected. The focus of the investigation soon turned to the locksmith she was meant to have lunch with, identified as Charles Garry Sullivan. Shortly after Linda vanished, Sullivan quit his job, shaved his beard, and abruptly left town. A private investigator hired by Taylor's family eventually located him in Missoula, Montana, but he denied any knowledge of her whereabouts. Although he later admitted to police that he had met Linda and gone on a date with her, he has never been charged in connection with her disappearance. The case remains an active and unsolved missing person investigation, a painful mystery for those who knew Linda as a vibrant and reliable young woman whose life was just beginning.Last Seen: Mar 7, 1979
