A 10 yr old is found murdered in an abandoned railroad right of way
On a Tuesday afternoon, February 24, 1987, ten-year-old Linda Lynn Weldy, a Caucasian female, stepped off her school bus at the end of her driveway on a rural road in La Porte, Indiana. The bus driver saw her head towards her family's mailbox at approximately 3:30 p.m.; it was the last time she was seen alive. Her home was situated down a gravel road, hidden from the main road by trees. When Linda didn't arrive at the house, her family initially thought she might have gone to a friend's house. It wasn't until her mother, Karen, returned from her second-shift job late that evening and learned her daughter was not home that the alarm was truly raised. A missing person report was filed with the LaPorte County Police Department after 11 p.m. that night.
For three weeks, an intensive search yielded no answers, leaving her family and the community in a state of anxious uncertainty. The agonizing wait came to a tragic end on March 17, 1987. A farmer, clearing a ditch near an abandoned railroad right-of-way in Kingsbury, Indiana, about nine miles from Linda's home, discovered her body. She was still wearing the same clothes she had on the day she vanished. An autopsy later confirmed that Linda had been beaten and strangled to death. The evidence suggested she had fought fiercely against her attacker, as blades of grass were found clutched in her hands. Due to the condition of her remains, it was difficult for investigators to determine if she had been sexually assaulted.
The investigation into Linda Weldy's murder has remained active for decades, yet no arrests have been made, and the case is officially unsolved. Investigators initially considered those close to Linda, including her mother's live-in boyfriend, Robert Egolf, and his brother, as persons of interest. Both men cooperated with the investigation and denied any involvement. Another prominent name to emerge as a potential suspect was Larry DeWayne Hall, a convicted kidnapper and suspected serial killer who was known to be in the area at the time of Linda's disappearance. Hall has been linked to the disappearances and murders of numerous young women, and the method of Linda's death was consistent with his other suspected crimes. Despite the suspicions surrounding him and others, a definitive link to Linda's murder has never been established. The LaPorte County Sheriff's Office continues to hold out hope that the case can be solved and has periodically asked for the public's help with any information.
