To her family, she was affectionately known as “Genie,” a woman who loved to laugh and be happy. Linda Green, 42, grew up in Idlewood, Michigan, one of twelve children in a close-knit family that included her twin brother. Though money was tight, her brother Charles remembered a good childhood where their mother always made sure they had what they needed.
By 2003, Linda was a mother to one son and was living in Chicago, but she maintained regular contact with her family back home, calling often to check in.
In the spring of 2003, those regular calls stopped. After about two weeks of silence, Linda’s boyfriend contacted her family, worried that he hadn’t heard from her. Her family hadn't heard from her either, deepening their concern. Her younger brother, Charles, drove from his home in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Chicago to find his sister. He searched the places she was known to frequent and spoke with her friends, but there was no sign of Linda. His search ended in the most devastating way possible at a Chicago police station, where he gave an officer his sister’s name.
On May 20, 2003, at around 5:05 p.m., the body of a woman was discovered in a wooded alley near 6804 South South Chicago Avenue. A special agent with the Norfolk Southern Railway Police had directed Chicago police officers to the scene. The woman was found face down and unclothed, with her clothes scattered nearby. An Illinois Department of Public Aid identification card found among her belongings identified her as Linda Green. Charles was later asked to identify his sister’s body at the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. He recalled her face was swollen and bruised.
The cause of death was determined to be strangulation or asphyxiation, a brutal method that tragically linked Linda’s case to a terrifying pattern. Her murder is one of 51 unsolved homicides of women, mostly African-American, that occurred in Chicago between 2001 and 2018. The victims were often left in alleys, abandoned buildings, or trash bins, primarily on the city's South and West Sides. An organization called the Murder Accountability Project used a computer algorithm to identify this cluster of killings, suggesting they could be the work of one or more serial killers, sometimes referred to as the "Chicago Strangler."
For years, Linda's family struggled to get information from investigators about her case. They called regularly for updates, but as time passed, they felt their calls were no longer being answered, and the case grew cold. The family was left in the dark, not only about potential suspects but also about the larger context of their sister’s murder. In a shocking and heartbreaking turn, Linda's sister, Amanda, learned of the possible connection to a serial killer while watching a television documentary, "The Hunt for the Chicago Strangler." Seeing her sister's name and the date she was found flash across the screen was the first time the family had ever been notified that Linda's case was part of the group of 51 potential serial killings.
The Chicago Police Department has at times publicly stated there is no definitive evidence linking all 51 murders to a single killer, although they have reviewed the cases. For the families of the victims, the lack of answers and what they perceive as a lack of urgency has been a source of profound pain and frustration. Linda’s brother Charles has questioned whether the response would have been different if the victims had been white.
More than two decades have passed since Linda Green was killed, and her case remains unsolved. There have been no arrests, and no suspects have been publicly named in her murder. Her family continues to wait for justice, left with only memories of the woman who loved to laugh and the lingering pain of not knowing who was responsible for her death or why. The question of who killed Linda remains unanswered, one of dozens of similar, haunting questions that echo across the city of Chicago.
