In the summer of 2017, the quiet expanse of rural North Dakota was shaken by the discovery of the body of 28-year-old Lindsay White. On the evening of July 20th, investigators from the McKenzie County Sheriff's Office, acting on information gathered during a separate criminal investigation, were led to a remote tree line in the northern part of the county. There, they made the grim discovery of White's remains, which were found in a very decomposed state.
Her death was immediately treated as a homicide.
The investigation into White's death was directly linked to a drive-by shooting that had occurred in the nearby city of Williston just two days earlier, on the morning of July 18th. As law enforcement delved into the circumstances surrounding the shooting, information surfaced that ultimately guided them to White's location. The confluence of these two violent events painted a dark and complex picture for the investigators from the McKenzie County Sheriff's Office, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Williams County Sheriff's Office, and the Williston Police Department, who all collaborated on the case.
As the investigation progressed, a primary suspect in the homicide of Lindsay White was identified as Jonah Hendricks. However, before an arrest could be made and the full story of White's final days could be brought to light through the justice system, the pursuit of the suspect came to an abrupt end. Investigators located Hendricks while executing a search warrant in Williston, only to find him already deceased. With the primary suspect in her death also dead, the possibility of a trial and a public accounting of the events leading to her demise was foreclosed, leaving a community to grapple with the unsettling details of a life cut short.
