In the winter of 2017, the quiet community of Toppenish, Washington, was unknowingly harboring a somber secret beneath a U.S. Highway 97 bridge. It was on February 15th of that year that Department of Transportation workers, going about a routine inspection, made a grim discovery that would set in motion a protracted homicide investigation. They found the body of a woman, later identified as Linda Sally Dave, a 39-year-old enrolled member of the Yakama Nation. An autopsy would reveal that she had been deceased for approximately four to six weeks before her discovery and had died from a gunshot wound to her abdomen.
For over a year, Linda Sally Dave remained unidentified, a silent victim in a case that grew colder with each passing day. It wasn't until March of 2018 that authorities were able to formally identify her, finally giving a name to the woman found in the water beneath the Marion Drain Road bridge. This crucial step, however, did not immediately lead to a breakthrough in the investigation into her death, which had been officially classified as a homicide.
The story of Linda Sally Dave’s death is one that speaks to the larger issue of violence against Native American women, whose cases often face significant challenges in receiving attention and resolution. Despite the official classification of her death as a homicide and the identification of her remains, publicly available information regarding any arrests or the identification of any suspects in her murder has remained scarce. The investigation into who was responsible for the death of Linda Sally Dave has, to date, not yielded any publicly announced arrests or named suspects, leaving her family and community still waiting for answers.
