The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages. Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin -Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases. Hello, everyone,
and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Ali, and it will just be me coming to you this week. So right at the top, some exciting news here in our household. But as many of you may remember, Eli is an actor. And he's booked a gig here in our city. So for the next few months, he may be kind of in and out of the podcast since his nights are kind of filled up with rehearsals now, which is very exciting. We're very happy. But he just may be a little in and out. So that's
just a heads up there. So it'll just be me this week. And then also, I just wanted to apologize. I know there was no episode. last week and you know every other time I have been really good about updating our Instagram letting you all know but last week I didn't even update the Instagram so I just I want to apologize just from the top for not communicating with you all about why there was no new episode. Quite honestly last week my mental health was just not doing the
best. I was having a very bad like anxiety week. Lots of panic attacks. So I was just having a really difficult mental health week last week. And even things like updating the Instagram just felt overwhelming. So I again, I apologize, but I hope you will grant me grace and some understanding. And if any of you suffer with anxiety like that,
I totally get it. And I'm sure. this relates to you but um yeah you know it's it's just part of life and it's part of my life but I'm doing much better this week really was able to take care of myself and kind of get myself back in a good mood um and getting back into a routine is always really helpful for me so that means getting back into cold and missing so even though Eli is a little busy this evening I still wanted to get on here and bring you a new episode So
we'll just go ahead and get into it. I know we're normally pretty quick to get into our stories, but I just wanted to give you all a quick update at the top. But this week we are covering a cold case and we are on episode 156. And just as a bit of a content warning at the top, this case does involve a young person and there are mentions of sexual assault. Today, we are talking about the cold case of Linda Weldy. And this takes place in February of 1987 in La Porte, Indiana.
But first, a little bit about Linda. Linda Weldy is 10 years old in 1987. And she was exactly like a lot of other third graders. She was funny, easygoing, and a genuine light to her family. She loved watching comedy shows and had a happy, playful personality. She was a Girl Scout. a good student, and a loyal friend. Linda was born on August 13, 1976. In 1987, when our timeline picks up, she lived with her mother, Karen, and
her older brother. Also living with them was her mom's boyfriend at the time, Robert, but her mom would later go on to marry him. They all lived in a small home at the end of a dirt lane at 181 West McClung Road in La Porte, Indiana. The house sat beside railroad tracks near Fishtrap Lake and was surrounded by trees. But luckily for Linda, there was another house on the lane and there lived her best friend, Anna. When our timeline picks up, Linda is around 4 feet 10
inches tall and weighed about 80 pounds. She had blue eyes with light brown or dark blonde hair, depending on who you talk to. She attended Critchfield Elementary School, where she was in the third grade. Her mother, Karen, worked at a factory, which meant Linda and her brother were often home in the evenings with Robert. One unique thing about the home at the time is that the home did not have a telephone. Communication
was done using a CB radio. Their mother had a CB radio in the car, so that's primarily how they communicated. And now a timeline of events. Tuesday, February 24, 1987. So that Tuesday afternoon was an ordinary day. By all reports, school was normal and nothing out of the ordinary took place. Linda rode the school bus home from Critchfield Elementary. Again, no students or the driver recalled anything unusual happening during the ride. She got off the bus around 3 .30 p .m.
at her usual stop on McClung Road. She only had to walk about 200 yards to get to her home. However, the dirt lane that she had to walk on was curved and surrounded by trees, so you couldn't see her house from the main road. Witnesses at a body shop on McClung Road saw her walk from the bus to the mailbox and then start down the dirt lane towards her home. Several students on the bus reported Linda doing the same thing. She was wearing a long brown coat, yellow pants,
and pink tennis shoes. Her older brother Bill had gotten home about 30 minutes before her since he wasn't in elementary school. At the time that Linda got off the bus, Bill and Robert were outside of their home installing a radio antenna. Even though they were both outside, Neither one of them saw Linda get off of the bus because the dirt lane was curved. They wouldn't have been able to, but they never saw Linda appear. And
neither one of them heard anything. Linda's best friend, Anna, who also lived along that same dirt lane, she rode a different bus, but they typically got home around the same time. Anna says that she never saw Linda that day. At some point during that short walk, From the road to her house, Linda vanished. Because Karen, Linda's mom, worked nights, no one immediately realized
that Linda was critically missing. Robert and Bill assumed she had gone to a friend's house, something that she had done occasionally, though she had always let someone know where she was going. But maybe she had just forgotten this time. Or maybe she had just told her mom, Karen, who was at work. As it got later and later... Robert and Bill thought that Linda must be staying
the night with a friend. Because there wasn't a phone in the home, they couldn't quickly call Karen to check to see if Linda had told her anything. So finally, at around 11 .30pm, Karen left work and went into her car. Over the CB radio, Robert told her, quote, Linda did not come home. Immediately, Karen knew something was deeply wrong and her daughter had been missing. At this point, it had been eight hours since Linda was last seen.
Karen did not go home first. She drove straight to the police station and she reported her daughter missing that night. Just after midnight on Wednesday, February 25th, 1987, Linda was officially reported missing. Police began searching the area around the house immediately. As daylight broke, a helicopter was launched over the rural landscape to help cover more area. Robert told investigators it was unlike Linda to not come home or at least
inform someone where she was. Investigators briefly considered whether her biological father could be involved, but Robert dismissed this idea, saying he had not seen Linda in a long time and likely would not even recognize her. Fish Trap Lake sat near the home, but it was covered by a thin layer of ice. Authorities did not initially search the lake, though later they will. At the time, they assumed that if she had gone into
the lake, the ice would have been broken. While they're searching, police also learned that Anna, Linda's best friend who lived next door, her family had been receiving threatening phone calls. It does appear that police investigate this, but they don't think the calls are related. According to Anna's family, they knew the relative that was kind of making these harassing phone calls, so they don't think it's related. Despite the helicopter searches and the massive ground search,
no trace of Linda was found. The next day, Thursday, February 26th, so Linda has been missing for two days now. Authorities set up a roadblock on McClung Road. And they began stopping hundreds of drivers who traveled that route around the time Linda disappeared. Sheriff Kenneth Layton later expressed disbelief that no one had seen anything suspicious on such a heavily traveled road. But that seemed to be the case. They couldn't find one witness that had seen Linda that afternoon.
Police continue searching and interviewing people for days. On Sunday, March 1st, so... Linda has been missing for five days, investigators begin retracing their steps. Every known lead that they had had been exhausted. At this point, police publicly stated that they did not believe Linda had been abducted. Their reasoning was that an abduction would likely have been heard by her brother or Robert or employees at the nearby
body shop. Furthermore, the heavily traveled McClung Road would have left witnesses to the abduction. However, there was also no indications that she had run away. Linda had never done that before, and there were no problems at home or at school. There was nothing reported missing from her room, and none of her friends reported saying that she had talked about running away. So if she wasn't abducted and she didn't run
away, then where was Linda? On Tuesday, March 3rd, so Linda has been missing for one week now, and police say that they have interviewed thousands of people by this point. Officers from multiple agencies assisted in the search and interviews, and still no leads on what happened to Linda. Sheriff Layton admitted frustration, saying investigators had gone over the case repeatedly and still could
not come up with anything. On March 12th of 1987, so this is 16 days she's been missing now, police searched the railroad tracks that ran just west of the home. They began walking them and then walked them about a mile past Linda's house looking for any clues, but again, they turned up nothing. A few days later, on Tuesday, March 17th, Linda had been missing for 21 days at this point. At approximately 1 .30 p .m., A farmer planting oats in a field discovered a small body in a
brushy area. The girl's fully clothed body was found about seven miles south of La Porte. Police said the area was near railroad tracks southeast of Kingsbury, but north of US 6. The highway is about a mile south of Kingsbury. Ultimately, it was Linda. She was found face down, fully clothed. still wearing the same outfit she had on when she stepped off the bus about three weeks earlier. One of her hands clutched a handful
of grass, according to reports. Police think that this suggests that she had tried to run or fight back. According to police, no significant effort had been made to conceal her body, but her body was placed in an area that could not be seen from the nearby road, which was only about 50 yards away. This led investigators to believe that the killer likely knew the area. When they first discovered the body, investigators said that she had been dead for several days
but declined to be more specific. Later conclusions suggested that she likely had been killed shortly after she disappeared. A footprint was found on the back of her coat. An autopsy is conducted overnight to determine the cause of death. which was strangulation, likely by hand. Linda didn't have any broken bones, but she had been beaten, according to police. The autopsy will also show
that she had been sexually assaulted. The next day on March 18th, one day after the discovery, investigators head back to the farm and conduct an extensive search of the area, looking for any clues, any evidence that they can bag. We know from later reports that police are able to gather evidence from the scene, but there aren't specific details at this time on what they were able to collect. On Friday, March 20th, just three days after her body was found, memorial
services were held for Linda. Hundreds came out to pay their respects. On Sunday, March 22nd, this is five days after the discovery, Police expressed confidence that they were moving in the right direction. Investigators believed Linda knew her killer and that the person was familiar with the remote area where her body was found. However, this location was kind of known to a lot of people. It was known locally as kind of a lover's lane spot and was a popular deer hunting
area. At this point, the investigation really does seem to be heating up. But then it stalls. The next update comes in June of 1987. So that's nearly four months since the murder. Police acknowledge that they have suspects in the case, but there have been no arrests and they don't name the suspect. So we don't know who they're looking
at. In September of 1987, so six months since the murder, Sergeant John Thorpe publicly stated he believed only one person was responsible, someone who was well -known to the Weldy home. He theorized Linda went with the person voluntarily because she knew him and trusted him. Police believed she had been approached while walking down the dirt lane from the road to her house. Whoever was able to take Linda away from her home was able to do so without raising any alarm
or suspicion. Despite this confidence that police seem to have, no suspects are named and no arrests are made. And very quickly, the case goes cold. For years, there doesn't seem to be any updates on the case until July of 1998. So that's over 11 years since the murder. And in 1998, investigators sought federal assistance to review evidence using new technology. So at this point, they
were hoping to get DNA. And police say that among the items examined were strands of copper speaker wire found on Linda's clothing and in the trunk of a suspect vehicle. So they wanted to test those items. And then they also wanted to test the footprint impression that was on the back of her coat to see if the dirt from that impression could... give them any more clues. Despite a significant amount of physical evidence, it doesn't appear that any conclusive results come back
from this testing. After that, the case really seems to go cold. Linda's family does an incredible job, specifically her mother does a really incredible job of keeping her story in the media and advocating for her daughter. Karen has talked publicly over the years about the pain of losing her daughter and how she's still seeking justice in this case. But that is truly all we know about the murder
of Linda Weldy. So if you know anything about the murder of Linda Weldy in February of 1987, please call the LaPorte County Police at 219 -326 -7700. So that is the cold case of Linda Weldy. I say this a lot on this podcast. I had never heard of this case before. In fact, most of the cases on this podcast, I've never heard of before. But it just always feels shocking to me that I don't know these stories. So I just always feel like I have to say it. But it rings
true here. I never heard of this story. But it's also strange because I grew up not that far from La Porte. I grew up in Indiana, and Laporte, you know, would be in the local news if something, you know, kind of crazy had happened there. So, like, it's strange that I wasn't familiar with this case. I had never heard of it, not even vaguely. So when I came across it, I wanted to get into this case and really research it and understand what happened for myself. And I was
really excited to learn about Linda. Right away, a lot of people spoke about how funny she was. And, you know, she had all these other very amazing qualities. You know, she was kind, loyal friend, good friend, easygoing, a Girl Scout. But she was funny. That's something that I read again and again about her. So I just really enjoyed that fact. And I felt like I kind of... knew
that funny kid, that funny 10 -year -old. But I also think that her heart, how good her heart was, just really underscores how tragic this case truly is and what a light that was taken from this world. Truly a horrific case, as any child's murder is or missing child. Like, they're all horrific. But, man, again and again, I'm... I feel floored that there are monsters like this in this world that would do this to anybody, let alone children. But that really brings us
right into Linda's case. Lots of questions in this case. One of the first things I did was kind of pull up McClung Road and just kind of get a visual. Where Linda was living in 1987 is no longer there. There's actually like a like a veterans post, like a VF hall. But there's like a building there now. But there used to be homes there, at least two for sure. Linda's home. And then we know her best friend Anna lived
there as well. So I kind of pulled it up just so I could get the visual because there's this busy McClung Road that's traveled on frequently. And then off of it is this. you know, longish but not too long dirt path that kind of curves through the trees. So I just really wanted to get the visual because that small dirt lane, that small stretch is really where this case, so much of it takes place and where all the questions are. We know she gets off the bus. The bus driver
sees her. Students see her. And there's a body shop kind of across the street from where the dirt lane is where workers also see her get off the bus. And according to multiple witnesses, she gets off the bus, she walks to the mailbox, and then she starts down the dirt lane, presumably towards her home. And to just make it all even stranger, her older brother is outside with... Her mom's boyfriend, who later becomes her her
mom's husband, Robert. So her older brother and Robert are outside and they don't hear anything. They don't see anything. So what happened? So many questions. And I really just I keep going in circles around this. To get her to go without creating a commotion, suspicion, you know, even getting somebody to look twice or register what they're seeing, like it would have to be like a pretty normal encounter. So that's why police
go down that road. But, you know, I have to question, like, is there a chance that somebody ambushed her and, you know, was able to... Make sure she couldn't scream out, you know, put a hand over the mouth. Like, is there a world where that happened? I didn't include this in the timeline, but I just wanted to talk about it here because her family does talk about this. But the family thinks that there's a chance that Linda could be the victim of the serial killer Larry Hall.
He appears to have operated in the Midwest and he has. If I'm not mistaken, he has two for sure victims that he had a trial for or committed of, but there's suspicion that there were more. He confessed to a lot, but, you know, sometimes the confessions aren't always true. So that is something that her family has heavily considered over the years. And there are some things that with Larry Hall's MO that kind of fit into place
in Linda's case. However, police seem to dismiss this and they say they looked into it, but they they still think and, you know, as late as like 2014, like saying that they believe that Linda knew her killer. And they seem to have some evidence that suggests this as well. I also wonder if. The person that police suspected is because it really sounds like they have a specific person in mind or definitely at certain parts. They've had it seems like they've had a specific person
in mind. So, you know, if I could know anything about the case, I would wonder, you know, has the suspect. Has it been a specific person since 1987 when we first kind of hear about, you know, a specific suspect the police have in mind? Or, you know, has that changed over the years? Has it shifted from one person to the next for one reason or the other? So I would be just curious to know who that person is. But, you know, that one piece of evidence that they mentioned, the
copper speaker wire. So I think that's... a pretty significant detail that was reported on and according to reports that wire was found on Linda's clothing and then police also say they found similar wire in the trunk of a suspect's car so you know it's mentioned it's speaker wire I don't know how common of a speaker wire it is I don't know if it would be in a lot of trunks but that detail definitely stood out to me and so I would be so curious to know what else police have done
to look at that suspect if they've learned anything else about this wire it does seem like police are pretty firm the wire was not used in the murder it just seems to have been something that like got on her clothing like through transfer so That's a huge question I have. But to me, that also suggests that there's maybe more evidence. And, you know, I know they tested, you know, they were looking at this wire in, I think it was 1990. Let me double check my notes. 1990,
1998. That's when they were looking to get all this stuff retested. I would think they've gone back to look at the evidence and see if anything else could be retested. But I would be so curious if in 2026, with the technology advances we have, is there anything that was collected that could potentially be tested? I would be so curious to know if we have a DNA hit in this case. I presume it's, if there is, you know, there's
never been a match. I just I really want to hold out hope that in, you know, 2026, we could test something and find out something new. You know, I know police even wanted to, like, look into the dirt that was on the the back of her coat, like the footprint that was left on the back of her coat to look into the dirt of that footprint to see if that could lead them anywhere specific. Like, is there anything in that dirt that is
just like. Super specific to one area. So I would be curious to see if anything ever came from that. Ultimately, I just I really want resources put into Linda's case. This feels like a case that absolutely could be solved. It almost feels like there's maybe a suspect that could be held accountable. You know, just that that detail of the footprint on the back of her coat, like
that makes me sick to think that somebody. you know stepped on her I just somebody needs to be held accountable for taking this little girl's life and discarding her and taking her away from her family it's really hard to think about this little girl's killer just being free for so many years people who commit these crimes they have to slip up at some point you know they have to mention something in a fit of rage you know when they're drunk or high even when they're sleeping
if they talk in their sleep like something has to be mentioned that somebody else just picks up on I I really believe that because um I at the end of the day I just don't think they're that smart uh to like get away with this you know they're not um criminal masterminds I think it's dumb luck that they've gotten away um gotten away with it this long but I feel like it's only a matter of time until somebody comes forward with what they know before technology catches
up with what the evidence is and we're able to get more information from what we have ultimately I have to believe those things will happen in all of these cases that we cover here but I have to believe it's going to happen in Linda's case I really believe that it can but again if you know anything about the murder of linda weldy in february of 1987 please call the laporte county police at 219 -326 -7700 Um, I... am committed to keeping updated and I've been doing it really
good for over three years so I plan to keep you updated if we ever need to take a week off unexpectedly in the future. If you or someone you love needs transcripts to follow along because you are hard of hearing we have them on our website www .coldandmissing .com along with all of our past episodes so if you're looking for something specific it might
be on there. And then if you have some time, if you could leave us a five -star review, it goes a long way in getting others to find our podcast, to listen to the podcast, to give it a chance. And so that means ultimately it gets stories like Linda's out there and all the other stories that we covered that maybe don't get the most coverage in the podcast world or, you know, just in the true crime world. So five stars really goes a long way. And if you've done it
already, thank you, thank you, thank you. If you haven't done it yet. That's totally okay. Today's a new day. Maybe do it today. But that is all I have for you this week. Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing, for sticking with us, for being patient with me. I genuinely so appreciate it. I'm your host, Ali. Have a good week and stay safe, y 'all.