Linda Darby

 

This is a case that I came across while watching Deadly Women. Once again it is a case that I am surprised I had not heard of before that point, not just because it occurred in my state of Indiana, but also because in 2007 Linda Darby was captured after thirty-five years on the lam. I know you hear me say this often, but this blog is going to be a little bit different than most, if any, that I have done.

This is not a case in which I have a lot of details, or shall we say, true facts. All that I have been able to gather have solely come from television shows and news articles, all but one of which would be written nearly forty years after the crime. That being said I was still intrigued with the case, not just because Linda Darby escaped and eluded capture for so long but also by legal decisions that have been made since that time.

Charles Darby was from the area of Ashland Kentucky. How he made his way from there to the area of Hammond Indiana is unknown. But, by 1970 that is where he was at the age of twenty-five, living with his wife Linda. It is unclear whether Charles had been married prior to Linda but she had been. Between her first husband and Charles, Linda had five children.

On the night of March 2, 1970 neighbors of Charles and Linda called authorities after they heard what was described as an “explosion” and then saw a fire at the home. Once inside authorities found the body of Charles in the master bedroom of the home. An article written in Ashland just after the discovery says that he was “shot in the side with a shotgun” and that his body was “wrapped in a plastic covering.” In that same article there was a comment that the previous April the family's home had been “razed by fire.” I found this article on the website Findagrave.com and while there was indication that there was more to the article but the rest was not available there. Someone who had created the memorial on the website also stated “poisoned for months before being shot by his wife, Linda.” This is the only reference I found that mentioned poisoning.

While doing my research I came across a synopsis of the episode of Deadly Women that I watched and it slightly jarred my memory from seeing it. There was a reference that Linda “squandered” Charles' money and “pretended to have cancer to get more money from him.” It went on to say that he “exposed her misdeeds in the local newspaper.” It was this last part that I recalled seeing but to be fair I do not remember exactly what the show claimed happened or what was placed in the newspaper. I also keep in mind that this information was based on a television show in which their purpose is to dramatize things. I have done enough cases that I have seen on shows such as this one to know that not everything they say is stated with hard facts. That is not to say that something was not published in the newspaper, but who knows for certain.

Linda was immediately the suspect and arrested for murder. I did not find details pertaining to anything about how she was apprehended or her story other than the fact that she proclaimed her innocence. I also found nothing about her trial that was conducted in September of 1970 other than a comment that she made stating that her lawyers did not put on a defense because they believed the prosecutions case was extremely weak. Keep in mind that her trial was conducted a mere six months after the crime, something that was fairly common in those days, but rare in modern times. Linda was convicted on September 24, 1970 and on October 1^st she was sentenced to life in prison.

The following month she filed what was called a “motion to correct error” but I have no idea what that was about. In August of 1971 that motion was denied but the courts did grant her request to appoint an appellate counsel. This is the beginning of where things get a little shady. It appears that while it was granted around August of '71, no one was actually appointed until around the middle of March 1972. A 2012 appeal paper states that the counsel was appointed on or about March 14^th. This is interesting because Linda escaped the prison on March 13^th by climbing over the barbed-wire fence. I find it interesting that the courts would have only then appointed an attorney, and did so through the courts despite the fact that she had escaped from prison.

At some point after her escape she made her way to a home. There was not a lot of indication where this home was. But, she had apparently showed up bloody and bruised and she had “sought refuge” at this home occupied by allegedly people unknown to her. She would later say that she told the family that she had been beaten by a boyfriend, never divulging that she had escaped from prison. It was while at this home that she met a man named Willie McElroy Jr.

Willie and Linda would move to a small town in Tennessee at the Alabama border where his family lived. While many articles would say that Willie became Linda's third husband authorities would later say despite the fact that Linda took Willie's surname they could find no evidence that the couple actually married. Over the next thirty plus years the couple would have two children and eight grandchildren. There was a notation that they may have split up at some time but remained friendly but as with everything else in this case, I cannot be certain with this. Linda cleaned houses, babysat and cared for the elderly over her more than thirty years in their small town. She was well respected, and apparently very well liked.

In early October 2007 Indiana formed a new task force called the Indiana Fugitive Apprehension Unit. Two weeks after it had been formed authorities showed up at Linda's door. Amazingly it was said she was the third fugitive that had been found and apprehended in that short period of time. By all accounts Linda was cooperative and admitted that she was in fact Linda Darby. In fact, there were some in the area who insisted that authorities must have mis-identified her and she has set the record straight. The local sheriff was interviewed and stated that he knew Linda, but not because of his work as a sheriff. The claim was that she had never, in all those years had any issues with the law. For the most part it seems that Linda did not really say much to the media through the sheriff other than to continue to maintain her innocence. She was soon extradited back to Indiana. It would later be said that authorities had found her through their ability to access certain information. It was indicated that at some point Linda had been a witness in an assault case and “involved in a 'domestic situation'” although nothing was specified. Nor, was there an indication on how dots were connected to know that after thirty-five years this was their fugitive.

A 2012 appeal states that on October 19, 2007 Linda was returned to the Indiana Department of Corrections. On June 15, 2011 she filed a “belated notice of appeal.” On June 30^th this motion was denied without a hearing. In 2012 she appealed this verdict but the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the denial. Linda claims that before her escape she was told by her attorney's that had allegedly just been appointed that an appeal had been filed, and denied. The courts in 2012 stated that this could not be true as first, no appeal was ever filed but their argument was that there had not been enough time from the court appointing an attorney for them to file, let alone receive an answer on an appeal. The courts also claimed in 2012 that since her escape was obviously voluntary that the law prevents her from filing an appeal outside the time frame allowed. Linda's argument was that while that may be true about the escape being voluntary and it seemed pretty obvious she was not going to file an appeal it did not prevent her attorney's from doing so and that the fact that they did not file an appeal was not her fault. This may seem like a minor argument, and I will be fair in saying it is a rather weak argument, I do understand it being argued to the courts. Part of the law that would have allowed an appeal to be filed outside the time frame by a defendant is when the lack of the filing is by no fault of the defendant. So, in a technical sense one could argue that she is correct in pointing this out even if it does seem like a “hail Mary.” It is unclear if the attorney that was appointed to her ever met with her before her escape and it would have been difficult to file an appeal without ever speaking to the client.

That being said, this is where I oftentimes take issue with particular laws. To be fair I am unsure what the appeal was based on other than possibly ineffective counsel considering Linda has stated that her defense presented no case at her trial. Now, I do not know if they literally present no case or she has perceived it as such but there have been cases in which defense attorney do not present a single shred of evidence based on the idea they believe they have nothing to prove as the prosecution does not have the evidence to convict their client. Where I question about whether appeal courts that solely deny cases simply on time frames are cases in which new evidence is available. Is that the case here? I cannot be certain without knowing more information, but regardless of such it appears as if the courts did not look at anything past the time frame. I am not going to argue the fact that Linda's escape was not voluntary or that her escape was in any way legal or warranted. Obviously the escape was wrong and obviously damaged her case, but in the end the important information is whether justice has been served, or an innocent person is incarcerated.

I am not going to sit here and tell you that Linda Darby is an innocent person convicted of a crime she did not commit, because I have seen nothing when it comes to the evidence. What I will say is that it is extremely unusual that if she was “evil” enough to shoot her husband, wrap his body in plastic and set her home on fire and later live thirty-five years without ever committing another crime. I never so much as saw a story from a neighbor or a friend or a relative who had anything bad to say about her. And, I do not mean just anything bad, but even unsettling. I never saw anything that said she had a temper or was odd or …. anything. Regardless of her actions involved with her escape and the fact that she continued to live freely for nearly three decades reality is that if in fact there is evidence of her innocence it should be shown in my opinion. Of course there are criminals who proclaim literally until their death that they are innocent when clearly they are not. Some have been so adamant that upon their death more testing has been done that without a doubt conclusively proved their guilt. I think for me this case seems different not just because she went so long without any incidents but also because the murder of Charles Darby was not just brutal, but meticulous. If we are to believe that Linda poisoned him “for months” without success and then decided to shoot him, wrap him in plastic and set him on fire are we then to believe that despite being free she never exhibited any sort of odd behavior nor does it appear that anyone else around her died or even became mysteriously sick. Something just does not sit well with me on this one.