CA CA - Linda Lovell, 25, & Stephen Packard, 18, Westport, 10 June 1974

[Coleraine]

Well, that's disappointing. Did you ask Mendocino if they had anything, burblestein? I know you listed all the LE agencies you were sending requests to in a previous post, but I can't seem to come up with it. I know they weren't well-staffed back in '74, but the initial work done in the investigation of Jerry Sullivan's murder was pretty impressive and the cold case investigators praised their efforts. I know a missing persons case is different than a murder investigation, but given the Barry Kirk Pinder murder on June 18th, Mendocino LE might have been the agency that took the lead when Linda and Stephen disappeared. Just a thought.

 

[burblestein]

MCSO is still understaffed; they have not had an increase in manning since 1968, although the county's population has more than doubled since then. It's still 56 sworn personnel to cover a county larger that Delaware and Rhode Island combined. Dish out a homicide and a double disappearance at the same time, and MCSO is overloaded.

Because I am still new at WS, I have not yet established any contacts in MCSO. I do have a request in to them for information in another case. It's an odd situation though. I can find no one designated as their records clerk. Maybe the records are kept elsewhere in the county bureaucracy. I was hoping that the reply to that request would give me a name of someone to query. I need a Case # and/or a date of report for that query, but have yet to find that info. So your answer, Coleraine, is I have not submitted a request to MCSO--yet.

Just remember--Perseverance furthers.

 

[burblestein]

I checked WS for Robert Vaughn. He's not listed in here.

 

[burblestein]

Coleraine, did you find anything about Linda's activities between her high school graduation and her final hitchhiking trip?

 

[Coleraine]

I haven't found anything about Linda at all. I'm hoping that a relative or friend of hers might come across this thread and decide to jump in to the discussion.

 

[burblestein]

Well, I began this as an army of one. Now we are two. Perseverance furthers.

 

[Alleykins]

I forget. Were there any agencies in MT working on Linda's case?

 

[Coleraine]

Burblestein's post #38 in this thread lists all the agencies/locations in which reports were filed and Missoula is listed.

 

[burblestein]

So far, I don't have enough info to query Missoula LE. If I can find a date and/or case #, I sure will ask. Right now, I would be asking them to check years and years of files--probably a near-impossible task.

In the meantime, I checked out Outward Bound, thinking that perhaps Steve attended the course in Missoula and met Linda there. No luck.

 

[Alleykins]

So far, I don't have enough info to query Missoula LE. If I can find a date and/or case #, I sure will ask. Right now, I would be asking them to check years and years of files--probably a near-impossible task.
In the meantime, I checked out Outward Bound, thinking that perhaps Steve attended the course in Missoula and met Linda there. No luck.

Thank you for the update. I hope Linda's family responds.

 

[burblestein]

RE my post # 62:

I received a reply to the request for the Missing Person Report in the case of Tom Thurston
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...docino-Cty-7-Nov-2005&p=12899877#post12899877

The County Counsel is citing legal reasons for refusing to release any information.

Has anyone else ever run into this? Any suggestions as to how to deal with this?

 

[Alleykins]

RE my post # 62:

I received a reply to the request for the Missing Person Report in the case of Tom Thurston
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...docino-Cty-7-Nov-2005&p=12899877#post12899877

The County Counsel is citing legal reasons for refusing to release any information.
Has anyone else ever run into this? Any suggestions as to how to deal with this?

I haven't, but the reply would make sense if it were an active investigation, or, let's say, if it contained information that could possibly be linked to another active investigation? I'm guessing though.

 

[burblestein]

Oh, I make it clear I do not want to post any information that might prejudice an investigation, and that I will hold any supplied info confidential. However, I never expected LE to lawyer up on me. And I do believe there is no actual legal basis for denying public records to the public. The Missing Persons Report I requested is purportedly public record. Other agencies have entrusted me with MPRs. But there is nothing to be gained by confronting Mendo LE. It's just a pity they are declining volunteer help.

 

[Alleykins]

Oh, I make it clear I do not want to post any information that might prejudice an investigation, and that I will hold any supplied info confidential. However, I never expected LE to lawyer up on me. And I do believe there is no actual legal basis for denying public records to the public. The Missing Persons Report I requested is purportedly public record. Other agencies have entrusted me with MPRs. But there is nothing to be gained by confronting Mendo LE. It's just a pity they are declining volunteer help.

It is a pity. I'm of the opinion that LE could use all the help they can get when it comes to solving some of these old cases.

 

[Alleykins]

Just a thought. Is it possible that Linda is still alive and has no idea that people are looking for her? Maybe her and Stephen had a parting of the ways around the time (or shortly after) the traveler's check was cashed and went in different directions? I'm not sure of how close she was to family, but if something like that happened and she struck out on her own, she may not even consider herself missing and may also have no idea what happened to Steven, or that he's even missing. People lost touch with each other quite easily back then prior to the internet and social media. What do you all think?

 

[Coleraine]

Just a thought. Is it possible that Linda is still alive and has no idea that people are looking for her? Maybe her and Stephen had a parting of the ways around the time (or shortly after) the traveler's check was cashed and went in different directions? I'm not sure of how close she was to family, but if something like that happened and she struck out on her own, she may not even consider herself missing and may also have no idea what happened to Steven, or that he's even missing. People lost touch with each other quite easily back then prior to the internet and social media. What do you all think?

IMO and based on what little information we actually have about Linda, I would say that she was too close to her family for her to be out of touch with them for so many years. Linda and Stephen were supposed to finish their trip in Missoula in time for July 4th and it seems that her family was expecting them. Also, the tone of her uncle and cousin's comments on her case file on the missingin.org site seems to indicate she had a close family (see link below). But that's just my take.

http://www.missingin.org/reg4904/linda_lee_lovell.htm

 

[burblestein]

But, Alleykins, if they simply split and went separate ways, why then would LE report Linda and Steve as murdered?

 

[Ozoner]

But, Alleykins, if they simply split and went separate ways, why then would LE report Linda and Steve as murdered?

I think we can dismiss out of hand the idea that they just went their separate ways. However, I think it's an exaggeration to say that LE reported them as murdered. Didn't LE say they were "likely" murdered? That phrasing is somewhat speculative and may not have been based on any evidence; it may just have been one cop's wild guess based on the fact that they disappeared without a trace.

 

[Alleykins]

I like to keep an open mind about cases, and to think outside the box. I'm not attached to any one theory at this point. I'm just trying to come up with other possibilities that may explain what happened. There's so little information about this case available, I'm not sure how anything can be dismissed, though.

 

[burblestein]

This is the sort of case that leaves one grasping for straws. I just finished reading Deadfall, in an attempt to see if John Annibel might have been a possible suspect for Linda and Steven's disappearance. Annibel, to summarize his history, lived in northern Mendo/southern Humboldt counties and was convicted of murdering Deborah Sloan (whose daughter Rachel also became a murder victim http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...docino-County-13-May-2013&highlight=Mendocino in 1998. He had also been a prime suspect in the disappearance of at least three young girls in the 1976 - 1988 period (including Georgia Pacheco
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...rt-Bragg-1-September-1988&highlight=Mendocino). My reasoning was that a serial killer would not restrain his violent nature for 10 years. However, as Annibel (born on 4 December 1957) was only 16 when Steve and Linda vanished, he seems a dubious suspect. Also, his MO seemed to be strangulation of lone girls/women, not couples. In other words, your basic woman-hating coward.