FL FL - Linda Louise Kerr, 15, Orlando, February 18th 1976

[Mysteries1974]

Linda Louise Kerr

Missing since February 18th 1976 from Orlando, FL
Age: 15
Race: White/Caucasian
Hair: Blonde/Strawberry
Eyes: Blue
Distinctive features: scar on right leg
Clothing/Jewelry: White blouse, brown pants, Promise ring on left hand. Diamond ring on right hand
Circumstances: Linda was reported missing in the early morning hours of 02/19/1976 by her family when she left her residence to visit a friend. Linda was never seen again. Linda left her purse and shoes at the residence.
NamUs: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Beekarina]

Hmmm....Any additional details on the friend? Sounds as though they would be the prime suspects, if she left her shoes and purse at their house???

 

[alb1on]

The friend she was visiting was her boyfriend. Her father suggested her disappearance could be connected to some of her friends testifying in a prostitution solicitation trial. The report is at Clipping from The Orlando Sentinel - Newspapers.com. However, in 1983 her brother was arrested (and subsequently convicted) for killing the wife of her other brother (!) and there were thoughts he could be connected to her disappearance (Clipping from The Palm Beach Post - Newspapers.com). There is a bit more information at The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida on May 5, 1983 · Page 47 (click on OCR text and it is easy to read).
The brother sounds like a truly dangerous individual.

 

[Mysteries1974]

The friend she was visiting was her boyfriend. Her father suggested her disappearance could be connected to some of her friends testifying in a prostitution solicitation trial. The report is at Clipping from The Orlando Sentinel - Newspapers.com. However, in 1983 her brother was arrested (and subsequently convicted) for killing the wife of her other brother (!) and there were thoughts he could be connected to her disappearance (Clipping from The Palm Beach Post - Newspapers.com). There is a bit more information at The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida on May 5, 1983 · Page 47 (click on OCR text and it is easy to read).
The brother sounds like a truly dangerous individual.

The brother sounds like someone who should be suspected. I’ll add this information to my case file for her at my site
Linda Louise Kerr

 

[alb1on]

The brother (Keith Barton Kerr) remains in jail after 37 years, despite being convicted for 2nd degree murder and being eligible for consideration for release as early as 1995. That probably says something about how he is viewed by the authorities.

 

[Beekarina]

Wow....that is all crazy.

So she never arrived at her boyfriend's house? Her shoes and purse were left at her house then? I misunderstood the original post.

 

[PayrollNerd]

The brother sounds like someone who should be suspected. I’ll add this information to my case file for her at my site
Linda Louise Kerr

Great summary. I’m pulling it in so I can review it in detail.

Details of Disappearance

Linda Kerr was last seen in Orlando, Florida on February 18th 1976. She lived on 2121 Dawley Street at the time and was last seen walking to her boyfriends home which was located 3 blocks away from her home at the time. Linda never arrived to her boyfriends home and she never returned home. She has never been seen or heard from again.

Linda’s family reported her missing in the early morning hours of February 19th after she never came back home. Police believed that Linda was a runaway and that they were to discontinue the investigation into her disappearance initially. Her family never believed she left on her own. She left behind her purse shoes at her home.

Linda’s father, Andrew Kerr, believes that she was abducted and taken against her will. 10 days after Linda’s disappearance, two people attempted to extort money from Linda’s father. The callers stated they had Linda in their custody and would be released 24 hours after an amount of $20,000 was left in a location out of Orange County. Kerr states he knew the call was hoax because the man could not answer vital questions about his daughter.

The two people, Judy and Carl Thomas, we’re arrested at their apartment in the Aloha Apartments on Rio Grande Avenue. They did not have Linda and they are not considered suspects in her case.

Investigators have considered the possibility that Linda’s disappearance could be connected to her friends testimony at a prostitution solicitation trial about a year before her disappearance. Linda didn’t actually testify at the trial but knew some of the people whom did. Her father believes this is a likely reason for his daughters disappearance.

In May of 1983, the investigation into Linda’s disappearance was reopened and investigators focused on the possibility that foul play was involved in the case. Her older brother, Keith Kerr, was charged with killing his sister in law, Carol Harker Kerr. She was murdered on March 9th 1982 and was killed by a single gunshot.

Keith also allegedly called over 40 women who were employed at Disney World in Florida and threatened to kill them in a similar fashion that Carol was slain in. Carol was a Disney World Boat pilot. There’s no evidence in Linda’s case that suggests her brother was involved but his arrest in Carols murder caused police to become “curious” enough to reopen the missing persons case.

There were sightings of Linda in the local area after she disappeared but none of them have ever been confirmed and she remains missing. She was a student at Boone High School when she disappeared.

Her disappearance remains unsolved and foul play is possible in the case.

 

[PayrollNerd]

The friend she was visiting was her boyfriend. Her father suggested her disappearance could be connected to some of her friends testifying in a prostitution solicitation trial. The report is at Clipping from The Orlando Sentinel - Newspapers.com. However, in 1983 her brother was arrested (and subsequently convicted) for killing the wife of her other brother (!) and there were thoughts he could be connected to her disappearance (Clipping from The Palm Beach Post - Newspapers.com). There is a bit more information at The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida on May 5, 1983 · Page 47 (click on OCR text and it is easy to read).
The brother sounds like a truly dangerous individual.

Thanks for the links. Not having a subscription makes them hard to read but I did pull in the last one.

The Post, Thursday, May 5, 1983-C7 Suspect in Threatening Calls Charged in Woman's Murder KISSIMMEE (AP) - About 40 women, many of them employees of Walt Disney World, received threatening telephone calls from a man graphically describing how he planned to murder them, police say. 1 When they tracked down a suspect in the case, he was charged with the murder of his sister-in-law and linked to the disappearance of his teenage sister. Sheriff's officials in Orange and Osceola counties refused to disclose any further details in the arrest of Keith Kerr, 25, charged in Osceola County last week in the slaying of Carol Harker Kerr, 28, a Disney World boat pilot. The slain woman was married to Kerr's older brother Ken. Keith Kerr's arrest also prompted police to reopen the case involving the disappearance of his younger sister, 15-year-old Linda Kerr, seven years ago, said Capt. John Guemple of the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Kerr's arrest and relationship to the Orlando high school student last seen Feb. 18, 1976, were enough to arouse investigators' curiosity, Guemple said. But he emphasized there was no evidence in that case. The sheriff's official said the details given the women during the calls were strikingly similar to the manner in which Carol Kerr was killed on March 9, 1982. The Kissimmee woman died of a single gunshot to the head from a .357-caliber revolver. Her body was found by her husband and father in a shallow grave in the woods near Kissimmee. Several weeks after the murder, some of the victim's friends reported the threatening telephone calls to the Osceola Sheriff's Office. The calls stopped after about a month. But seven months ago. the calls began again. In most cases, the women receiving them were employees at Disney who worked with or knew Mrs. Kerr, Guemple said. The identification of Keith Kerr as a possible suspect in the calls led to his arrest in the murder case. Investigators got copies of his fingerprints from the Army.

 

[MadMcGoo]

I was just going back over the case of El Dorado Jane Doe, and Linda looks identical to her! A lot of the circumstances fit too.

 

[Beekarina]

Hmmm...

Wouldn't it make her 31 though? And growing 4-5 inches after 15?If Linda's hair was naturally strawberry blonde, would that ever be described as brown and dyed blonde?

Possible, I guess. I can see the resemblance.

 

[Beekarina]

Telling her friends she was originally from Florida is pretty freaky though! I'm grabbing pics to compare....Thinking you might want to suggest this one....

 

[Beekarina]

Sorry for serial replies.....but gee @MadMcGoo even her alias Kelly Karr (aka Kerr) seems to *possibly* fit....

Linda's parents were Norma and Andrew. Wonder if anyone in the family was named Kelly?

 

[MadMcGoo]

Sorry for serial replies.....but gee @MadMcGoo even her alias Kelly Karr (aka Kerr) seems to *possibly* fit....

Linda's parents were Norma and Andrew. Wonder if anyone in the family was named Kelly?

Thank you for posting photos! I’ve been away from my desktop and my cell phone has been acting wonky! Ahh!

It was weird when I saw Linda’s thread posted because I don’t know what made me want to revisit EDJD, but everything was pretty fresh on my mind and I couldn’t help but notice the similarities. The last name Kerr, first off. She told people she was from Florida and ran away when she was 16. Then the prostitution angle. Doe’s boyfriend, McAlphin claimed that she was friends the trio from Dallas who disappeared in 1974 from the mall parking lot. He said those girls were basically kidnapped into sex slavery/prostitution and eventually grew to be willing participants. Same as Doe. Of course, we have to take what he says with a grain of salt, but I could see that being the case with Linda.

I don’t know if you’re able to view the post mortem photos of EDJD, but her hair definitely looks like it could be described as strawberry blonde. I’m sure Linda would have eventually dyed her hair as she grew older. Even their hair lines look the same to me; high foreheads with that tiny widows peak . It’s hard to tell with her height. I forget how much, if any, I grew at that age, and there’s no telling if Linda’s stats are even accurate.

Again, I can’t post links currently, but most of the information is coming from Wikipedia. There is one article I came across earlier (which of course is the only one I can’t find now) that mentions another alias used by EDJD. I’m trying to find it, but it seems like it was close to Carol Harker Kerr, the wife of her brother whom he killed.

Linda’s disappearance is bizarre to say the least, but I think it’s entirely possible she could have ended up living as “Cheryl Ann Wick”. I wish we knew more about Linda!

ETA: the other alias was Helen Stenner nothing like Carol Harker Kerr lol. I found the article, if you google El Dorado Jane Doe, it’s the first HuffPost link...

 

[MadMcGoo]

I just checked EDJD’s NamUs and she’s listed as being between 20 and 30, 5’10”, about 160 lbs, strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. I wonder if Linda’s ears were pierced. EDJD had 3 piercings in one ear and 1 or 2 in the other. That’s a fairly unique characteristic.

ETA: links! Yay!
EDJD: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
HuffPost article: We Know Who Killed Her. But 24 Years Later, We Still Don’t Know Her Name. | HuffPost

 

[Beekarina]

The multiple piercings are unique, but more common as an 80s/90s thing, I think, than mid-70s? Would she have had them as Linda if they are the same person? Or added them later on?

I actually have strawberry blonde hair. It is why I am confused about anyone with that as their given hair color ever being described as "naturally brown, dyed blonde." Also wish we knew more about Linda. Florida sun, swimming pools, etc. might turn a light brunette a reddish blonde? Strawberry blonde is a fairly unique hair color though...But otherwise? I think this is pretty spot on. Maybe she dyed her hair brown, and then blonde again?

I will go try to get the post mortems up

 

[Beekarina]

He nose looks a bit different, when I compare closely, but with time, a hard life, and these beatings mentioned, it certainly could have been broken.

Wonder if Linda's parents are still alive?

 

[Beekarina]

OK, I viewed the post mortem pics via HuffPo. She has tons of freckles. NO idea where they are saying that EDJD was a brunette. I see the strawberry blonde too, or at least some sort of "redhead" type complexion.

Hope you submit this!

 

[Beekarina]

Me again...Sorry, I have ADHD.I should be more organized.... Anyway, did you know about EDJD's distant cousin? Found this on Wikipedia:

2019 developments[edit]
A second cousin of the victim living in Alabama was identified by a genealogist using genetic genealogy after uploading the unidentified woman's autosomal DNA to the GEDmatch database. The cousin did not recognize the victim but stated she resembled members of the family

Edited to add: HuffPo article about the cousin gives a family name of Wood. Are we allowed to sleuth Linda's mom's maiden name? I haven't logged in for awhile,so I'm a bit foggy on things like that.

 

[Beekarina]

Wondering if anything ever came of this?

 

[PayrollNerd]

View attachment 240912 View attachment 240913 Telling her friends she was originally from Florida is pretty freaky though! I'm grabbing pics to compare....Thinking you might want to suggest this one....

Amazing resemblance. My sister has auburn hair and freckles. When she’s in the sun her hair lightens and more red is obvious. It could be the person describing the hair as brunette didn’t notice the subtle red.