Linda June Hamilton, 28
Missing since 20 September 1977
- Sex Female
- Race White
- Date of Birth 05/31/1949 (74)
- Age 28 years old
- Height and Weight 5'6, 135 pounds
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Linda wears eyeglasses. She has a small scar on the bridge of her nose, her ears are pierced and her upper front teeth protrude.
Details of Disappearance
Linda was last seen with her husband, David A. Hamilton, and their two young children inside their house on Route 164 in Beaver Township, Ohio on September 20, 1977.
David A. Hamilton
That morning David was found dead in his home; he had been shot three times with a .38 caliber gun. Linda was missing and so was the couple's vehicle. The couple's children were unharmed; they had slept through their father's murder. In the yard of the house was a bicycle that had been stolen from a neighbor several doors down the street.
The Hamiltons' car was later found parked at the entrance of a closed strip mine off State Route 7, near the truck stop where Linda worked. A man's boot prints and a woman's bare footprints led away from the driver's side of the car. Sometimes the woman's prints indicated she was walking and sometimes the prints were dragging, as if she was being pulled along. There was no sign of Linda, or anyone else, at the scene.
Authorities initially suspected Linda had murdered her husband, and a warrant was issued for her arrest. The warrant remained active for several years following her disappearance, but investigators eventually concluded that some other person or persons had murdered David and Linda had been abducted by the killer(s).
Edward Arthur Surratt is considered the prime suspect in Gregor's disappearance and Feeny's murder.
Edward Arthur Surratt
Surratt is suspected of at least 18 murders, including the October 1977 disappearance of 15-year-old Ranee Gregor and the murder of her seventeen-year-old boyfriend. He's been in prison since 1978, serving multiple life sentences for burglary, sexual battery and escape.
In 2007, Surratt admitted to killing the Hamiltons, Ranee and her boyfriend, and four other people. He stated Linda's body was "unrecoverable." In exchange for his statements he asked to be transferred from his Florida prison to a prison in South Carolina. He remains in Florida, however.
Authorities stated Surratt's admissions were vague and they would like more detailed confessions from him. He has not been charged in connection with David's homicide or Linda's disappearance.
Foul play is suspected in Linda's case, which remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
- Beaver Township Police Department 330-549-5338
