WEBVTT 1 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:32.159 Welcome back to the Path Went Chile for part two 2 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:36.359 of our series about the unexplained death of Linda Sherman. Robin, 3 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:37.920 do you want to catch everyone up on what we 4 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:39.640 talked about in our previous episode? 5 00:00:40.119 --> 00:00:40.280 Well. 6 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:43.520 The case takes place in nineteen eighty five in Benita Park, Missouri, 7 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:46.520 and involves a married couple named Linda and Don Sherman 8 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:49.439 who had been together since high school and Linda actually 9 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:52.280 gave birth to a daughter named Patty when she was 10 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:55.479 still seventeen years old, but the marriage has not been 11 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:57.640 a happy one because Don has been alleged to be 12 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:00.840 controlling and abusive, and many times Linda tried to get 13 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:03.359 away from him, but would always go back. But at 14 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:06.040 this particular point, she has decided that she wants to 15 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:08.159 get a divorce, and Don is on the verge of 16 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:11.159 being served the papers. But before this could take place, 17 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:13.400 a Linda would go missing and her car would be 18 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:17.000 found abandoned at the airport, but nobody believed that she 19 00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:20.400 left voluntarily because she never would have abandoned her daughter, 20 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:23.799 and Patty would say that one morning her father was 21 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:26.400 taking her to school and she recalled seeing her mother 22 00:01:26.519 --> 00:01:29.159 sleeping on the couch and This would turn out to 23 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:31.359 be the last time she was confirmed to be alive, 24 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:34.719 which has led to speculation that perhaps she was already 25 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:37.439 dead at that point and that Don may have killed her. 26 00:01:38.120 --> 00:01:40.239 The case went cold for five years, but then a 27 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:44.000 skull showed up outside a restaurant which was known for 28 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:47.719 being one of Don's favorite hangouts, and they could not 29 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:50.040 identify this call For about a year, it sat in 30 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:53.480 a police evidence room, but then they received an anonymous 31 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:57.200 note saying that the skull belonged to al Sherman, and 32 00:01:57.319 --> 00:02:00.879 sure enough, it was positively identified as belonging to Linda Sherman, 33 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:03.439 but the rest of her remains have never been found. 34 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:07.239 Of course, Don instantly came under suspicion, but brought up 35 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:09.800 the legitimate point, saying that why would I dig up 36 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:11.879 my wife's skull and leave it out in a public 37 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:14.639 place so many years later after I had gotten away 38 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:17.319 with it. They speculated that maybe it's because he wanted 39 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:20.719 to get remarried and have Linda declared legally dead, but 40 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.520 they never found any evidence that he was the one 41 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:25.719 who dug up the skull, and he tried to say 42 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:28.520 that whoever killed Linda was just trying to toy with 43 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:31.400 him and frame him. But of course, Patty always believed 44 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:34.680 that Don killed her mother and was pretty much estranged 45 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:37.400 from him, and Don would get remarried, but he died 46 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:41.919 of natural causes in twenty fifteen, so the investigation has 47 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:45.680 pretty much hit a standstill, and it's still heavily debated 48 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:47.759 whether or not Don would have been responsible for what 49 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:49.439 happened to Linda. 50 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:52.919 So let's go back and examine the exact circumstances of 51 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:56.360 how Linda went missing. Don's official story is that he 52 00:02:56.439 --> 00:02:59.000 got home at around six pm on the evening of 53 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:02.879 April twenty second, nineteen eighty five, and saw Linda quickly 54 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:04.960 leave the house because she was running late for her 55 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:08.159 shift at work. After she drove away, Linda did not 56 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:11.199 show up for her shift and was never seen alive again. 57 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:14.240 But of course we only have Don's word that these 58 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:18.039 events took place, So the last confirmed sighting of Linda 59 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:21.599 is from about ten to twelve hours earlier, when Patty 60 00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:23.719 saw her mother lying on the couch while she was 61 00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:26.680 leaving the house for school. And before that, we know 62 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:29.120 that Linda signed out from her final shift at work 63 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:32.919 at two sixteen am. Don's story is that they got 64 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:36.400 into an argument because Linda arrived home late, and being 65 00:03:36.439 --> 00:03:38.800 the jealous guy that he was, he accused her of 66 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:43.120 being with another man. After their argument subsided, they both 67 00:03:43.159 --> 00:03:46.280 went to sleep in separate rooms until Don woke up 68 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:49.520 and took Patty to school a few hours later, which 69 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:52.199 she found unusual since her mother was the one who 70 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:55.879 generally drove her to school. Patty claims that she saw 71 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:58.199 what appeared to be her mother sleeping on the couch, 72 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:01.759 which she didn't move at all. So the disturbing implication 73 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:04.879 here is that Down killed Linda after she arrived home 74 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:07.680 from her shift, left her body on the couch, and 75 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:10.560 then disposed of it after he'd dropped Patty off at school. 76 00:04:11.319 --> 00:04:13.639 It sounds like this is one of the main reasons 77 00:04:13.719 --> 00:04:16.399 Patty believes her father may have killed her mother. But 78 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:18.920 I don't know if Don murdered Linda that morning. It 79 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:21.319 seems to me that leaving her body on the couch 80 00:04:21.720 --> 00:04:24.879 in full view of her daughter would be an incredibly 81 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:27.800 brazen thing to do. I mean, what if Patty had 82 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:30.800 gone over and tried to wake Linda up. If Don 83 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:33.199 had killed Linda in a fit of rage, I'm sure 84 00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:35.600 he knew that he couldn't go anywhere to dispose of 85 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:38.959 her body immediately because Patty would wake up in only 86 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.560 a few hours, so we had to go through the 87 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:44.360 morning routine of taking her to school to give off 88 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:47.920 the impression that everything was still normal. But if Don 89 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:50.639 wanted to conceal what he'd done, I would think the 90 00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:53.879 most logical step would be to place Linda's body inside 91 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:57.399 their bedroom, close the door, and tell Patty that her 92 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:00.000 mother was sleeping and didn't want to be woken up, 93 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:04.240 which seems far less risky than leaving her dead body 94 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:08.000 out in the open on the couch. Interestingly enough, Patty 95 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:11.199 was interviewed in an article about the case published in 96 00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:14.920 The Riverfront Times in nineteen ninety nine, and she described 97 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:17.199 the image of seeing her mother lying on the couch 98 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:21.000 while leaving for school as a recurring nightmare she often had, 99 00:05:21.160 --> 00:05:24.000 which caused her to wake up in tears. Since she 100 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.519 was so young when this actual event happened, I have 101 00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:30.399 to wonder if Patty's memories of the situation are a 102 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:33.319 bit exaggerated and the passage of time has made her 103 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:35.680 believe that she was staring at her mother while she 104 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:39.319 was dead. Personally, given that Linda supposedly did not go 105 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:42.279 to sleep until around four am or so. I think 106 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:45.800 it's equally plausible that she was sleeping soundly and simply 107 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:47.480 did not wake up when Patty left. 108 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:53.160 Can you imagine if Dawn was actually crazy enough to 109 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:56.160 leave his deceased wife's body on the couch hoping that 110 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:58.959 his little girl wouldn't go over there. I think I 111 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:02.160 mentioned last time. But for me, even if I'm asleep, 112 00:06:02.279 --> 00:06:04.319 sometimes if you Oregan'll come in and she'll give me 113 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:06.800 a kiss on the forehead, or she'll give me a 114 00:06:06.920 --> 00:06:09.920 light hug and leave the room and I might or 115 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:12.160 might not wake up, but she'll just love on me 116 00:06:12.519 --> 00:06:14.439 because she just wants to say goodbye before she heads 117 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:17.079 to school. And so if she had done that and 118 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:19.800 her mother was deceased, it's possible her mother was cold. 119 00:06:19.879 --> 00:06:22.199 It's possible that there could have been an injury she saw. 120 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:26.560 So it does seem very wild to think that Don 121 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:28.839 would leave her there, and like you said, Jules not 122 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:30.600 put her in the room with the door locked or 123 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:33.439 something like that so that there was zero risk. And 124 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:37.319 again when we talk about that skull appearing years later 125 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:41.920 outside of Don's favorite restaurant, it does for any logical 126 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:45.240 human beings scream, why would he do that? If he 127 00:06:45.319 --> 00:06:49.040 had gotten away with murder for so long? It does 128 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:52.000 ring that bell of well did he need a deceased 129 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:54.360 body and a conclusion that his wife was dead for 130 00:06:54.439 --> 00:06:57.680 things like life insurance? But there's a lot of laws 131 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:00.240 in place that after a certain number of years, a 132 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:03.920 missing person can be legally declared dead. So I'm wondering 133 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:07.120 if that would have even been a motivator. It seems 134 00:07:07.319 --> 00:07:11.480 bizarre and like it could be retaliation or some kind 135 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:14.879 of revenge against Don maybe able to scorned lover or 136 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:18.319 something like that. But for anyone you went to a 137 00:07:18.360 --> 00:07:21.160 public place and dropped a skull with a name on it, 138 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:23.879 That is the most brazen act I've ever heard of. 139 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:24.920 It's just wild. 140 00:07:25.959 --> 00:07:29.720 Do you know how much Linda wide Robin I don't like. 141 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:32.240 If she was really petite, I could see carrying her 142 00:07:32.279 --> 00:07:35.759 body to the bedroom from the living room where she 143 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:38.480 was lying and it wouldn't be an issue. But if 144 00:07:38.519 --> 00:07:41.399 she was a larger size and heavier, it might have 145 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:42.920 been a more difficult endeavor. 146 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:45.879 Yeah, from the photographs I've seen of Linda, she just 147 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:48.199 seems average size, so I don't think it would have 148 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:50.680 been too complicated for Don to just simply move her 149 00:07:50.680 --> 00:07:53.120 into the bedroom rather than leaving her out on the 150 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:55.439 couch in the open. I mean, I don't get the 151 00:07:55.480 --> 00:07:57.560 sense that Don is the smartest guy in the world. 152 00:07:57.600 --> 00:07:59.959 And as we talked about in the last episode, regardless 153 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:02.680 whether he's guilty or murderer or not, he's definitely not 154 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:05.360 a nice guy or a good husband because he was 155 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:08.480 abusive towards Linda. But you have to think would he 156 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:11.360 really be raisen enough to leave her body out in 157 00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:14.360 the open, because that just seems incredibly risky and there 158 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:17.160 would be so many horrible things could go potentially wrong. 159 00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:21.279 Do we think that there's a possibility that there could 160 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:26.720 have been some mysterious co conspirator who perhaps he enlisted 161 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:30.480 to help dispose of the body, and then that person 162 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:34.279 is the one that later digs up the skull and 163 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:36.480 kind of brings it to light. 164 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:39.639 I think that is a possibility that he did not 165 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:42.519 act alone, because, as I'm going to talk about momentarily, 166 00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:46.519 I'm not exactly sure of Don's whereabouts after he took 167 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:49.080 Patty to school, Like I don't know if he went 168 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:51.639 to work for the next several hours, and obviously if 169 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:54.720 he had witnesses vouching for his alibi, then it would 170 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:56.759 have been really difficult for him to be able to 171 00:08:56.759 --> 00:08:59.960 dispose of Linda's body without his absence being noticed by 172 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:02.559 But if he was able to get a cocon spirit 173 00:09:02.679 --> 00:09:06.639 to dispose of her body on his behalf, then who knows, maybe, 174 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:09.440 like five years later, this person felt compelled to dig 175 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:12.559 up her skull and leave it outside Don's favorite restaurant 176 00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:15.399 as a means to toy with him. So, like I 177 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:17.759 just said, my biggest issue with the idea of Linda 178 00:09:17.799 --> 00:09:20.360 being dead that morning is that I'm not entirely sure 179 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:23.519 about Don's whereabouts for the rest of the day. As 180 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:25.720 far as I can tell, he ordinarily worked the day 181 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:28.679 shift in a machine shop, and since April twenty second, 182 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:31.879 nineteen eighty five was a Monday, it's reasonable to assume 183 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:34.159 that Don would have been scheduled to work and went 184 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:37.519 there after he dropped off Patty at school. If it 185 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:40.559 turned out that Don conveniently called in sick, then yes, 186 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:43.919 I can definitely believe he was busy disposing of Linda's body. 187 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:47.000 But if he spent the entire day working until he 188 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:49.960 arrived home at around six pm, then I find it 189 00:09:50.039 --> 00:09:52.799 highly unlikely that he would leave Linda's body lying on 190 00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:55.759 the couch the whole time. Of course, this does not 191 00:09:55.879 --> 00:09:59.039 necessarily mean that Don is innocent. I'm just saying that 192 00:09:59.080 --> 00:10:01.639 if he did kill Lynd, it's far more likely it 193 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:04.559 happened after he got home that day rather than in 194 00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:07.600 the middle of the night. Remember, Linda officially filed for 195 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:10.639 divorce on April the eleventh, but decided to remain in 196 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:13.240 the house with Don because she knew he wouldn't get 197 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:16.759 served the divorce papers for a few weeks. Well, since 198 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:19.519 April the twenty second was a Monday. What if Don 199 00:10:19.559 --> 00:10:22.919 finally got served the papers that day or somehow learned 200 00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:25.960 about Linda's plans to divorce him, This could have put 201 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:28.080 him in such a violent rage that he got into 202 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:31.039 a fight with Linda after he returned home and wound 203 00:10:31.080 --> 00:10:33.440 up killing her in a crime of passion before she 204 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:36.200 had the chance to leave for her night shift. To 205 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:39.279 cover up the crime, Don took Linda's body and disposed 206 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:42.120 of it somewhere, and then abandoned her Volkswagen in the 207 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:45.720 parking garage at Lambert International Airport in order to make 208 00:10:45.720 --> 00:10:49.000 it look like she took off voluntarily. Don did mention 209 00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:51.399 that he thought an overnight bag and some of Linda's 210 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:53.960 personal items were missing from the house, but he could 211 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:56.360 have either been lying or gotten rid of these items 212 00:10:56.519 --> 00:10:58.919 in order to help make his story look more plausible. 213 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:01.960 Of course, there are a number of missing persons cases 214 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:04.440 in which the victim's vehicle is found in an airport 215 00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:07.600 parking lot, but the majority of the time it seems 216 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:10.519 obvious that the vehicle was planted there by the perpetrator 217 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:13.000 to give off the impression that the victim took a 218 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:16.519 flight somewhere. The main reason no one believed that Linda 219 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:18.679 took off is because they felt there was no way 220 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:22.240 she would have abandoned her daughter. In the past, Linda 221 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:24.840 had separated from Don and moved out with Patty on 222 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:28.840 multiple occasions, and was always prepared to fight for legal custody. Ever, 223 00:11:29.559 --> 00:11:31.679 but now that she had begun the legal process of 224 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:33.919 filing for a divorce and was planning to end the 225 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:36.679 marriage for good, was she really just going to skip 226 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:39.480 town and leave her daughter alone with her abusive husband. 227 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:43.039 I don't think so. There is a lot of complicated 228 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:45.120 factors that go into this. Because you have a domestic 229 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:48.759 violent situation and we know that Linda had done exactly 230 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:51.519 what you said and what many many people in abusive 231 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:54.360 situations do. They leave an average of seven to eight 232 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:57.720 times before they can actually get away for a permanent 233 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:00.919 situation where they're not with their abuser anymore. But she 234 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:04.639 does have a daughter, and every time she leaves and 235 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:07.679 she says had enough, I'm getting down of here, it's unsafe, 236 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:10.840 she makes sure that Patty's with her. There's a little 237 00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:13.440 piece of me that wonders if you know, she's one 238 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:15.360 of those women who said I'm going to leave the 239 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:18.279 baby and come back once the divorce is final and 240 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:22.840 get her, But that was never her mo before. It's 241 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:25.440 very possible an attorney could have said, you know, you 242 00:12:25.480 --> 00:12:28.279 can't just take Patty. You're going to have to make 243 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:30.960 sure that that's part of the custody agreement. And if 244 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:33.039 she was scared of him, it's possible she could have 245 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:35.840 taken her again. But never had that been an issue. 246 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:39.440 So given the history, I think that it's more likely 247 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:41.919 that Linda would have stood her ground and said, if 248 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:44.600 Patty's not with me, I'm not leaving. Don was known 249 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:47.039 to be abusive. Don was dangerous to her. That's why 250 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:50.000 she wanted to leave, and therefore, why would she leave 251 00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:52.759 her daughter with that man. If she's no longer there, 252 00:12:53.320 --> 00:12:55.559 does Patty become the culprit of the abuse. I just 253 00:12:55.559 --> 00:12:56.919 don't see Linda leaving. 254 00:12:56.679 --> 00:13:00.320 Her exactly, and I'm sure any good attorney will tell 255 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:02.519 her that if you're trying to start a divorce and 256 00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:04.799 fight for custody, it's going to look really bad for 257 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:06.799 you if you suddenly just decide to take off for 258 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:10.039 a while and disappear and not tell anyone from your 259 00:13:10.039 --> 00:13:12.000 family where you're going to be, because that's going to 260 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:15.039 put you look like you're an irresponsible parent or something 261 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.679 and won't favor you in the court. So yeah, that's 262 00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:20.200 why I thought there was zero chance that she would 263 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:21.279 have taken off on her own. 264 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:24.159 That's very true. While she'd have to be very careful 265 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.679 of where she took Patty in a divorce because you 266 00:13:26.679 --> 00:13:28.559 don't want to be charged with kidnapping her or something 267 00:13:28.600 --> 00:13:31.480 like that. Either abandonment would have been what she was 268 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:33.919 charged with if she left her, and then there's really 269 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:37.720 not a favor of you getting your the custody agreement 270 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:39.879 you want if you've just been charged with abandonment of 271 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:42.639 your child. So very very good point. 272 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:47.159 The only person who thought that Linda took off voluntarily 273 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:50.720 was Dawn. He seemed convinced that Linda was having an 274 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:54.080 affair with another man and acted pretty a nonchalant when 275 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:57.039 she turned up missing. Now, it's never been one hundred 276 00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:00.480 percent confirmed that Linda was having an affair, though Don 277 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:02.960 once said in an interview that she cheated on him 278 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:06.080 in the past. He did specifically point to one of 279 00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:10.039 Linda's male coworkers, and while it's unclear if these allegations 280 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:12.759 about an affair or true or not, this man was 281 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:17.320 investigated by police and ruled out as a suspect. Regardless, 282 00:14:17.399 --> 00:14:20.200 Don seemed pretty certain that Linda was involved with someone 283 00:14:20.360 --> 00:14:23.519 and believed this person was ultimately responsible for her murder. 284 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:27.320 As you'll recall, Don would later tell police he saw 285 00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:30.919 Linda inside a van being driven by an unidentified male 286 00:14:31.559 --> 00:14:34.639 a few days after she went missing, and she ducked 287 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:38.080 down to avoid being seen. But of course, no one 288 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:41.600 else but Don could corroborate the sighting. And once again, 289 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:45.200 even if Linda really was seeing someone else, would she 290 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:48.559 really have abandoned Patty for this person. It would be 291 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:51.000 one thing if Don said it looked like Linda was 292 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:53.759 being held against her will inside the van, but his 293 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:56.960 story made it sound like she was there voluntarily and 294 00:14:57.039 --> 00:14:59.600 making a deliberate attempt not to be seen by him. 295 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:03.720 There's definitely good reason to be skeptical about Don's story, 296 00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:06.799 though in his defense. If Don was the one who 297 00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:10.240 planted Linda's car in the airport parking garage in order 298 00:15:10.279 --> 00:15:13.080 to give off the impression that she traveled somewhere, it 299 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:15.639 is odd that he would fabricate a sighting of her 300 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:18.440 a few days later which implied that she was still 301 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:18.960 in town. 302 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:23.000 Okay, so Don's one pointing the finger that Linda's having 303 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:26.039 an affair? Is there a possibility that Don is having 304 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:29.000 extramarital relationships and that's why he needs her out of 305 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:31.080 the situation to begin with. 306 00:15:31.720 --> 00:15:33.759 I've never been able to find any evidence that he 307 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:36.200 was having an affair at this time. I mean, he 308 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:39.759 did eventually become involved in another woman and got remarried, 309 00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:42.559 but I haven't heard anything to indicate he was still 310 00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:45.320 with this person back in nineteen eighty five. But it 311 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:47.279 would not surprise me because a lot of the time 312 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:50.799 these husbands will overcompensate by accusing their other of having 313 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:53.559 an affair when they're actually doing the ad exact thing. 314 00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:56.600 Yeah, I love abusers because that's what they do. Anything 315 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:00.679 that they're actually perpetrating, they accuse the victim of doing so. 316 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:03.480 If they're having an affair, if they're drinking too much, 317 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:07.639 if they're you know, writing somebody for their behaviors, it's like, 318 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:10.559 you're doing that to me, you're cheating on me. It's like, actually, 319 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:13.919 that's you. So because that is a common abuse tactic, 320 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:16.639 I was just curious. He seemed fixated on this affair 321 00:16:16.759 --> 00:16:19.559 story and made me wonder if maybe he needed to 322 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:22.080 be single, and his way of doing that was getting 323 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:23.440 rid of Linda and. 324 00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:26.559 Like that van story, that sounds real far fetched to me, 325 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:29.559 the idea that she's just going to like duck down 326 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:32.639 and try to obscure herself. If it was something like 327 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:36.360 she was actually being taken against her will and she'd 328 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:39.559 been abducted and maybe somebody was pushing down her head, 329 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:42.120 and then he thought that he saw her like trying 330 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:44.440 to duck out a view. I could see that being 331 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:48.039 misconstrued from somebody that already thinks that she's cheating. But 332 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:50.440 I agree with you, ash is a common abuse tactic, 333 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:54.039 and I think just because we don't know for a 334 00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:56.360 fact that dun was having an affair, it doesn't mean 335 00:16:56.360 --> 00:16:59.639 that he wasn't We in Part one talked about we 336 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:02.919 just don't know the veracity of the investigation and how 337 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:05.440 deep they dug into the potential that he could have 338 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:09.000 had another woman or women on the side. 339 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:11.759 But before we talk about the discovery of Linda's skull, 340 00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:14.880 let's discuss what happened during the five year window following 341 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:17.400 your disappearance, as Don made an attempt to file for 342 00:17:17.480 --> 00:17:20.880 divorce from Linda on the grounds of abandonment. Now, when 343 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:23.720 he was still a teenager, Don had a pretty terrible 344 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:27.680 tragedy happened in his family. In February of nineteen seventy four, 345 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:31.119 Don's mother was indicted for first tree murder after shooting 346 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:33.880 her husband with a thirty two caliber gun during a 347 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:36.880 heated argument, and Don and his siblings were home at 348 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:40.720 the time this happened. Don's parents were both alcoholics, so 349 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:43.160 it sounds like their marriage was a ticking time bomb, 350 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:46.799 but his mother ultimately wound up pleading guilty demandslaughter and 351 00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:50.240 only had to serve six months in the county jail. Now, 352 00:17:50.279 --> 00:17:53.240 what's interesting is that Don's mother was represented by a 353 00:17:53.240 --> 00:17:56.880 public defender named Frank Anzeloni, who went on to become 354 00:17:56.920 --> 00:18:00.640 a prominent criminal defense attorney who was somewhat torreous for 355 00:18:00.680 --> 00:18:03.920 his willingness to defend clients whom most other lawyers were 356 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.960 unwilling to touch. Over a decade after defending Don's mother, 357 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:12.880 Anzelone wound up. Anzelone wound up representing Don himself when 358 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:16.839 he requested an uncontested divorce from Linda after she went missing. 359 00:18:17.559 --> 00:18:21.759 By this point, Anzelone mostly handled violent felonies, so it 360 00:18:21.799 --> 00:18:24.680 seemed unusual that he would be handling a divorce case, 361 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:29.599 but his client was suspected of potentially murdering his spouse anyway. 362 00:18:29.640 --> 00:18:32.559 As you recall, Linda had filed for divorce from Don 363 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:35.400 less than two weeks before she went missing, so her 364 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:39.079 attorney refused to consent to an uncontested divorce in her absence. 365 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:42.640 He actually wanted to take a deposition from Don, but 366 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:46.359 this never occurred since Anzeloni stated, quote, we will just 367 00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:49.640 plead the fifth. So it looks like Don really wanted 368 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:52.079 a divorce from Linda, but not so much that he 369 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:55.000 was willing to go under oath and be asked questions 370 00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:58.680 which he might not have been comfortable answering. As a result, 371 00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:01.960 the divorce filing was dismissed in June of nineteen eighty nine, 372 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:05.599 which meant the Sherman's marriage was still legally intact, and 373 00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:08.680 it would be exactly one year later when Linda's skull 374 00:19:08.759 --> 00:19:12.279 suddenly appeared outside the Cassaga Yardo restaurant. 375 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:13.400 So bizarre. 376 00:19:13.559 --> 00:19:16.400 I love how her attorney was like, excuse me, my 377 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:20.160 client actually was filing for divorce actively when she went missing. 378 00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:22.480 And then this man says, well, you know, I just 379 00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:25.079 want this uncontested divorce, but I'm not willing to answer 380 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:29.240 any questions to aid in any investigation around her disappearance 381 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:32.920 or anything that could help authority. So it's just a 382 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:36.319 very bizarre situation. And then on top of it, we 383 00:19:36.440 --> 00:19:40.640 talked about a year later, this skull appears in front 384 00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:44.279 of his favorite restaurant with her name on it. Someone 385 00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:47.519 took the time to drive up there, get the skull, 386 00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:50.160 put it out with there with a note that says, 387 00:19:50.200 --> 00:19:54.519 this is Linda Sherman's skull. It is mind boggling, and 388 00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:57.160 it's looking at the restaurant, if I remember correctly, like 389 00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:01.000 at the windows of the restaurant, so it incredibly eerie. 390 00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:03.279 I know he's desperate to get out of this marriage 391 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:06.200 for many reasons. There could have been a life insurance policy. 392 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:08.519 There could just be the freedom of getting away from 393 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:12.440 the marriage itself and moving on with your life. But 394 00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:15.720 if the move was to plant the skull to get 395 00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:19.240 this to be an official deceased individual, which would then 396 00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:22.880 grant you freedom from your marriage, that's an extreme case. 397 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:27.240 It has happened before. I just watched a case of 398 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:30.880 a man who went fishing and his best friend was 399 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:34.440 supposedly fishing with him, and it ended up that the 400 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:38.160 wife and the best friend plotted to kill him. They 401 00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:42.240