Cold Case Files: Putnam deputies reopening case of woman murdered execution style in '86
PUTNAM COUNTY, W.Va (WCHS) — Thirty-five years have passed since a Nitro woman was shot, execution style, on the side of Interstate 64 in Putnam County.
Linda Marie Sharp, 27, was murdered March 20, 1986. The Putnam County Sheriff's Office recently announced it was reopening the cold case, saying it was the agency's only unsolved homicide. Sharp, who also went by Linda Withrow, had worked as a caretaker for bedridden man in Nitro for several months before her death.
"We had a sister that I had spoken to probably two years ago, that passed away in July," Putnam County Sheriff Bobby Eggleton said. "It's sad that we couldn't tell her that we are going to look at this again. We are looking at it and if someone has information, please come forward. If you think it's nothing, it may be something to us."
Detectives are hopeful that advancements in DNA technology and a fresh set of eyes looking at the case could lead to a conclusion on who killed Sharp and why. "It was an execution-style murder," Lt. Chad Weaver with the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said. The shots were to the base of neck and the left side of her head with a large caliber pistol.
Sharp's body was found about 7:45 a.m., after two 84 Lumber truck drivers spotted it 85 feet over an embankment along the eastbound St. Albans exit ramp that led from I-64 to Route 35. Sharp was wearing blue jeans, a black-and-white baseball jersey and blue moccasins. She did not have any identification on her. Initially, investigators asked for the public's help in identifying her.
"Investigators found a large pool of blood near the guardrail along the highway. There were indications the woman was killed there and then dragged down the hill," WCHS Reporter Bob Aaron said in a 1986 report from the day Sharp's body was found.
Watch a March 1986 WCHS-TV news report on Sharp's murder here:
Weaver said he has had to put himself in the position of a detective more than three decades ago, to try and understand the case completely. "Trying to put myself in the mindset of 35 years ago, this is fresh. Somebody may have been afraid or unwilling to come and talk to investigators at the time," Weaver explained.
The medical examiner at the time was able to conclude that Sharp was killed about 5 a.m., just a little more than two hours before her body was discovered. "A deputy indicated the body was still warm at 7:30 a.m.," Aaron said in his previous report.
Sharp was last seen alive at the nearby 76 truck stop, which is now the T&A truck stop off of the Winfield exit, between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. the morning of her murder. People she lived with told investigators that they believed she went to an area bar that evening. "There were some witnesses there, during the initial investigation that did talk, but we also know that there was a possibility that there were other witnesses there as well that, again, maybe didn't want to talk to investigators at the time but maybe now they're at a place where they can do that," Weaver said.
Witnesses said Sharp was with two men at the truck stop. They may have been traveling in a 1973-1974 four-door red Cadillac with a white vinyl top. Weaver said there were red Cadillacs that were searched during the initial investigation. "Owners were identified, but it never led to any evidence that led to an arrest," he explained.
Witnesses were also able to help develop sketches of the two men she was seen with. The first was described as a white man, weighing between 230 and 260 pounds and in his mid 20s. They said he had a high receding hairline and shoulder length, stringy, light brown hair with long sideburns. He had a large "beer gut" and a tattoo on his right arm of a naked woman with a snake wrapped around her body. He was wearing a small Harley Davidson hat and was also described as "very dirty."
The second man was also white and weighed between 155 and 170 pounds, with a stocky build and was also in his mid 20s. They said he was 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 11 inches tall with short, wavy brown hair. He also wore "clean" clothes."
Unfortunately, through the investigation, those two males were never identified," Weaver said.
The Cadillac, however, is not the only vehicle of interest in the case. About 15 miles away from the murder scene, on the same date, a tractor trailer cab was hot wired and stolen. It was described as a 1985 Autocar, double cab with a decal on the door that said "Younger Brothers." It had enough gas for 1,500 miles.
"The tractor trailer was stolen in the area during this same time period. Whether it was connected, or it was a coincidence, we don't know," Weaver said.
A police bulletin put out at the time of the investigation, however, indicated that the two men Sharp was last seen with were seen walking along I-64 near the St. Albans exit about 5 a.m. with a suitcase that "belonged to the owner of the stolen truck." Weaver would not go in to specifics on that piece of information. "There are some details in this case that we want to keep close. That we don't want out there because obviously that's how we know when someone is telling us the truth," he said.
Weaver said, to the sheriff's office knowledge, the tractor trailer cab had not been recovered. Investigators stopped drivers along the interstate the morning following Sharp's murder, trying to track down any clues from people who routinely drove that route.
A Charleston Daily Mail newspaper article from March 21, 1986, said deputies had questioned a male friend of Sharp's but said he had passed a polygraph test and wasn't being considered a suspect. Weaver said about 150 people were interviewed by detectives in connection with the initial investigation. "There were persons of interest that were listed in the initial investigation and we have also developed other persons of interest in going back through the case file and going back through evidence," he said.
Sharp was not sexually assaulted. Detectives still have her clothing she was wearing and said they were in the process of resubmitting that evidence for testing, as the murder happened before DNA testing was available. "DNA can open up so many doors in crime fighting now to solve these cold cases. Back in the early 80s, when this girl was killed, there was no DNA, we didn't know anything about that kind of technology. Now, every day the advancements can open up other doors and we can solve these cases," Eggleton said.
Weaver remained adamant that the investigators now would do everything they could to solve the case. "The sheriff's department has not forgotten about Linda Sharp, and we are going to do everything in our power for the family members and for the friends to get some closure on this," he said. "It could take one tip to go from a person of interest to now we've got strong information, or maybe eyewitness accounts. Maybe it's a person of interest that we know about, maybe it's someone we don't know about right now."
If you have any information about Sharp's murder, you can call Weaver at 304-389-8299 or email cweaver@putnamwv.org. You can also contact Detective John Hedrick at 304-561-5373 or email him at jhedrick@putnamwv.org.
