Linda Marie Pagano (April 11, 1957 - c. September 1, 1974) was a teenager who was found murdered in 1975. She initially disappeared in September 1974 after arguing with her stepfather.
In July 2018, her family confirmed a match to the remains that had been buried in a pauper's grave. Until then, she had been unidentified for 43 years.
Case[]
Disappearance[]
On September 1, 1974, Pagano came home late from a concert and had an argument with her stepfather. Her stepfather threw her out of the home, and she was never seen again. Little information is available on her disappearance and the investigation.
Discovery[]
On February 5, 1975, Pagano's partial skeleton was discovered along Rocky River in Strongsville, Ohio, by children. Her mandible was not recovered, and her limbs were missing, presumably due to dismemberment, as her killer had sawed some of her teeth out of the skull. Her death was ruled a homicide by gunshot.
Shortly after Linda's discovery, her case was reported on TV, which was seen by her older brother Mike Pagano. Mike contacted the police, saying he believed the remains were those of his missing sister. However, he was told that the decedent was too tall and too old to be his sister.
Despite efforts to identify her, there were no other leads, and the remains were eventually buried in a pauper's grave.
Identification[]
In 2015, an amateur genealogy researcher named Christina Scates was searching through cemetery records in Cleveland when she discovered a listing for "Unknown white female bones" that had been found in 1975 in Strongsville. As she became intrigued by the case, she began researching the discovery of the remains at her local library and reached out to local law enforcement, including a Cleveland Metroparks ranger, who provided her with the case file. After receiving the case file, she posted it to Reddit, and it eventually made its way to Websleuths, where it caught the attention of Carl Koppelman, who was sent the autopsy photos and created a facial reconstruction from the skull.
A few months later, Linda Pagano was listed on NamUS, and the similarities between the Strongsville Jane Doe and Linda were made by Carl and law enforcement, which eventually led to her identification in 2018.
Linda's siblings believe Linda's stepfather may have been responsible for her death; however, he passed away in 1990.
Gallery[]
Sources[]
- Spectrum News POSTMORTEM WARNING
- News 5 Cleveland
- Akron Beacon Journal:
- Linda Pagano at Find a Grave
- Linda Pagano on Wikipedia
- Ohio Attorney General
- WKYC