SpinnerBait_Nut
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This just in. Spinner's step sister was a fugitive for 35 years. Read on.
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A Boyd County native convicted of murdering her husband who had lived as a fugitive for more than 35 years was arrested last week in a small town in Tennessee.
Linda Darby, 64, was taken into custody on Friday in Pulaski, Tenn., a town of about 7,800 near the Alabama border, where she had been living under the name Linda McElroy.
Darby waived extradition and is scheduled to be returned to Indiana, where she was convicted in the murder of her husband, Charles R. Darby, also a Boyd County native.
The body of Charles Darby, 25, was found in the couple’s burned-out home in Hammond, Ind., in March 1970. He had been shot in the side with a shotgun and a flammable liquid was poured onto his bed and ignited, according to a newspaper account of the slaying.
Linda Darby was sentenced to life in her husband’s murder. However, she escaped from the Indiana Women’s Prison in March 1972 by climbing over a barbed-wire fence and had been free ever since.
Giles County Sheriff Kyle Helton said on Wednesday he believed Darby had lived in Pulaski for at least 30 years. He said to the best of his knowledge, she had been law-abiding during the time she resided there.
Helton said Darby and her husband used to operate a small flea market and he knew them slightly from that.
Darby was arrested at her home without incident by city police, Helton said. She remained in the Giles County lockup on Wednesday. The sheriff said he was not certain when she would be returned to Indiana.
According to an Indiana Department of Corrections spokeswoman, Darby was married three times and had seven children, two with her third husband, whom she married in Tennessee.
It was not immediately clear whether Darby’s third husband was aware of his wife’s criminal past.
A Nashville television station reported Darby cleaned houses for a living. Darby also told a reporter with that station, WSMV-TV, that she was innocent of Charles Darby’s murder.
Pulaski Police Capt. John Dickey said investigators from Indiana contacted his department about Darby and investigators from both states worked together to track her.
Her arrest came just two weeks after the start of the Indiana Department of Corrections’ new Indiana Fugitive Apprehension Unit, which aids in the recapture of inmates who have escaped, fled residential programs or vanished while on parole. The program was created through a change in Indiana law approved by the state’s General Assembly during its last session.
Charles Darby’s murder and his widow’s subsequent arrest were front-page news in the Ashland Daily Independent in March 1970. According to the first story that appeared in the paper, Charles Darby’s body was discovered after neighbors reported an explosion and fire at the couple’s residence.
Charles Darby was shot once in the side with a shotgun. His bed and body were doused in gasoline and ignited. The resulting blast knocked two walls off the home’s foundation.
Linda Darby had left Hammond by the time her then-husband’s body was found, the newspaper reported. She was subsequently arrested in Ashland by Kentucky State Police. She was lodged in the Boyd County Jail after arraignment before County Judge George R. Hall.
Linda Darby was later released from jail on $10,000 bond. She was released to the custody of her father, Chester Adams(step dad) of Summit, who promised to return his daughter to Indiana.
The Darbys had been living in Indiana for six years at the time of Charles Darby’s murder, The Independent reported. Charles Darby worked as a self-employed carpenter and was a U.S. Navy veteran who served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
The Darbys had one child together, a son. Linda Darby had four children from a previous marriage, according to the newspaper.
The Independent stories also quoted reports from the Hammond newspaper stating that Charles Darby’s death was preceded by a bizarre series of incidents, including a woman phoning in false obituaries to the local paper stating that the Darbys had been killed in a traffic accident in Kentucky.
The couple also had reported receiving threatening phone calls and at least one threatening letter and that their home and vehicle had been vandalized.
The summer before the murder, a fire destroyed the couple’s five-room frame house in Hammond, the newspaper reported. Charles Darby rebuilt the home himself.
________________________________________________________
A Boyd County native convicted of murdering her husband who had lived as a fugitive for more than 35 years was arrested last week in a small town in Tennessee.
Linda Darby, 64, was taken into custody on Friday in Pulaski, Tenn., a town of about 7,800 near the Alabama border, where she had been living under the name Linda McElroy.
Darby waived extradition and is scheduled to be returned to Indiana, where she was convicted in the murder of her husband, Charles R. Darby, also a Boyd County native.
The body of Charles Darby, 25, was found in the couple’s burned-out home in Hammond, Ind., in March 1970. He had been shot in the side with a shotgun and a flammable liquid was poured onto his bed and ignited, according to a newspaper account of the slaying.
Linda Darby was sentenced to life in her husband’s murder. However, she escaped from the Indiana Women’s Prison in March 1972 by climbing over a barbed-wire fence and had been free ever since.
Giles County Sheriff Kyle Helton said on Wednesday he believed Darby had lived in Pulaski for at least 30 years. He said to the best of his knowledge, she had been law-abiding during the time she resided there.
Helton said Darby and her husband used to operate a small flea market and he knew them slightly from that.
Darby was arrested at her home without incident by city police, Helton said. She remained in the Giles County lockup on Wednesday. The sheriff said he was not certain when she would be returned to Indiana.
According to an Indiana Department of Corrections spokeswoman, Darby was married three times and had seven children, two with her third husband, whom she married in Tennessee.
It was not immediately clear whether Darby’s third husband was aware of his wife’s criminal past.
A Nashville television station reported Darby cleaned houses for a living. Darby also told a reporter with that station, WSMV-TV, that she was innocent of Charles Darby’s murder.
Pulaski Police Capt. John Dickey said investigators from Indiana contacted his department about Darby and investigators from both states worked together to track her.
Her arrest came just two weeks after the start of the Indiana Department of Corrections’ new Indiana Fugitive Apprehension Unit, which aids in the recapture of inmates who have escaped, fled residential programs or vanished while on parole. The program was created through a change in Indiana law approved by the state’s General Assembly during its last session.
Charles Darby’s murder and his widow’s subsequent arrest were front-page news in the Ashland Daily Independent in March 1970. According to the first story that appeared in the paper, Charles Darby’s body was discovered after neighbors reported an explosion and fire at the couple’s residence.
Charles Darby was shot once in the side with a shotgun. His bed and body were doused in gasoline and ignited. The resulting blast knocked two walls off the home’s foundation.
Linda Darby had left Hammond by the time her then-husband’s body was found, the newspaper reported. She was subsequently arrested in Ashland by Kentucky State Police. She was lodged in the Boyd County Jail after arraignment before County Judge George R. Hall.
Linda Darby was later released from jail on $10,000 bond. She was released to the custody of her father, Chester Adams(step dad) of Summit, who promised to return his daughter to Indiana.
The Darbys had been living in Indiana for six years at the time of Charles Darby’s murder, The Independent reported. Charles Darby worked as a self-employed carpenter and was a U.S. Navy veteran who served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
The Darbys had one child together, a son. Linda Darby had four children from a previous marriage, according to the newspaper.
The Independent stories also quoted reports from the Hammond newspaper stating that Charles Darby’s death was preceded by a bizarre series of incidents, including a woman phoning in false obituaries to the local paper stating that the Darbys had been killed in a traffic accident in Kentucky.
The couple also had reported receiving threatening phone calls and at least one threatening letter and that their home and vehicle had been vandalized.
The summer before the murder, a fire destroyed the couple’s five-room frame house in Hammond, the newspaper reported. Charles Darby rebuilt the home himself.
JR
