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A Skull Staring Back: The Unsolved Homicide Of Linda Sherman

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Despite her death occurring five years prior, the story of the homicide of Linda Sue Sherman always begins on June 28, 1990. It’s on this date two flight attendants having lunch in a restaurant in the northern suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri noticed a human skull in the bushes outside their window.

It was positioned in such a way that it appeared to be staring directly at them.
Police were quickly summoned to the scene. The skull was yellowed and encrusted with dirt – indicative of being buried for quite some time.
Recalling a botched cemetery relocation project happening nearby and having no recent missing person cases to tie the remains to, investigators surmised the skull was not indicative of foul play. It was placed in evidence storage, becoming a curiosity pending further information.
Nearly 15 months later – on September 16 1991 – further information finally arrived. A letter sent to the neighboring Vinita Park police department, written in stamped purple ink, alerted them to the following:
“THE BRIDGETON POLICE HAVE LINDA SHERMAN’S SKULL”
Vinita Park investigators were familiar with the name. Linda Sherman was a married 27-year-old mother and resident of the small town who vanished on April 22 1985.
Initially skeptical of the letter, investigators quickly got in touch with the nearby Bridgeton police and confirmed there was indeed an unidentified human skull in their possession. A comparison between Linda Sherman’s dental records and the remains were arranged, and a positive match was made the following day.
Many questions had to be answered…
1) Why would someone take Linda’s skull and place it in plain view of the Casa Gallardo restaurant? Someone would have had to of gone to where Linda’s remains were buried and unearth them just to take the skull.
2) Why would someone write a letter informing the police that the skull was Linda’s?
Employed by the U.S. Government Records Center located in Spanish Lake, Missouri (now the National Personnel Records Center) Linda Sherman was by all accounts a reliable worker and devoted parent.
Her sudden disappearance reeked of foul play to police long before the startling appearance of her skull five years later.
These suspicions were amplified once police zeroed in on Linda’s husband, Donald Eugene Sherman, and began to piece together the true nature of the couple’s relationship in the months and years leading to Linda’s disappearance.
The couple met and married while still in high school after Linda became pregnant with their only daughter. Throughout the ten years they were together prior to her disappearance, Linda made several attempts to leave Don, citing his jealousy and anger issues.
They would breakup and makeup many times, culminating in Linda filing for divorce for the second time on April 11 1985, just 11 days before she went missing.
Don
In the days following Linda’s disappearance, Don proposed more than one theory to police. The one he would ultimately stick to involved Linda leaving him for another man, but he also suggested the possibility that Linda had gotten involved in a cocaine trafficking ring and was killed by co-conspirators fearful she would testify against them.
Don later told police he caught a glimpse of his wife in the passenger seat of a truck after her disappearance, with a man he didn’t know, but claims she ducked and he lost the vehicle in traffic.
None of these stories sat right with investigators, seeming more like the words of someone trying to deflect suspicion off himself.
Then there was the matter of Don’s family history. In 1974 his mother shot and killed his father in the kitchen over “one of their arguments.”
Initially denying she pulled the trigger, Don’s mother eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served six months. It was a coincidence which only served to fuel the police focus on Don as the prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife Linda.
When Linda’s skull was found, the coincidences only got stranger. Not only was the restaurant where the remains were discovered a favorite drinking spot for Don Sherman, he was there the day his wife’s skull appeared.
The sudden disappearance of Linda Sherman, the equally sudden appearance of her skull five years later, and the anonymous letter devoid of fingerprints or DNA pointing police in the right direction – what does it add up to?
Despite never having enough evidence for a successful arrest or prosecution, the prevailing theory put forward by investigators ties up the loose ends rather well:
It’s the belief of investigators that Don murdered his wife sometime on or around April 21, 1985 in reaction to learning she planned to finally go through with a divorce. He buried the body and reported her missing. Ironically, he realized years later that without proof she died, he wouldn’t be able to file for divorce and remarry.
At this point, Don hatched a plan to dig up her skull and plant it somewhere it would be easily found. The scheme worked perfectly – except for the fact the police incorrectly surmised the skull originated from the nearby cemetery relocation project and didn’t bother with an analysis.
After months of waiting for news of the discovered skull being connected to his missing wife and hearing nothing, Don decided to take further action.
He wrote the letter and sent it to police, at which point the connection between the discovered skull and Linda was finally made. She was declared dead, and Don was allowed to remarry.
It’s a compelling theory, but lacks any concrete evidence. More than three decades after her death, the homicide of Linda Sherman is unlikely to be solved without the discovery of the rest of her remains. Even then, the weight of time may be too much to overcome in the pursuit of justice for Linda.
By Taylor Leonard, source: theghostdiaries.com
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Mysterious disappearance of a woman who fell into a well

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A very strange case occurred in Mexico when people heard a woman’s
scream coming from a well, but rescuers did not find anyone there. And
now they suspect it was a ghost.

The
creepiest thing is that the screaming woman was heard both by those who
called the rescuers and by the rescuers themselves. And this woman
answered their questions.

The incident happened a few days ago in
the Mexican city of Saltillo. From a narrow sewer well located on the
territory of a certain colony, a local resident heard women’s screams.

And this happened, as stated, at 3:30 am. This time – 3 am or 3:30 am in the culture of many nations is called the Devil’s Hour.

Then
this man came to the nearest hospital, saying that a woman had fallen
into a well and was asking for help. He said the woman told him her name
was Juanita.

Employees
of the “Violet” security group, who are constantly on duty at this
hospital, immediately went to the scene of the incident. They reached
the indicated well, the depth of which was 6 meters, and one of them
shouted into the dark depths, asking the name of the victim. Everyone
heard a woman’s voice answer “Juanita” from the depths.

After
this, the rescuers began to shine their lanterns into the well, but they
could not see the person there. Then they called the fire department
and within a few minutes firefighters arrived with special equipment.

They
lowered a ladder into the well and one of the firefighters went down on
it, but only discovered that it was completely empty and there were no
signs of human presence.

At the bottom of the well there was only a
narrow channel for water, through which even a child, let alone an
adult, could not crawl.

A subsequent search of the area, including
a nearby sewer, for the alleged victim turned up nothing. The rescuers
left the place in complete bewilderment.

When news of this
incident appeared in the media, local paranormal investigator Roberto
Avila claimed that Juanita was the ghost of a woman who had once died
here.

“We
were told that a person died here several years ago. Perhaps this
person still does not realize that he is no longer in the world of the
living, and his spirit still continues to cry out for help.”

Avila
also has a theory that in the well there was a “lower being from the
astral plane” who, with his screams, tried to provoke an accident on the
road that passes nearby.

“The lower entity from the astral plane
sits in a place where black waters pass. In these places, portals
regularly appear, which are gates to other dimensions,” says Avila.

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“Cursed charity shop painting ruined my life”, says British woman

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A British woman purchased a portrait of a young girl from a charity shop and now asserts that the picture is cursed, reports mirror.co.uk.

Zoe
Elliot-Brown, aged 36, spotted an artwork by an unfamiliar artist at
the Hastings Advice Representation Center in St Leonards-on-Sea, East
Sussex, a month ago.

Simultaneously, the seller cautioned Zoe
about the painting possibly being cursed, revealing that a prior
purchaser of the same artwork had returned it to the store with the
statement “it ruined my life.”

Out of curiosity, Zoe captured an
image of the painting on her smartphone and shared the photo with her
68-year-old mother, Jane Elliot-Brown. Her mother seemed to be entranced
by the painting.

Instantly,
she began urging Zoe to acquire the painting. Yielding to her mother’s
persuasion, Zoe paid £20 for the artwork. However, as soon as she
introduced it into her home, strange occurrences commenced taking place.

As
Zoe entered her home and positioned the painting in the living room,
their dog named Cilla leaped up and started growling at the artwork.
Cilla deliberately kept her distance, refraining from approaching the
picture. Subsequently, Zoe’s mother’s health took a sharp decline. She
began experiencing alternating spells of fever and chills, requiring her
to wear four sweaters to keep warm.

Concurrently, Zoe’s mother
seemed to be captivated by the painting. She continuously gazed at it
and even caressed the painted girl’s cheek. During the night, she heard
peculiar knocks emanating from the room where the picture hung, despite
the room being unoccupied.

Zoe managed to persuade her mother that
the painting held negative energy and was cursed. However, Jane
staunchly defended the painting, reluctant to part with it.

“I’ve
never seen my mother yearn for something so intensely. She was
entranced by it, but not in a positive manner. She guarded it. She
frequently gazed at it. She ran her fingers over the painted girl’s
cheeks and polished the surface, although the painting didn’t require
polishing.”

“Each time I mentioned disposing of the painting, she
became exceedingly irritable. It transformed into a sort of family
heirloom for her, something she began cherishing.”

“My mother
flatly refused to get rid of the painting. I think it’s a bit like the
magic power of the Lord of the Rings ring. It definitely works in an
attractive and charming way, it seems to pull you towards it.

“My mother became a bit like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings,” says Zoe.

Jane
herself says that it seems to her that the painted girl is very unhappy
and she stroked her to comfort her. She also does not attribute the
deterioration of her health to the purchase of the painting.

At
the same time, she admits that there were several cases when someone
seemed to knock on the door, and when she opened it, there was no one on
the threshold.

One day, Jane became so ill that she fainted right
in the bathroom. Zoe called 911, but her mother refused to go to the
hospital and was eventually left at home.

One morning, Zoe entered
the living room and saw her mother standing and stroking the painted
girl on her cheeks. And the mother could not remember how she ended up
in the living room and what she did at night.

“It
was strange behavior, especially for my mom. She couldn’t remember
anything from what happened last night. My mom is still very weird and
distracted and doesn’t want to discuss it.”

And then something
even more frightening happened. Zoe and her friend Ben went for a walk
on a hill during a thunderstorm and suddenly saw a “creepy black figure”
that suddenly appeared in front of them.

They do not know if this
is related to the painting, but they immediately ran back in fear.
Deciding to get rid of the cursed painting, Zoey eventually took it and
took it to the same shop where she bought it.

And when she drove
up to the store, she saw that in one of the tires of the car, brand new,
someone stuck a screw. She gave the painting to the seller, but then
changed her mind and took it back.

She
didn’t want someone else to buy the painting and get hurt because of
it. Now Zoe wants to give the picture only to someone who understands
damn things.

Now the painting is kept in Zoya’s house in a box filled with sage (it is believed that sage helps against evil spirits).

She also hung sage in every corner of the house, although Zoya’s mother was very unhappy with this.

“I
thought knowing my luck some idiot will go and get it and try and burn
it and I don’t really want to be left with the remainder of whatever the
hell has been going on. Technically I was the last owner. [I want it]
dealt with properly. […]”

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