Linda Darby is an Indiana woman who was convicted in 1970 of murdering her husband, escaped from the Indiana Women’s Prison in 1972 by climbing a barbed-wire fence, and then lived under an assumed name in a small Tennessee town for 35 years before a newly formed state fugitive unit tracked her down in 2007. She is back in Indiana custody serving her original life sentence, and every legal challenge she has brought since her recapture has failed.
The 1970 Murder and Conviction
Around 12:30 a.m. on March 4, 1970, firefighters were called to the Darby family home on Beech Street in Hammond, Indiana, where a fire and explosion had been reported.1Findlaw. Darby v. State, No. 21A-PC-1081 Inside, they found the charred body of Charles Darby on a bedroom mattress. The room smelled of kerosene and gasoline.2CBS News. Escaped Killer Captured After 35 Years An autopsy showed Charles had been shot in the heart. A 12-gauge shotgun recovered behind a vending machine at a Valparaiso Holiday Inn, where Linda Darby had stayed the night before, was ballistically linked to the fatal wound; a neighbor identified it as a gun he had previously sold to Charles.
A Lake County jury convicted Darby of murder on September 24, 1970. She was sentenced to life imprisonment on October 1, 1970.1Findlaw. Darby v. State, No. 21A-PC-1081 She did not testify in her own defense. She later said that when she asked her attorney whether she needed to testify, he simply told her “no,” and she did not understand the choice was hers. Darby filed a motion to correct error that was denied in August 1971, and the trial court appointed appellate counsel, but no direct appeal was ever filed.3Findlaw. Darby v. State, No. 45A04-1106-CR-318
The 1972 Escape
On March 13, 1972, less than two years into her life sentence, Darby climbed over a barbed-wire fence at the Indiana Women’s Prison and vanished.2CBS News. Escaped Killer Captured After 35 Years She later told reporters she came over the wire “scratched up and bloody.”4NBC News. Convicted Killer Recaptured 35 Years After Escape No accomplices were ever identified. The timing was striking: appellate counsel had just been appointed around March 14, 1972, so her escape coincided almost exactly with the start of any possible appeal.3Findlaw. Darby v. State, No. 45A04-1106-CR-318
Thirty-Five Years as Linda Joe McElroy
Darby took the name Linda Joe McElroy and eventually settled in Pulaski, a small city in Giles County, Tennessee, where she lived for roughly 30 years. She married a third husband who knew nothing about her conviction or her real identity, and they had two children together.4NBC News. Convicted Killer Recaptured 35 Years After Escape She raised a granddaughter from the age of nine and had eight grandchildren in all. She deliberately cut off the five children from her earlier marriages and resisted contact with them for three decades.
In Pulaski she worked as a house cleaner and a babysitter and lived in a tidy one-story yellow house in a quiet neighborhood.2CBS News. Escaped Killer Captured After 35 Years She did not have a driver’s license.5ABC News. Escaped Killer Captured After 35 Years Giles County Sheriff Kyle Helton said she had never been in any trouble locally and had led what he called a “flawless life.”4NBC News. Convicted Killer Recaptured 35 Years After Escape The New York Times reported she was “tightly woven into the fabric of this city for three decades” and had been “embraced by her new in-laws after she moved from Indiana.”6The New York Times. Fugitive Captured After 35 Years in Tennessee
The 2007 Capture
Darby was arrested at her Pulaski home on October 12, 2007. The arrest came just two weeks after the Indiana Department of Correction launched its new Fugitive Apprehension Unit, created by the Indiana General Assembly to find escaped offenders and parole absconders.2CBS News. Escaped Killer Captured After 35 Years Indiana investigators coordinated with Pulaski police to locate her and make the arrest. Residents expressed disbelief that the grandmother they had known for decades was a convicted murderer who had been on the run since 1972.6The New York Times. Fugitive Captured After 35 Years in Tennessee
Darby waived extradition and was returned to Indiana custody on October 19, 2007.1Findlaw. Darby v. State, No. 21A-PC-1081 She maintained her innocence, telling Nashville station WSMV, “I’m not a murderer. I just don’t know how they ever convicted me.”2CBS News. Escaped Killer Captured After 35 Years
Attempts to Undo the Conviction
Back in prison, Darby pursued two major legal challenges. Neither succeeded.
In 2011 she asked the Indiana courts for permission to file a belated notice of appeal under Post-Conviction Rule 2, arguing that absconding should not permanently cost her the right to appeal. The trial court denied the request without a hearing, and on April 19, 2012, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed in Darby v. State, No. 45A04-1106-CR-318.3Findlaw. Darby v. State, No. 45A04-1106-CR-318 Writing for the court, Judge Carr Darden held that her escape was a voluntary act that defeated the rule’s requirement that the failure to file be “without fault.”7The Indiana Lawyer. COA Upholds Denial of Fugitive’s Request to File an Appeal The court noted that appellate counsel had been appointed on or about March 14, 1972, essentially the day she went over the fence, making it virtually impossible for counsel to have filed anything before she fled.
On February 6, 2016, Darby filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief, later amended by counsel. She argued that her trial attorneys had violated her due process rights by preventing her from testifying and had provided ineffective assistance by failing to investigate and present various pieces of evidence, including a police statement from her husband’s brother-in-law, whom the defense had floated as an alternate suspect at trial.1Findlaw. Darby v. State, No. 21A-PC-1081 After a June 28, 2019 hearing, the post-conviction court denied the petition on May 6, 2021, noting that both trial attorneys were deceased and that it did not credit Darby’s account of being told she could not testify. The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed on February 18, 2022, in Darby v. State, No. 21A-PC-1081, holding that post-conviction review is not a retrial, that Darby had failed to show deficient performance or prejudice, and observing that she herself had chosen to abscond rather than pursue a direct appeal.
Where Linda Darby Is Now
As of April 2024, Darby was incarcerated at the Rockville Correctional Facility in Indiana, listed as DOC inmate number 11, still serving the life sentence imposed in 1970.8Indiana Department of Correction. April 2024 Clemency Agenda Her name appeared on the Indiana Parole Board’s April 2024 clemency agenda, indicating she had applied for or been referred for clemency consideration. Available records do not reflect the outcome.