Linda Faye Sutherlin was 21 when she was murdered on November 4, 1971, in Pearland, Brazoria County, Texas. She suffered 72 gunshot wounds to her back, shoulders and legs. Her body was later buried in Harris Cemetery in Swampers, Franklin Parish, Louisiana.

Anthony Michael Knoppa was convicted in Sutherlin’s killing and received a 50-year sentence in 1972; Harry Andrew Lanham received a 25-year sentence for his role. Knoppa had earlier been investigated in connection with the deaths of six women in Montgomery, Harris and Brazoria counties but was convicted only in Sutherlin’s case. His record included a prior rape conviction tied to an assault at an auto salvage yard. Lanham, described as a key witness in multiple cases against Knoppa, was killed in 1972 after an officer shot him when he attempted to grab the officer’s gun in the Harris County Jail, removing potential testimony that might have been used against Knoppa.

Knoppa was released from prison in 1989 after serving 15 years; authorities were reported to have been concerned because he had threatened to seek revenge against officers involved in his case. Did anyone in the Pearland or Houston-area community have contact with Sutherlin in 1971 or recall unusual activity around November 4?