On a September morning in 1977, two young children in Beaver Township, Ohio, woke to find their father, David A. Hamilton, shot three times and dead on the kitchen floor. Their 28-year-old mother, Linda June Hamilton, was missing and the couple’s car had been taken from the home. The vehicle was later found near the entrance to a closed strip mine not far from the truck stop where Linda worked. Investigators reported tracks at the scene: a man’s boot prints alongside a woman’s bare footprints, with some impressions suggesting the woman had been dragged.

For decades the case remained unsolved. In 2007 incarcerated serial killer Edward A. Surratt confessed to killing both David and Linda Hamilton, saying he stole a nearby bicycle, rode to the house, shot David and abducted Linda, and claiming Linda’s body was unrecoverable. Surratt sought a transfer in exchange for his confession, but he has not been formally charged in this case and Linda’s body has never been found.

Does anyone have memories or information about the Hamiltons, the area near the strip mine, or the truck stop where Linda worked that could help clarify what happened?