Linda Pagano was 17 when she left her stepfather’s apartment in Akron, Ohio, after an argument on September 1, 1974, and was never seen alive again. Months later, on February 5, 1975, three boys hiking along the Rocky River in Strongsville found weathered skeletal remains missing key features; investigators initially thought the victim was a woman in her 20s. The remains were ruled to be from a homicide, a gunshot wound to the head, but they weren’t linked to Linda and were interred in an unmarked grave at Memorial Gardens in Highland Hills.

Decades passed before the case returned to public view after a researcher found records about the unidentified remains and shared them online. That renewed attention led to a facial reconstruction and the case being reopened; the remains were later entered in NamUs and, after exhumation and DNA testing, identified as Linda Pagano in June 2018. Her family received her remains and held a memorial service in January 2019. The murder remains unsolved and investigators continue to seek answers.

If anyone knew Linda, saw her on or after September 1, 1974, or has information about her disappearance, please come forward.