Linda Hutchings was 17 when she disappeared from the Denver suburbs on August 15, 1979. Known for her artistic bent and love of stargazing, she was last seen at a friend’s apartment in Lakewood wearing white jeans and a white peasant-style top and left a note saying she was heading home; it is believed she intended to hitchhike. Her family reported her missing after she failed to arrive home, but initial responses suggested she had run away despite it being out of character and her apparent excitement about upcoming school classes.

Two weeks later, on September 1, 1979, a family picking cattails along an embankment near Indiana Street and West 82nd Avenue found Linda’s body. Investigators determined she had been beaten. Years later Henry Lee Lucas confessed to the killing but that confession was discredited and recanted. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office now treats the death as an unsolved cold case with no credible suspect identified.

Does anyone in the Arvada or Lakewood area remember Linda, her friends, or anyone who might have been seen picking up hitchhikers that night?