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Inmate found 35 years after escape (Convicted of murdering her husband in 1970)
Yahoo News / AP ^ | October 16, 2007

Posted on 10/16/2007 8:47:17 AM PDT by Stoat

Inmate found 35 years after escape

19 minutes ago
 

PULASKI, Tenn. - A convicted murderer who escaped from an Indiana prison 35 years ago was found living quietly in a small Tennessee town, authorities said Tuesday.

Linda Darby, 64, was arrested Friday in Pulaski, a small city near the Alabama border where she was going by the name Linda Joe McElroy.

Giles County Sheriff Kyle Helton said he was acquainted with Darby and thought she had been living in Pulaski for at least 30 years.

"As far as I know she never had any criminal history after she came here," he said. "She never got into any trouble. She led a flawless life."

Darby was sentenced to life in prison in 1970 for her husband's murder, but she escaped from the Indiana Women's Prison in March 1972 by climbing over a barbed-wire fence.

Pulaski Police Capt. John Dickey said investigators in Indiana had contacted the department about Darby and authorities from both states worked together to find and arrest her.

Helton said she was being held at the county jail and has waived an extradition hearing. She was expected to be moved to Indiana on Tuesday.



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Tennessee
KEYWORDS: crime; criminal; escape; escaped; indiana; inmate; lindadarby; lindajoemcelroy; murder; pulaski; tennessee
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To: JamesP81

I don’t see anything to indicate what her character might or might not be in this article.


21 posted on 10/16/2007 9:21:26 AM PDT by Badeye (Free Willie!)
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To: dead
She will do absolutely no additional time in prison, on account of her lack of a penis

Actually, if you want to check the stats instead of going on visceral instinct, you'd find that women serve longer sentences for like crime as men...

22 posted on 10/16/2007 9:22:00 AM PDT by maine-iac7 ("...but you can't fool all of the people all of the time" LINCOLN)
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To: dead
her lack of a penis.

Sure?

23 posted on 10/16/2007 9:22:17 AM PDT by Revolting cat! (We all need someone we can bleed on...)
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To: Stoat

“she escaped from the Indiana Women’s Prison in March 1972 by climbing over a barbed-wire fence.”

That same year two other clowns and myself were escaping typing class by climbing out the window.


24 posted on 10/16/2007 9:24:58 AM PDT by tumblindice
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To: -=SoylentSquirrel=-
she hasn't aged well, that's for sure.


Apparently she has a common-law husband there in that town. Perhaps she killed hubby to get rid of him so she could run off with the other guy.
25 posted on 10/16/2007 9:26:02 AM PDT by visualops (artlife.us)
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To: dead

Looking at her pictures (now and 35 years ago mug shot) I am tempted (by her facial characteristics) to believe that she was a man who was living as a woman... If not, then there certainly seems to be a lot of male characteristics in that face...


26 posted on 10/16/2007 9:28:30 AM PDT by Screaming_Gerbil (Let's Roll...)
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To: tumblindice
That same year two other clowns and myself were escaping typing class by climbing out the window.

"Took" typing in my senior year - well, went to one class - thereafter, just showed up at end of term times with my report card in hand and the teacher gave me A's ...

In later years, got a book and taught myself...

27 posted on 10/16/2007 9:29:57 AM PDT by maine-iac7 ("...but you can't fool all of the people all of the time" LINCOLN)
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To: RosieCotton
If Linda Darby had established herself in Pulaski, Tennessee, in the 1970s, the banks would not have demanded a social security number to set up her account. If she were self-employed or worked for a small company, as long as she paid her income tax and had Social Security withheld, her profile would not have been raised. Assuming Ms. Darby lived the exemplary life the local police claimed, there would be little reason to think her to be anything else than a Hoosier who moved south for a better life.
28 posted on 10/16/2007 9:32:02 AM PDT by Wallace T.
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To: RosieCotton
If Linda Darby had established herself in Pulaski, Tennessee, in the 1970s, the banks would not have demanded a social security number to set up her account. If she were self-employed or worked for a small company, as long as she paid her income tax and had Social Security withheld, her profile would not have been raised. Assuming Ms. Darby lived the exemplary life the local police claimed, there would be little reason to think her to be anything else than a Hoosier who moved south for a better life.
29 posted on 10/16/2007 9:32:18 AM PDT by Wallace T.
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To: Stoat

Folks who kill their spouses in anger generally make good parole risks. They generally don’t re-offend, and they tend to not commit other crimes.

So it’s not really a surprise that she’s been a model citizen since her escape.


30 posted on 10/16/2007 9:32:34 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: RosieCotton
"How do you get away with getting a job or a bank account or manage to live anything like a normal life without some sort of ID? Seems as though we’re tracked every which way we turn."

A fugitive female felon generally has to spread her legs at the first truck stop or biker bar that she finds as she runs from the prison dogs tracking her.

Presuming that her looks (which wouldn't seem to hold water in the case for this thread) satisfy some "legitimate" segment of society, she'll simply let her new boyfriend do the banking and driving.

A felon can do odd jobs such as making/selling crafts, art, baked goods, selling scrap metal, or turning to crime (e.g. prostitution/drugs) to obtain income.

Have you ever followed any of the jobs done by roving bands of American Gypsies (e.g. magazine sales scams, carnivals, circuses, sidewalk curb house number painting)? The trick is that they are selling things or services...and the buyer isn't checking their ID's (unlike an employer who would have to report your income as an employee to the IRS).

Likewise, illegal men work every day in the U.S. (e.g. Mexican construction workers). You just wouldn't get top Dollar for your services.

They pretty well have to live off of the grid, though. A fugitive caught doing banking or driving or getting most types of credit cards is pretty well going to get busted. And of course anything that required being fingerprinted would be a deal-breaker for the fugitive, too.

And should they run into abusive criminal elements (which is likely in their position), they can easily be enslaved/extorted, making them both vulnerable and desperate/dangerous at all times.

So how do you think that the fugitive in the article for this thread was found?

31 posted on 10/16/2007 9:32:50 AM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: visualops
she hasn't aged well, that's for sure.

Well, she didn't start out real well to begin with.

32 posted on 10/16/2007 9:40:49 AM PDT by Michael.SF. ("democrat" -- 'one who panders to the crude and mindless whims of the masses " - Joseph J. Ellis)
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To: Southack; RosieCotton

Guatemalan illegals worked at Mitt Romney’s home and at his son’s home for almost ten years.

These were anonymous men without SS numbers that were paid in cash and interacted with the state governor and his security personnel, they could have been anyone, and in fact were fugitives from the law.


33 posted on 10/16/2007 9:42:03 AM PDT by ansel12 (Proud father of a 10th Mountain veteran. Proud son of a WWII vet. Proud brother of vets.)
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To: Southack
Have you ever followed any of the jobs done by roving bands of American Gypsies (e.g. magazine sales scams, carnivals, circuses, sidewalk curb house number painting)?

I swear I thought I was in a Boy Scout troop when they made me take part in those things. Freaking gypsies even gave me merit badges!

34 posted on 10/16/2007 9:50:47 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: Stoat

I’m with ya’ on the “some people just need killing” concept. The problem is figuring out just who they are.


35 posted on 10/16/2007 9:54:40 AM PDT by tupac (When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty.)
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To: Stoat

Interesting thread, bmflr.


36 posted on 10/16/2007 9:56:48 AM PDT by Kevmo (We should withdraw from Iraq— via Tehran. And Duncan Hunter is just the man to get that job done.))
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To: Southack

I come from a very small town in rural Vermont. Not much going on there in the way of gypsies or day laborers, and I almost literally knew everyone in town, so strangers kind of stood out. This is all rather fascinating to me. ;-)


37 posted on 10/16/2007 10:01:28 AM PDT by RosieCotton
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To: Michael.SF.

lol


38 posted on 10/16/2007 10:02:47 AM PDT by visualops (artlife.us)
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To: tupac
The problem is figuring out just who they are.

And then dealing with the aftermath.  The constant, monumental stress of having to be looking over one's shoulder and being fearful of making the slightest misstep coupled with the knowledge that if there is indeed a Hell, that's where you're going, would not exactly make for a pleasant life.

I'll leave that sort of judgment up to God and not mess with it myself, thanks very much.:-)

(unless somebody breaks into the stoat cave or causes me to believe that they mean me or somebody else an early end, in which case I will be delighted to exercise my legal options)

 

39 posted on 10/16/2007 10:07:33 AM PDT by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2008: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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To: Kevmo
Interesting thread, bmflr.

Thank you for your kind words ; I'm delighted that you like it   :-)

40 posted on 10/16/2007 10:09:02 AM PDT by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2008: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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