MURDER
CASE #: 1988-49
Linda Donaldson
Status:
Open
Date of Offense:
Date of Offense:
Jurisdiction:
Offense Location:
Liverpool, England
Summary:
Linda Suzanne Donaldson, 31, from Liverpool, was a sex worker who struggled with heroin addiction. She was found brutally murdered and mutilated in a ditch off Winwick Lane in Lowton on October 18, 1988. Stabbed ten times with severe mutilation, her killer remains unidentified and the case remains open with a £50,000 reward for information.
Vital Statistics
Circumstances of Offense:
In the late afternoon of Monday 17 October 1988, Linda got up and went to the red light district in Liverpool to earn money as a sex worker. She returned to her flat in Toxteth a number of times that day, having last been seen by her flatmate when she left the property at 11.30pm. A Merseyside Police officer who knew her well recalled seeing her between 11pm and midnight. On Tuesday the 18th October 1988, an elderly couple found the body of Linda Suzanne Donaldson (31), in a ditch behind a hedge in a farmer's field at Winwick Lane, Lowton, near Leigh. Linda had been stabbed ten times. Her breasts were missing and an attempt had been made to hack off her head. Her body had been washed down before being dumped, most likely to erase forensic evidence. Enquiries established the body had been transported to the ditch after Linda's death but the location of the murder has never been verified.
Additional Details:
Her clothes - black ankle boots, a black miniskirt, black jacket, and a studded belt, were never found, nor her distinctive gold earrings and white address book. Despite numerous enquiries, repeated appeals for information and new forensic techniques developed in the intervening 30 years, her killer has never been caught. A £50,000 reward remains in place for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Linda's killer. Linda's elderly grandmother who had raised her had to identify her lifeless body by a scar on her ear lobe. The case remains active with Greater Manchester Police's Cold Case Review Unit continuing to seek information.
Case Last Updated:
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