In the evening of Nov 17, 1966, Linda Pierson, 18, left her home in Dayton, Kentucky, a small town on the Ohio River across from Cincinnati. Hours later children playing a game found her body near the river. She had been killed somewhere else. No one has been charged.
Pierson's case is a 60-year-old Northern Kentucky homicide with a small set of facts: a teenager who left home at about 7 p.m., a discovery by children, and a body moved to the riverbank. The state police still say someone knows more than has been told.
Editorial assessment of public sources, not a finding of fact. Nobody named here has been charged unless this page says so.
The year and date are inferred from a FOX19 report that says Nov 17, 2020 marked 54 years. Where the report is unclear, we say so.
Linda Pierson, 18, leaves her home in Dayton, Kentucky.
A group of children playing hide-and-seek find her body near the Ohio River, not far from her home. They run home and adults call police.
Evidence reportedly indicated she had been raped and strangled elsewhere, then dumped nearly naked by the river. A Kentucky State Police trooper later said she had been killed by "some type of string instrument," possibly rubber bands. That is a description, not an official finding.
News reports from the 1960s said several young men were seen with Pierson that night, and some took lie detector tests. We could not verify this.
Police say numerous suspects were interviewed from the start through the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. No one is arrested.
Kentucky State Police Post 6 asks for new leads, saying many of Pierson's relatives have died and someone may hold unreported information.
An 18-year-old from a small river town.
Lived in Dayton, Kentucky. Left home about 7 p.m. on the night she was killed. Many of her relatives have since died.
We found no freely licensed photo of Linda Pierson, so a silhouette is shown. Her relatives or others who want a photo added, changed, or removed can use the contact form at the bottom of this page.
Very little is public. This is what a 2020 report says.
| Item | What is known | Disputed or unknown |
|---|---|---|
| Where she was found | Near the Ohio River in Dayton, not far from her home. | The exact spot is not named. |
| Manner of death | A trooper said she was killed by "some type of string instrument," which could be rubber bands. | Not an official finding; no autopsy report is public. A search-result summary of the KSP case page (not opened by us) says suffocation by strangulation with a wire or cord. |
| The scene | Evidence indicated she was raped and strangled elsewhere and dumped. | Where she was killed is unknown. |
| Young men seen with her | 1960s news reports said several young men were seen with her; some took lie detector tests. | Not verified by police. |
| Testing | No DNA or physical results are public. | Whether any evidence survives is not stated. |
The public record is one local report. Kentucky State Police hold the file.
| Document | Holder | What it shows | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| FOX19: NKY cold case dating back to 1966 (2020) | FOX19 / WXIX | The KSP request for new leads and the known facts. | Online, free |
| Kentucky State Police Post 6 case file; autopsy | Kentucky State Police; Campbell County Coroner | The full file and the 1966 autopsy. | Withheld or sealed |
Access labels: Online, free = we could open it. Fan-hosted copy = a private researcher posted scans; originals are held by the named agency, and we cannot vouch for completeness. Quoted in news = reporters read it; we did not see the document itself. Request needed = held by an agency or court. Withheld = the holder has not released it. We cannot reach non-public records, and we do not try to.
Where people talk about this case online, and how to read it.
| Platform | Live search | What you tend to find |
|---|---|---|
| Google: Reddit | site:reddit.com search | Public Reddit threads that Google has indexed, including old discussions. |
| Google: X and Twitter | X and Twitter posts | Public posts and profiles that appear in search results. |
| Google: Facebook | Public Facebook pages and posts | Only public pages and groups that Google can see. Private groups never appear. |
| Google: Instagram and TikTok | Instagram and TikTok | Public posts, memorials, and videos. |
| Google: forums | Forums and message boards | Long-running true-crime forums. |
| Google News | Latest news | Newest reporting, which is usually more reliable than posts. |
| Search Reddit | Long discussion threads and theories, often by amateur researchers. No sign-in needed to read. | |
| X (Twitter) | Search X | Short posts, news links, and anniversary notes. May require sign-in. |
| Search Facebook | Public groups and family or community pages. Requires sign-in. | |
| Search #lindapierson | Memorial and true-crime posts. Requires sign-in. | |
| YouTube | Search YouTube | Documentaries, news clips, and interviews. Quality varies widely. |
Be careful with online theories. Naming a private person as a suspect can harm an innocent family, and many "identifications" on forums have been wrong. Our own tools could not read these platforms: Reddit blocks automated access, and the others require an account. The Google searches above work from your browser. To get new public mentions by email, make a free Google Alert for the case name in quotation marks.
What local and national reports say, and when we last checked for a solution.
| Date | Outlet | What it reported | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 16, 2020 | |||
| FOX19 / WXIX | |||
| KSP Post 6 sought new leads in the 1966 case. | |||
| Read | |||
| Current | |||
| Kentucky State Police | |||
| Cold-case page (seen in search results; not opened). | |||
| Read |
Status is re-checked on a regular schedule. If you know of a development we missed, use the clue form near the top of this page or the contact form, and include a link.
Police have named no suspect.
Why named: News reports from the 1960s said several young men were seen with Pierson that night, and some took lie detector tests.
Against: Not confirmed by police; no names released.
Why named: Kentucky State Police believe a person alive today may know what happened.
Against: No name; this is investigators' belief, not evidence.
Where a card shows a silhouette, we found no photo. Anyone who wants a photo added, changed, or removed can use the contact form at the bottom of this page.
The newest public development is Kentucky State Police asking for leads, not a new suspect.
We put the chance that the killer lived in or near Dayton, Kentucky at roughly 70%, because she was killed elsewhere and moved a short distance to a place near her home. The chance of resolution in the next five years is, in our view, low, roughly 5%.
Editorial judgment, not statistics.
"—" means no public information, not a clean result.
| Idea | Knew her | Physical link | Official status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Young men seen with her | ? reported | — none published | — no names |
| A person with unreported information | ? unknown | — | — unnamed |
✗ excluded or contradicted · ✓ supports · ? disputed · — nothing public. No cell is an official finding.
Editorial reading of public records. A working theory, not a finding, and it names no individual.
Judgment, not statistics.
Questions raised by gaps in the public record.
A public summary of the 1966 autopsy and the actual cause of death.
Who they were, what they said, and what the lie detector tests showed.
Where she was between 7 p.m. and discovery, and who saw her.
Whether any clothing or physical evidence was kept.
Where she was killed. A reconstruction of likely vehicle routes has not been published.
Who the "numerous suspects" were and why each was cleared.
Interviews with remaining relatives and neighbors, such as the neighbor who recalled the discovery.
Whether other 1960s–70s killings in Campbell and Kenton counties share a method.
"Not public" means we could not find a report.
| Item | Tested | Gap |
|---|---|---|
| Autopsy | Done in 1966. | Report: not public. |
| Physical evidence | Presumably collected. | Whether kept and tested: not public. |
| Witness statements | Taken in 1966 and later. | Not public. |
| KSP case file | Held by Kentucky State Police Post 6. | Public index: not available. |
| Tool | What it could do | Status here |
|---|---|---|
| DNA testing of retained items | Identify a donor if any item was kept. | Not reported |
| Forensic genetic genealogy | Identify an unknown donor. | Needs DNA; none reported |
| Records digitization | Search old newspaper reports of the case. | Available |
Northern Kentucky has solved cases like this.
Investigators say a private genealogy investigation helped them identify Thomas Dunaway, who died in 1990, as the man who killed the 16-year-old. He cannot be indicted, so prosecutors sent a letter saying he would have been charged. The lesson: genealogy can name a killer after decades, even when no trial is possible.
In 2024, local investigators were being trained in the technique, which has already helped solve Cincinnati-area cases, according to FOX19. The lesson: the tool is now local, so cases with usable DNA have a real path forward.
Old crime-scene DNA matched relatives in a public database and led to a 2018 arrest. The lesson: a usable sample can still work after decades.
Case details come from public news coverage and the Boone County Sheriff's cold-case list. Confirm in court records.
| Claim | Source and date | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| She was killed by rubber bands | A trooper's 2020 description | A description, not an official finding. |
| The young men seen with her were involved | 1960s news reports | Unverified; some took lie detector tests. |
| The case is linked to other 1960s killings in the area | Speculation | No link established. |
She lived in Dayton, Kentucky, on the Ohio River in Campbell County, across the river from Cincinnati. Her body was found by the river not far from home.
Open in maps: Dayton, Kentucky. We show no photograph of the scene.
| Source | Type | Rating | Use with care because |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky State Police statements | Agency | A | Brief; details withheld. |
| FOX19 / WXIX, Nov 2020 | Local news | B+ | The year and date are inferred; some details are from old news reports. |
| Podcasts and true-crime sites | Advocacy | D | Dramatized. |
Lead agency for the case. FOX19 listed a tip line, (859) 428-1212, in 2020; please confirm before calling.
Autopsy records.
Prosecution records.
Under the Kentucky Open Records Act, I request copies of non-exempt records relating to the 1966 homicide of Linda Pierson in Dayton, Kentucky, including incident reports, laboratory reports, and any evidence inventory. Please send electronic copies. If any part is withheld, please identify the exemption relied on and release all reasonably segregable material.
Agencies often withhold records of open investigations, so expect partial answers.
Linda was 18. Her family has waited for answers for six decades, and many of her relatives did not live to see any.
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Every fact on this page comes from one of these. Where they disagree, we say so above.
Everything comes from one FOX19 report. The year (1966) and date are inferred from a "54 years" reference. The cause of death is a trooper's description, not an official finding. The tip-line number is as published in 2020.