The Betrayal of Linda Slaten | Full Episode | Forensic Files

foreign [Music] that crime scene was just brutal and Evil and just ugly [Music] Linda Slayton remembered as a loving
mother was found dead in this home in 1981 it was a case that went cold for nearly four decades when two brothers
who weren't sure whether their mother's murder would ever be solved got a chance
I freaked out I started crying I saw the whole crime scene right then and there as a 12 year old kid
I'd have died that night trying to save my mom but I didn't hear nothing it's so hard to live with that
when kids just bothered me the way I saw that lady he entered that window and he went out
of that window and that's where I got this print from son of a [ __ ] was walking the street
he's out free we truly felt that the person that left his DNA behind was the person that actually killed her the
boyfriend of Linda certainly high on the list her ex-husband was another one all
you need is a DNA mat a hit that's all I need is a hit in the database and the further we went the longer we
went the more discouraging you got the Hope started fading you can't lose your mom no worse than we
lost our mom it's a nightmare I wouldn't wish on nobody I love you bro now we can't undo the
tragedy we can never make up for what happened the best outcome is that they get
Justice I mean Don never know who did this you know loved ones and especially children of a murder victim they need
those answers remember how many detectives we had to go through over the years we was going to let them know
we're still here and we will we want to kill our mom 38 years after this brutal murder that
has felt like a no would be solved 38 years of more than two dozen detectives coming up empty
every turn I was striking out how long did it take you chromosome 3 chromosome four to solve this crime two
days [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] on the morning of September 4th
1981 you're going to walk Three Doors Down and have a cup of coffee with your sister right
when Judy Butler knocked on her older sister's front door Linda Slayton never answered at the time the sisters both
lived in this Lakeland apartment complex so you started to walk back to your place
and what happened and I turned and I see that the screen is out of the window 's bedroom window was wide open Judy
walked over and looked inside and my vision comes across her where was she she was there instead of
up and down on the bed she was laying Crossways and at first I thought maybe she was
asleep and then then I just started screaming when police arrived they found the
partially nude body of Linda Slayton 31 with a wire coat hanger wrapped around her neck
the killer had entered her bedroom through the open window [Music] the crackle of Police radios inside the
small two-bedroom apartment woke up Linda's 15 year old son Jeff sleeping on a cot in the living room uh ask them
what is going on he's a police officer put on some clothes and go outside and he made sure I went out the front door
and when I went out there it looked like every cop in the State of Florida news crews and Matt Judy was out there crying
and she told my mom been murdered and I just couldn't believe it in the apartment second bedroom another
officer woke up Linda's younger son Tim then 12 years old he goes do you need to
wake up and go outside with your brother he never mentioned my mom like why why are you not saying my mom was a cop
waking me up foreign [Music] still in his pajamas Tim walked past his mother's closed bedroom door
suddenly it swung open as an officer left the room and I saw the whole crime scene
I mean some of my mom's bloody body with a coat hanger on her neck you can't unsee that no
and I'll still see it in 1974 Linda Slayton was a 24 year old single mom finally free she had just
divorced Jeff and Tim's abusive father Frank Slayton after nine volatile years of marriage
he was a violent alcoholic to be honest did he hit your mom no yeah in the years that followed nothing was
easy for the young family Linda struggled for work made her own clothes to save money and couldn't afford a car
if you couldn't get a ride to practice who would take you coach come pick us up that's Coach Joe as the kids called him
he often drove Tim and some other boys to and from football practice on the last full day of her life Linda
and Jeff argued tensions had been rising with her teenage son I remember coming home it wasn't eating the house
you know how it is when you're 15 16 year old kid you're mouthy and I got mad and I went out the door and
got my bicycle on Road 11 or 12 miles to the north side of town to go to Grandma
and Grandpa's house get something to eat at 8 30 that night Tim came home from football practice the coach brought me
home around nine Linda took Tim to a party next door to play cards grandma grandpa
brought me home about I think it was around nine nine or nine thirty or so Linda and Tim came home about 11. by
midnight Jeff made up with his mom he says and still remembers their final moment together
she's washing the dish and stuff when she went to uh to go to her bedroom I said I love you mom I said tomorrow you
know foreign [Music] what do you remember about the this latent case I can remember everything about it
going to that Wonder looking at it where he went through it and I went and then the children was asleep
and I saw that could hang around her neck former Sergeant Edgar Pickett now 94 years old was a legendary fingerprint
expert with the Lakeland Police Department he'd let the crime scene unit in fact
the crime lab Bears his name but that sort of recognition was a long time coming
[Music] arriving at the Slayton crime scene in 1981 Pickett then 53 was just a year
away from retirement but his hard-earned reputation had never spared him from prejudice
so you pull up at the scene and another Detective says what to you a little black man
don't have any business looking at her naked white woman even though she was a homicide victim
that's correct I get believed Linda Slayton had been strangled with a coat hanger from her
own closet he dusted most of the bedroom for fingerprints even the floor and then I got that print out for that
window seal it was a palm print putting the fingerprint you got the most important
print there is I knew it the evidence picket uncovered would play a crucial role decades later
especially the palm print I really had never seen anybody in the sheep that that lady was in
and I've seen a lot of people kill Ed an autopsy later confirmed what he already knew Linda Slayton had been
sexually assaulted and strangled to death swabs taken and preserved in a rape kit
revealed semen that morning picket says his thoughts kept returning to Linda slayton's voice
I had children too and I really wanted to clear that case I did you guys are standing on the spot
where your life changed yes right you want to stop being a kid was right there you were 15. 15. you really felt like
this was the end of your childhood right here yes sir I think exactly what it did
when I had Judy told my mom been murdered emerging through the terror and tears that September morning 41 years ago the
questions kept coming why who who could have done such an evil thing [Music] on that late Summer Morning in 1981 Jeff
and Tim Slayton faced a frightening World they no longer recognized a world without their mother
how do 12 and 15 year old boys process that deal with that was hard yeah I thought about committing
suicide a couple times it's that bad the brothers moved in with their grandparents Clarence and Margaret
Harris we just we stayed in the house we didn't go anywhere scared to death scared of death you know to do anything
[Music] for those first terrifying days the family slept in the same room except
Grandpa Harris and he would stay in guard with a gun all night while we slept the grandparents hoped a quick return to
familiar routines would help their distraught grandsons a few weeks after their mom's funeral the boys were back
in school and just you know being with friends and just just started living life again I guess you know going back
to football his teammates and Coach Joe in particular were always supportive always
rooting for him says Tim and I looked up to this guy he was my assistant football
coach I'm rods the games rides to practice Tim's team football photo hung in his bedroom it was taken just one
month after the murder the picture was a reminder he says of something his mom had taught him to keep
moving forward and never give up she was a fighter yes oh yes oh yeah she might want to wait 100
pounds soaking wet but she was pretty tough everybody liked her that met her everybody was asking her date because
she was so young and pretty and then Linda met and married Frank Slayton he was a mean no count Scoundrels the
brothers say it's hard to know when their dad began to beat their mom the more he drank the more violent he became
I remember one time it was in the bathroom he had about a throw with a gun to her head and I was coming there
trying to get him off of her I feel like it saved her that you know that night a
day well you were just a little guy yourself six and a half seven years old frank slayton's history of abuse made
him a person of interest for Lakeland detectives but investigators seemed satisfied that Slayton was home in
Alabama on the night of the murder at the time of her death Linda had a boyfriend he too had a credible alibi
others were looked at like the party goers next door but no one was charged like smart ladies come down and take me
out of school and they was always interrogate me all the time in the early days it sounds like
who the police really were most thorough in checking out it was me as a 15 year old Jeff had plenty of
typical teen conflicts with his mom which he readily admitted to detectives including that heated argument on the
last day of her life no they have met him and lie detector test one time having I passed it
then he wanted to do it again they just want to put me under hypnosis and then there's one time one of the cops and
he's like you got big arms on you and you're strong enough put your hands around your mom's neck and kill her what
who would do that to a kid I was 15 year old kid hurting can't say that to me and
that's that's always hurt finally Jeff's grandparents said enough it's like get out there and found Who
Killed My Daughter leave this kid leave his family alone two weeks later according to the Lakeland police report
Jeff took a second polygraph test and was cleared at that point the investigation slowed then ground to a
halt as the years passed Jeff and Tim started their own families but to this day there
is still grief and guilt for not hearing anything that night for not coming to their mom's rescue I'd
have died that not trying to save my mom but I mean we're right there in the house how can you not hear something
like that and they lived in fear of the man they called the monster unless he was dead he
was out there somewhere around the 20th anniversary of their mom's murder Jeff and Tim met with
Lakeland detective Brad Grice who was taking a fresh look at the case as soon as Jeff and Tim walked in the door I
realized I'd known Jeff for years since I was in my 20s through Bowling it was like Brad sure
enough I knew him from Bowling years ago Grace took DNA samples from the brothers
to clear them again then gave Jeff something in return a promise he made me promise that I
wouldn't retire until I solved his mother's case and I I wanted to so bad for him and his
brother I did Grace had already sent DNA from the Slaton rape kit to the state's major
Crime Lab at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement the FDLE do you have any confidence that you could solve it I was
hoping DNA would you know it was becoming a big tool by March 1999 the FDLE had developed a full DNA profile of
Linda slayton's Anonymous killer all you need is a DNA mat a hit that's all I need is
a hit in the database detective Grace took dozens of DNA samples from prior Persons of Interest
submitting them to the FDLE for comparison we were trying everything even the brother's father Frank Slayton
who had stopped drinking volunteered a sample none matched then in September 2001 Grace got a tip
nearly a year after the Slayton killing a 24 year old man named Jimmy Ulmer pulled a 10 year old girl through her
bedroom window and nearly killed her he was convicted of that and sentenced to like 80 years
in prison the Savage assault seemed eerily similar to the Slayton case and detective Grice discovered that around
the time of Linda slayton's murder Jimmy Ulmer had been staying with a friend who
happened to live in the very same apartment complex as Slayton hang on Jimmy Ulmer was staying in an apartment
right across the way from the slaves yes you must have felt like that's our guy I
felt very strong I did Homer had died in prison five years earlier in 1996 but Grace got a DNA
sample from his mother I honestly felt that when we got the results back that we would know who did it and we'd get
the the notice that it wasn't him at that point you must have been like we're never going to solve this thing I
sure felt that way it was very discouraging but you know it's like oh my God we're back to square
one again didn't feel like he's on a roller coaster for you pretty much your whole life
by 2005 detective Grace was heading up a new Cold Case unit and the FBI was running the DNA profile of slayton's
killer continuously through all federal data banks but the years continued to pass without a match and Jeff would call
and Jeff I got nothing for you you know it hurt my heart too you know Grace had a growing suspicion he was chasing a
ghost as I honestly thought the suspect might be deceased he had made that promise to the brothers that he wouldn't
retire until their monster was caught I had some medical things that were popping up it
was a promise he couldn't keep detective Grace retired in 2015. there was probably nothing in your
professional life you wanted more than to call Jeff Slayton and say got him absolutely effort to detective
progress retired I'm like I was like well I'll probably take my last breath and not know who murdered my
mom has already starting to come with terms with it but three years later there was renewed
hope a groundbreaking DNA technology began to Electrify the law enforcement community
and genetic genealogists CC Moore was taking on the Slayton case I was determined I was going to help
these boys find out who killed their mom see more photos from the case at 48hours.com
CeCe Moore is a renowned expert in the field of investigative genetic genealogy you have that DNA there is no reason you
cannot solve that mystery whatever that mystery is Moore launched her hunt for Linda
slayton's Killer by uploading the anonymous DNA from slayton's rape kit to a public Genealogy website called jet
match she then meticulously constructed Branch by Branch his genetic family tree
I built the family trees of those people who share DNA with him and then I identify common ancestors between those
people she made those connections by pouring over birth certificates marriage licenses obituaries and social media to
fill in the family tree with names it sounds like basically you're putting together a giant jigsaw
puzzle yes other puzzles piece by piece by piece these matches all share DNA with each
other so they're my first genetic Network CC Moore uncovered three genetic networks branches of the killers family
tree that ultimately narrowed to the one person most likely responsible for the murder of Linda Slayton fortunately
those three genetic networks converged into one family tree that pointed at one immediate family and he was the only son
in that family and we knew the killer was a male so it had to be him that was the DNA
contributor after hundreds of leads and dead ends after dozens of suspects were investigated and cleared CeCe Moore
identified the probable killer in one weekend there was just one person who was high confidence and who was that
Joseph Clinton Mills Joseph Clinton Mills Coach Joe who drove Linda slayton's 12 year old son Tim to
and from practice but authorities wanted to be certain before they notified the brothers and
then there is a sort of exhilaration because he's alive and so there's a real chance for justice and maybe even
answers CC Moore's final 2019 report confirmed that Joseph Mills then 58 was living in Kathleen Florida about half an
hour from the crime scene and I reviewed the case and I'm like I remember that name I remember seeing that name that
that guy was interviewed detectives Tammy Hathcock and Russell Hurley were the next generation of
Lakeland investigators leading the Slayton Cold Case I'm telling you it's like I won the lottery I remember
grabbing that piece of paper from the report and just running down the hallway to my sergeant saying oh my God he was
interviewed he was interviewed according to the case File investigators did question Joseph Mills then 20 years
old just one day after the murder he was very basically touched I mean like just a very brief
interview and it was conducted on the phone not in person the fact that investigators never questioned Mills
face to face suggests he was never considered a suspect during the brief call Mills acknowledged he had driven
Tim Slayton home from football practice on September 3rd just hours later Linda Slayton was dead how was Joseph Mills
not followed up on more aggressively in 1981. at that point I mean he was just a
football coach that had dropped off to me he was never on their radar to be a suspect just based off of the
information that they were given by Timmy and by by Mr Mills Mills seen here in a 1984 driver's
license photo was convicted that year of Grand Theft for forging a will he never
went to jail but he was fingerprinted Lakeland Police also took a palm print in August 2019 investigators compared
those prints to the one Sergeant Pickett lifted off slayton's windowsill nearly 38 years before when the prince came
back there was a match yes high-tech genetic genealogy had identified Mills as the likely killer
and an old-fashioned palm print match helped confirm his identity but Hathcock and Hurley still needed to compare a
fresh DNA sample from Mills to the decades-old DNA recovered from the crime scene as we had to get his DNA without
his knowledge and see if we can get a match we had to do some surveillance it was several weekends that we were
following him around trying to get discarded just looking for a cup that he drank from or a tissue that he used
anything after tracking Mills with no luck the detectives decided it was time to get
their hands dirty they covertly took Mill's trash back to the police department here we are in dress clothes
just digging through trash bags not the most glamorous thing they discovered a piece of used medical adhesive tape and
sent it off to the FDLE crime lab for testing after searching Mill's trash they dug through his life he's been
married to the same woman and he lived in the same place he was a business owner a cleaning service was a truck
driver over the years he had a family married kids married kids grandkids eleven days later the stunning lab
results Joseph Mills 2019 DNA found on the medical table and the 1981 unknown DNA from Linda slayton's rape kit were a
spot on Match that's when the brothers were told the monster had been found this guy you last
knew was Coach Joe oh my goodness it was him and I had a picture of my house ever
since that I never knew it was him Tim's 1981 team football photo a source of Pride for years
sickens him today because standing directly behind him is the man he once trusted and admired Coach Joe
I've been carrying a Killer's picture of my house this whole time and never had a
clue even after the murder Joseph Mills continued driving Tim to and from football practice picking him up and
dropping him off at his grandparents house he'd asked us how the case was going he wouldn't ask questions about he
just well isn't he new news or any new leads and I was like no nothing you know he's talking to a 12 year old boy and
trying to keep tabs on a murder investigation through the the son of the murdered woman no yes
when he knows exactly who did it he's a coal holder monster that's for sure [Music]
December 12 2019 the detectives moved in arresting Joseph Mills he was calm cool and Collective like it
was another day on the beach most people's reaction would be why am I being arrested
why are you taking me and you expected some of that right some kind of emotion and nothing
[Music] [Music] thank you it's been 38 years and I'm sure you go to bed every night thinking about this I
have no doubt in my mind detectives Hathcock and Hurley finally had Joseph Mills right where they wanted
him in the claustrophobic confines of a police interview room when I picked the boys up
we we stayed in the vehicle and I don't recall going to in or out of a house period
there's no way that is the truth I mean he's saying he's never been in there we got him well we have
tells us a different story okay you were in that apartment ratcheting up the pressure the
detectives told Mills they had overwhelming evidence placing him inside Linda slayton's bedroom your fingerprint
smashes you the DNA matches you that's when Mill's story began to change and then how did you end up going
through her window is that an invitation an invitation from Linda Slayton Mills claimed for consensual sex
a flat out lie say the detectives he said it was a sex game that she had the hanger around her neck when he came
through the window and she asked him to tighten it down and then did you start applying pressure
yes and when I pointed out well the brutality of the hangar and how deep it was into her skin
he stuck with the it was a game you purposely killed her we all sitting here we know that
at the end of the day what happened here I think it's pretty evident that he targeted her
after dropping off Tim from football practice on September 3rd 1981. Joseph Mills returned later that night
the detectives say breaking in through Linda slayton's bedroom window one heard Mills they believed because no
one was home Jeff was still at his grandparents house Linda and Tim were at the party next
door if you look at the crime scene and all that the hangar obviously came from the
closet we figured that's what happened as he was hiding in the closet were you ever in the closet
yeah in the final moments of her life the detectives believed that Linda after saying good night to her sons walked
into her bedroom and closed the door never knowing that Mills was already inside waiting for her
there was no invitation no consensual sex they say Joseph Mills raped and murdered Linda Slayton
detective Brad Grice always suspected the killer's name was buried somewhere in the thick police case File why do you
feel that the investigation didn't Circle back to Joseph Mills well obviously I put a lot of that on me now
you do I do Grace blames himself for not taking a harder look at Joseph Mills a sentiment
not shared by the Slayton Brothers they feel nothing but gratitude to the detective and friend who spent 17 years
Chasing The elusive killer I could tell how hard he wanted to solve it and I actually named my son after him my son's
named Brad too here's Brad Slayton graduating from high school Jeff put a little pressure on me
over the years you know he did you can't retire until you solve this case and then he names his son after me and
honestly I just wanted to to solve this case for them more than anything [Music]
how you doing all right so did this former investigator 94 year old Edgar Pickett the brothers had always wanted
to meet him so I want to thank you for all you did for our mom back then we haven't done it this monster would still
be running free today I sure would I'm sure it is poignant praise for sergeant Pickett who lifted the pomprit that
helped identify the monster Joseph Mills that's the case I can never forget is up
here yeah I can't get rid of it during his distinguished and trailblazing 29-year career Sergeant Pickett had seen
it all and yet it's the Linda Slayton case that haunts him to this day he never knew police had questioned a
man named Joseph Mills just one day after the killing you didn't know for 38 years that he was
talked to immediately afterwards no I didn't instead Pickett says he was asked to
compare Prince of a number of black men who were questioned in the days after the murder following neighbors reports
of suspicious activity they kept picking up a lot of blacks and it was giving me
their plants for me to look at theirs it not just haunts but anger's picket black men were rounded up and
fingerprinted while the white football coach driving Linda's son to and from practice was never considered a suspect
they just talked to him and let him go you're telling me this case could have been solved in the first days after the
murder if they had just taken a print from Joseph Mills that's correct there's a lot of people who came before
you I get it but you got this palm print in the windowsill almost immediately wouldn't you just get some prints from
the guy anybody who had been near the house in the 24 hours prior to the murder there was no indication that he
had been in the house I mean all the witnesses said that he dropped the kid off from
practice and never got out of the truck so the only reason why he was spoke to was because when they Backtrack on the
previous 24 hours he was in that equation you don't feel like he slipped through the net no no
[Music] Joseph Mills Day of Reckoning would finally come 40 years later he's got cold black murder knives as
Joseph Clinton Mills he just sit there not a word [Music] what do you make of Coach Joe's story of
what happened that night chat now with the 48 Hours team on Twitter and Facebook
our mom was a good person he took that away from us to avoid a trial and a possible death
sentence Joseph Mills pleaded guilty to all charges including first-degree murder sexual battery and burglary
at his sentencing what Linda slayton's family wanted most was the answer to one question
well I just want to know why Joe why'd you take my mom approoney was happy my blow to start boiling every time I look
at him the brothers and Aunt Judy tried to look him in the eye to see if there was any
human being in there see if he was alive if he had a soul never thought his silence infuriated the family and a
few minutes later so did his comments to the court I am a good person I'm not that person
that they're paying me out to be I think this case made me the angriest out of the hundreds of cases I've been
involved in because what he did with her children there and then the things he said about
her that she lured him in even all these years later he was willing to try to make her look bad
to denigrate the victim and her boys have to hear that it's just sickening I haven't sent you to life in
prison without the possibility of parole and just like that Joseph Clinton Mills was gone facing
four life terms and finally a measure of Justice maybe not full Justice in your view full Justice by no means I wanted
to go to trial I wanted to see him up on the stand and and tell everybody why he did this
and he never did that the Slayton Brothers feel some comfort knowing Joseph Mills will never leave
prison alive but there's still anger they say because Mills never took full responsibility for
the premeditated rape and murder of their mother he never apologized and there were all those years of Freedom he
lived his whole life he raised his family you know he had a good life that was right after she was killed we
went back it's the brothers who feel they were handed the far more severe sentence life without the possibility
of growing up with their mom so still be here today she'd only be 72 you know could have had him a whole lot
I just wonder why life would have been like to have Adam any part of you when you think about all
of this at all angry with the way the police handled it that it took this long to get Joseph
Mills you could look at it that way I know it's a lot of hard work behind the scenes of people don't see that goes on
you know what they do the hours upon hours they put in I mean you can get mad but only so much can be done in a day
we owe a huge debt of gratitude to those original crime scene investigators because at the time this crime was
committed they didn't even know DNA was going to be used in criminal investigations and so the fact they
collected that and then it was stored responsibly and carefully all these years by that department is so important
if that hadn't happened we couldn't have done our work Jeff and Tim say they're determined to
move on as best they can to live life well for their mom and for their families the brothers also know they never would
have survived their ordeal without each other let's check it out bro they remain extremely close Live just a
few miles apart and share passionate Hobbies like restoring cars you give the credit for living this life
to the spirit of your mouth yes most definitely sure do love you Mom I miss you so much
every day my mom she's looking down on us and want us to live our lives and do good you know and I always think she's
looking down on us I want to make her proud yes I want to make her proud yes [Music]
these trees that are all around us here played a role in solving a murder absolutely a young mother dead will DNA
from a tree found on a suspect's boots help catch your killer 48 hours Saturday at CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus

After a young mother is murdered, her son unknowingly hangs the killer's photo on his wall. "48 Hours" contributor Jim Axelrod reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

"In all my years of reporting for '48 Hours' I’ve never encountered anything as heartbreaking as a kid having a picture of his football coach on his wall – not knowing that the coach murdered his mother. The coach kept driving the kid to practice after the killing. The sheer, chilling sociopathy of the coach took my breath away." — Jim Axelrod on why the story is important.

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The episode details Linda Slayton's murder and the eventual capture of her killer, Joseph Mills, after decades of investigation.

Key points

The Brutal Murder of Linda Slayton. Linda Slayton was found dead in her home in 1981, a case that went cold for decades.
The Search for Justice. Detectives struggled for years to find Linda's killer, facing numerous dead ends.
A Mother's Love and Loss. The emotional aftermath of Linda's murder left her sons grappling with grief and guilt.
A Breakthrough in the Case. Groundbreaking DNA technology reignited hope in solving Linda's murder after decades.
The Shocking Revelation. DNA evidence eventually pointed to Joseph Clinton Mills, a former football coach.
The Monster Found. Detectives discover Joseph Mills' DNA linked to the 1981 murder case, shocking the victims' family.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

it's a nightmare I wouldn't wish on nobody.

A brother reflects on the trauma of their mother's murder.

1:33WatchApr 20, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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