Linda Reed murder: Gold Coast police arrest man over the 1983 abduction and murder
A SINGLE fingerprint on the window of a car led police to discover a new suspect in the Gold Coast cold case murder of Linda Reed.
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A SINGLE fingerprint on the window of a car led police to discover a new suspect in the Gold Coast cold case murder of Linda Reed.
Queensland police today charged 51-year-old Troy James O’Meara over the 1983 murder of 21-year-old Pacific Fair retail assistant Linda Reed — ending one of Queensland’s longest cold case investigations.
He was just 17 at the time and only recently came to the attention of investigators.
The recent breakthrough came from improved DNA technology which allegedly matched a fingerprint on a car window to O’Meara.
An empty packet of menthol cigarettes was found in Linda Reed’s car which was discovered near her body on December 16, 1983, Nine News Brisbane reports.
Days later, a man driving a Toyota HiAce picked up a hitchhiker in the area who was smoking the same cigarettes but didn’t have the box.
The driver contacted police who took a fingerprint from the passenger side window.
Advancements in forensic technology found it allegedly matched to O’Meara — 35 years after the crime.
He appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court this afternoon and was remanded in custody.
Retail assistant Linda, 21, was last seen at her Pacific Fair Shopping Centre workplace on December 13, 1983. She had taken her meal break and never returned.
She was newly married and building her dream home with her husband Robert when she disappeared.
On December 16 1983, Linda’s bound and gagged body was found, along with her light coloured Mazda sedan, on Moolaroo Drive in Gaven Forest Estate.
Police said at the time she had been sexually assaulted, tied up with a bikini top and left to drown in a creek puddle.
A large-scale appeal for witnesses and information followed, with police setting up exhibits with a mannequin, photographs and Linda’s car in a bid to jog the memory of shoppers.
Today, police revealed the accused only came to police attention in recent years.
“I can tell you the gentleman in custody was not the subject of early investigations. It’s been in the relative recent past when it has come up … in recent years,” said Homicide Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Knight.
He said police believed the accused took Linda from the Pacific Fair carpark and drove her, in her car, to the Gaven location where she was assaulted and killed.
He said the man, who was aged 17 at the time of the murder, allegedly acted alone in a random attack and was ‘staying on the Gold Coast’ but lived a ‘transient lifestyle’.
“It was a particularly horrific attack,” said Det Snr Sgt Knight.
‘Prior to the homicide we can’t see any visible contact that they had prior to (the murder).”
New DNA technology and forensic scientists played an ‘important part’ in the fresh arrest.
The accused had no connection to convicted murderer, Craig Andrew McConnell, who was charged and acquitted over Linda’s death in 1986.
McConnell went to trial after a fellow inmate at Boggo Road Jail claimed he made admissions but was acquitted due to insufficient evidence after the chief witness died of a heroin overdose shortly before the trial.
Det Snr Sgt Knight confirmed today’s arrest was ‘definitely not a double jeopardy’ situation.
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Linda’s husband Robert today made an emotional statement saying ‘it’s been 35 years since my wife was taken from me’ and thanked police for ‘never giving up trying to find Linda’s murderer’.
In 2016, Linda’s mother, Nancy Fein — who still lives on the Gold Coast, made a fresh plea to find her daughter’s killer.
“My husband has passed away and as you can appreciate I’m getting older as well,” she told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
“It would be so nice to see justice done, it’s gone on for so long now and I’m running out of time.”
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Her parents said they felt the police investigation at the time had been ‘inadequate’.
Mrs Fein said she was met with cynicism when she reported her daughter missing at the Broadbeach police station.
“We had to wait 24 hours before Linda could be listed as missing and even then the police seemed amused. They were of the impression she’d run away,” she told the Gold Coast Bulletin back in 2010.
Homicide Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Knight said today’s arrest marks the end of a methodical and extensive investigation into a longstanding Queensland cold case.
“Today’s arrest highlights the commitment of the Homicide Cold Case Investigation Unit to resolve historical investigations such as this tragic murder.’ Detective Senior Sergeant Knight said.
“Linda’s abduction and murder was completely random and had such a devastating impact on her family and the local community. I commend the work of the officers who were involved in this case from the outset and thank the detectives and forensic officers who worked so diligently to bring this case to a resolution.
We thank the family for their support throughout the investigation and it is our privilege to bring them the answers they deserve after all this time.”
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