FLORIDA 1981 Cold Case Solved — The Killer Was the Football Coach

On September 4, 1981, single mother Linda Slaten was found murdered in her Lakeland, Florida apartment. She was just 31 years old. Her two sons, Jeff and Tim, were asleep in the apartment when it happened. Neither of them woke up. Police collected a rape kit and lifted a palm print from the bedroom windowsill where the killer had entered. They questioned suspects. They ran polygraphs. They chased leads across state lines. And for 38 years, nothing. What nobody knew was that the killer had been hiding in plain sight the entire time. He was Tim's youth football coach. The man who drove him to practice. The man who kept coaching him after the murder. The man who asked a grieving twelve-year-old boy if the police had any new leads on his own mother's case. His name was Joseph Clinton Mills. "Coach Joe." This documentary traces the full story of Linda Slaten's murder and the four-decade hunt for her killer. From the crime scene work of Sergeant Edgar Pickett, who lifted the palm print that would ultimately seal the case, to Detective Brad Grice, who spent over 15 years chasing leads before retiring without an answer. From the preserved rape kit that waited for a science that hadn't been invented yet, to the moment genetic genealogist CeCe Moore of Parabon NanoLabs identified Mills in a single weekend using investigative genetic genealogy. In December 2019, Mills was arrested. In February 2022, 41 years after the murder, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without parole. This is a story about a mother who deserved more time. About two brothers who grew up calling their mother's killer "the Monster" without knowing he was standing in a photograph on their bedroom wall. And about the detectives, scientists, and family members who refused to let this case stay buried. 🔔 Subscribe to Cold Case Redemption for in-depth documentaries on cold cases that were finally solved. Every case we cover went cold for years, sometimes decades, until a breakthrough changed everything. New videos every week. 💬 Which cold case do you want us to cover next? Drop it in the comments. 📖 REFERENCES CBS News / 48 Hours, "The Betrayal of Linda Slaten" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/linda-sl... CNN, "A single mother was killed in 1981. Her son's youth football coach is now the suspect" https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/20/us... WFLA, "Cold case victim's sons confront man sentenced in 1981 Lakeland murder" https://www.wfla.com/news/polk-county... WTSP, "Lakeland man sentenced to life in nearly 4 decade-old cold case" https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/cri... Fox News, "Murdered woman's son confronts her alleged killer in court" https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-ma... ABC News, "Son's former football coach arrested for mom's 1981 murder" https://abcnews.com/US/football-coach... Law & Crime, "Family Members of Cold Case Murder Victim Confront Killer in Court" https://lawandcrime.com/crime/family-... #ColdCase #TrueCrime #LindaSlaten #GeneticGenealogy #ColdCaseSolved #JusticeForLinda #CoachJoe #JosephMills #CeCeMoore #ParabonNanoLabs #LakelandFlorida #ColdCaseRedemption #TrueCrimeDocumentary #DNAEvidence #UnsovledMurder #ColdCaseBreakthrough