00:00On July 8, 1972, a female driver traveling on West Road in Allen County, Indiana, at 11.40 in the
00:07morning, noticed something strange in the ditch beside a small creek.
00:11It was the lifeless body of a woman, and next to her, a small three-year-old girl who was
00:17alive, but staring blankly into space.
00:20She quickly called emergency services, and when the police arrived, they identified the victim as Phyllis Baylor, a 26-year
00:27-old mother, and her daughter.
00:28Both had been reported missing, and were being searched for since the previous night.
00:35That approximately two-hour trip was headed to her parents' house, where they planned to spend the weekend.
00:41The officers checked the perimeter of the car, photographed the engine, collected fibers, searched for fingerprints, everything that's done in
00:49an investigation.
00:50Let's remember that in 1972, forensic resources were very limited.
00:54There was no possibility of conducting DNA tests, and forensic techniques were very limited.
00:59An autopsy performed shortly afterward revealed the harsh truth.
01:04Phyllis had been the victim of a brutal attack.
01:07She had been shot, and the medical examiners also confirmed that she had suffered abuse.
01:14What initially seemed like an incident on a highway had turned into a heinous homicide.
01:22Several suspects were considered, some with a history of violence, but none could be definitively linked to the crime.
01:31Phyllis Baylor's file remained archived in police records like a kind of scar on the collective memory.
01:39Decades after the crime, a partial genetic profile was obtained from Phyllis' clothing.
01:45The finding allowed the main suspect, whose identity was not revealed, to be ruled out, making it clear that the
01:52killer had not yet been identified.
01:58More than 50 years after the murder, the state forensic laboratory managed to develop a much stronger genetic profile from
02:06the victim's clothing.
02:08The DNA found on Phyllis' clothing was subjected to a new analysis decades later,
02:13when technology already allowed identities to be traced through family links with the collaboration of Identifinders International.
02:22The name that emerged from the family trees and DNA was Fred Allen Lineman.
02:27He was 25 years old at the time of the crime, and his record included several offenses, such as vehicle
02:33theft.
02:33Unfortunately, the case never reached a legal resolution because Fred Lineman was no longer alive,
02:39when it was discovered that he was the perpetrator of the attack on Phyllis.
02:43His story had ended in Detroit in 1985, 13 years after the murder of Phyllis.
02:49He had been beaten to death, and his body set on fire, and two men were charged with that crime.
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