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She Never Made It Back: Will Hitchhiker Murder Ever Be Solved?
Darlene Russell left to see friends in Kentucky but never made it out of Indiana. More than 40 years later, no one has ever been charged in connection with her death.
It was 1981, and hitchhiking was still a commonplace if risky way to get around in the United States. So when 21-year-old Darlene Russell from Indiana decided to go and visit some friends one state over, she did not hesitate to take to the road using her thumb.
However, she could surely not have imagined that she would barely make it ten miles from home before being brutally murdered — or that four decades on, her killer would still be walking free.
With the improvement in forensic technology, can Darlene’s case ever be solved so she can rest in peace?
Darlene’s last movements
Darlene was originally from Kentucky but had moved with her large family to Connersville in Indiana some years before. Although she had married a man named Jerry Hall, the two were estranged and he had moved away from the area, leaving Darlene back in the family home with her mother.
