The murder of Peggy Lynn Johnson
Raymond, Racine County, Wisconsin · 1999
Overview
Peggy Lynn Johnson was 18, cognitively impaired and alone when her mother died of AIDS in November 1994. She went to a medical clinic in McHenry, Illinois for help, and a registered nurse there, Linda La Roche, took her home to work as a nanny and housekeeper for her family. For the next five years, according to La Roche's own children and former husband, Peggy was slapped and beaten, made to sleep in a crawl space under the house and once stabbed at with a pitchfork. On July 21, 1999 a man walking his dog found her body at the edge of a cornfield in the Town of Raymond, Wisconsin, about forty miles from McHenry. An autopsy found she had died of sepsis pneumonia from infected injuries inflicted through chronic abuse. Nobody had reported her missing. Racine County buried her as Jane Doe, exhumed her in 2013 for new testing and reburied her in 2015, still without a name. In 2019 a concerned citizen told the sheriff's office that a woman in Cape Coral, Florida was telling people she had killed a woman when she lived in Illinois. Investigators interviewed one of La Roche's children, learned that a Peggy Lynn Johnson had lived with the family, and confirmed the identity with familial DNA. La Roche was arrested on November 5, 2019, convicted of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse on March 16, 2022, and sentenced to life without parole. Peggy was reburied beside her mother in Belvidere, Illinois on March 4, 2020, her forty-fourth birthday.
How it was solved
For twenty years the Racine County Sheriff's Office had a body and no name. Investigators believed the young woman found on July 21, 1999 had been left in the field within a day of being discovered. They put her age between 18 and 30, circulated an artist's sketch and then, in December 2012, an updated facial reconstruction by an artist from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They exhumed her on October 16, 2013 in the hope that newer technology could identify her, and reinterred her on July 21, 2015, sixteen years to the day after she was found. None of it produced a name, because the woman had never been reported missing. The break came from a person, not a database. In 2019 the sheriff's office received a tip from a concerned citizen that a woman living in Cape Coral, Florida, Linda La Roche, was telling people she had killed a woman back when she lived in Illinois. Reports differ on when the tip arrived: FOX6 put it in July, while the Associated Press and other outlets reporting the criminal complaint put it in September. In October 2019 investigators interviewed one of La Roche's adult children, who said that in 1999 the family had a woman named Peggy Lynn Johnson living with them as a nanny and housekeeper, and described years of abuse. In November La Roche's former husband told investigators he had come home from work to find Peggy lying lifeless on the floor, that La Roche said Peggy had overdosed and would take her away so the family would not be involved, and that she sent him out with the children for ice cream and returned about two and a half hours later without her. With a name to work from, investigators located Peggy's relatives and confirmed the identification through familial DNA testing. Interviewed on November 5 and 6, 2019, La Roche admitted taking Peggy in and abusing her between 1994 and 1999. She first said she had handed Peggy to her grandmother near Belvidere; confronted with the grandmother's statement that she had never met La Roche, she said she had driven Peggy to Wisconsin and left her, uninjured, beside a rural road. Prosecutors later said her shifting accounts, together with a confession she made to a fellow inmate in a Florida jail, sealed the case. A jury convicted her on March 16, 2022.
Sources
- ID of 1999 homicide victim revealed: 'She suffered long-term and horrific abuse' (November 8, 2019)
“According to the criminal complaint, in Oct. 2019 investigators interviewed one of Laroche's children upon receiving this tip. During the interview, they learned that in 1999 the Laroche family had a woman named Peggy Lynn Johnson living with them.”
- Complaint: 'Jane Doe' beaten, burned, discarded in Wisconsin (November 8, 2019)
“In September, authorities received a tip that a woman living in Florida, La Roche, was telling people she had killed a woman when she lived in Illinois.”
- Illinois nurse took in disabled teen, then tortured and killed her, police say (November 12, 2019)
“It was determined that the cause of death was homicide by sepsis pneumonia as a result of infection from injuries sustained from abuse. No drugs were found in Johnson's system.”
- Nurse charged in 1999 cold case beating death of cognitively impaired McHenry woman found in Wisconsin field (November 8, 2019)
“Johnson lived with La Roche for the last five years of her life, and was never reported as a missing person, he said.”
- Authorities in southeastern Wisconsin say they now know the identity of a woman found fatally beaten near a cornfield in 1999 (November 8, 2019)
“The victim's body was exhumed in 2013 with the hope of using advancing technology to identify her. She was reinterred in 2015, 16 years to the day that her body was discovered.”
- Who was Peggy Lynn Johnson, McHenry County woman killed in 1999? (November 14, 2019)
“Johnson’s mother, Diane Marie Schroeder, formerly Diane Colligan, died of AIDS on Nov. 26, 1994, records show.”
- Read the criminal complaint for woman accused of killing "Jane Doe" Peggy Johnson (November 2019; photo captions)
“People attending a burial ceremony for a Jane Doe release balloons during the ceremony Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1999 at Holy Family Cemetery in Caledonia. The body of the young woman was found in a cornfield July 21, 1999 in the town of Raymond.”
- Racine Co. releases new image of 1999 'Jane Doe' (December 12, 2012)
“The Racine County Sheriff's Office has released a new facial reconstruction photo of an unidentified woman whose body was found in a Raymond cornfield 13 years ago.”
- 20 years later, Peggy Lynn Johnson has a proper headstone (December 2019)
“A ceremony was held for Peggy Lynn Johnson at Holy Family Catholic Cemetery in Caledonia on Wednesday, Dec. 18.”
- $500K bond for Linda La Roche, accused of abusing, killing woman known as Jane Doe for 2 decades (December 30, 2019)
“Cash bond was set at $500,000 for La Roche, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 9.”
- Woman convicted in 1999 homicide sentenced to life in prison (May 23, 2022)
“La Roche's former husband also confirmed she was extremely abusive to Johnson, the complaint said.”
- Woman found guilty in 1999 killing of Peggy Lynn Johnson, hiding her corpse (March 17, 2022)
“A jury on Wednesday, March 16, unanimously found Linda LaRoche guilty of first-degree intentional homicide of Peggy Lynn Johnson-Schroeder and hiding her corpse, WDJT reported.”
- Former McHenry County woman sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 1999 killing (May 23, 2022)
“Donohoo said it was La Roche’s repeated, contradicting lies during many police interviews along with a confession she made to a fellow inmate in a Florida jail where she was being held for driving under the influence of alcohol, that sealed the state’s case.”
- Racine County cold case; Linda La Roche sentenced to life in prison (May 23, 2022)
“A Racine County judge sentenced Linda La Roche on Monday, May 23 to life in prison without any chance for parole. La Roche was found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse in the 1999 death of Peggy Lynn Johnson-Schroeder.”
- Racine County cold case; Linda La Roche appeals conviction (February 13, 2024)
“Linda La Roche was defiant at her sentencing in May 2022. The now 68-year-old is in the process of appealing her conviction.”