The Monroe murders of Angie Hill, Kathy Whorton and Sherry Alford
Monroe, Ouachita County, Louisiana · 1980–1982
Three young women were shot after their cars were left on Monroe roads in 1980, 1981 and 1982, and in August 2025 two agencies exhumed all three to look again with modern forensics.
Overview
Between August 1980 and February 1982, three young women were found shot to death on roads in and around Monroe, Louisiana, in what KTVE described as three similar killings in about eighteen months. Angie Hill, 27, was found on August 1, 1980, near an industrial park; her car had been left running in a shopping plaza. Kathy Whorton, 19, a student at what was then Northeast Louisiana University, disappeared on April 4, 1981, and her car was found abandoned in the middle of a street near campus with the engine running. Sherry Alford, 16, was shot on February 1, 1982, on Highway 139 in Swartz, about half a mile from home. Investigators have speculated that the killings may be linked, though no official finding says so, and no one has been charged. In August 2025 the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office exhumed Whorton and Alford, and the Monroe Police Department exhumed Hill, for secondary autopsies and potential DNA evidence, citing advances in forensic technology. The most recent report found said the results had not yet been released.
Where it stands
No one has been charged in any of the three killings. Angie Hill's case belongs to the Monroe Police Department. The cases of Kathy Whorton and Sherry Alford belong to the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office. Years ago the victims' sisters asked the two agencies to work together; one told KTVE the sheriff's office had some of the evidence and the city police had some of it. The development that makes the case feel near is recent and concrete. On August 27, 2025, the sheriff's office announced that it had exhumed Whorton and Alford and sent them to a forensic pathologist in Shreveport for secondary autopsies, saying the decision was prompted by recent advancements in forensic technology. The Monroe Police Department exhumed an unnamed woman who died in 1980 and, the next day, said it had sent Hill's body to be exhumed for potential DNA evidence, with anything collected going to the North Louisiana Crime Lab. KTVE later reported that all three women had been exhumed and that the results had not been released. Earlier signs were quieter. In 2021 Monroe police Sergeant Mike Fendall, a former detective on the Hill case, told KTVE that evidence from the 1980 investigation suggested her death was not necessarily a robbery and that there was a good chance she knew those responsible. In an older report, Whorton's sister told KTVE that DNA evidence found on Whorton's body links an imprisoned man to the crime and that he had never been charged. That report did not say whether authorities had confirmed it, and no official source in this file does. Several false confessions over the years, according to the sisters, pulled attention away from other leads. Why it is still open: the evidence is more than forty years old, the three cases sit with two agencies, and the link between them is a theory, not a finding. KTVE reported only that investigators have speculated the murders may be linked. Anyone with information can call the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office at 318-329-1200, the Monroe Police Department at 318-329-2600, or Crime Stoppers at 318-388-2274.
Persons of interest
The theories below are reported strictly as attributed to the cited sources. Naming a person here is not an accusation. Individuals are named only where they are deceased, were formally charged, were officially named by authorities, or have been publicly cleared.
- A man who was in prison at the time of a KTVE report (name withheld)Not publicly named
Kathy Whorton's sister told KTVE that DNA evidence found on her sister's body links this man to the crime, and that he has never been charged. The report did not say whether law enforcement has confirmed the claim, and no authority has publicly named him as a suspect in any of the three killings.[11]
- People who made false confessionsNot publicly named
The victims' sisters told KTVE that several false confessions were made over the years and that those who made them were later cleared. One sister said the confessions took attention away from other leads.[11]
Sources
- Three cold murder cases reopened, bodies exhumed in Ouachita Parish (August 27, 2025)
“OPSO says due to better forensics, the bodies of 19-year-old Kathy Whorton and 16-year-old Sherry Alford have been exhumed.”
- Third victim exhumed and sent for analysis as Monroe cold case investigation widens (updated August 28, 2025)
“At this time, all three victims are being exhumed, and authorities are awaiting the results of forensic examinations.”
- Are the murders of 3 women in Monroe over 40 years ago connected?
“In August of 1980, Angie was found murdered on the southside of Monroe, near an industrial park, close to Richwood Road #2.”
- CONTINUED: Are the murders of 3 women in Monroe over 40 years ago connected?
“She was a 19-year-old student at NLU (currently known as ULM) and a Bible study teacher to little children at her church.”
- Monroe's Kathy Whorton cold case hits 45-year mark
“Whorton disappeared on April 4, 1981, while traveling to a friend’s house near the college campus.”
- 42-year-old murder mystery of Monroe woman is 1 of 3 to get another look from detectives
“Sherry had been shot and left for dead and the worst part her body was found maybe a half mile from her home on Hwy 139.”
- 43 years later: The unsolved murder of Sherry Lynn Alford
“According to investigators, the shattered glass discovered on the scene was consistent with the theory that Sherry was first shot before she stopped her car; one of those bullets striking the watch on her wrist.”
- 44 years later: The unsolved murder of Kathy Whorton
“A $2,000 cash reward is available to anyone who can help close these cases.”
- Decades of Silence: Monroe still haunted by 45-Year-old murder mystery
“On August 1, 1980, Angie was found murdered on Monroe’s south side, her body discovered near an industrial park off Richwood Road Number Two.”
- 3 women, 3 murders, 1 haunting mystery: Angie Hill's story
“As of today, the bodies of all three women have been exhumed and transported to a forensic pathologist for further analysis. The results of those examinations have not yet been released.”
- Three Women Working Together to Solve Their Sisters' Cold Cases
“She says DNA evidence found on her sister, Kathy Whorton’s body links a man currently in prison”
- Monroe cold case: Sister searches for answers
“We are closer now than when it first happened. Again, anyone who has any information on it, it is very helpful, any little bit.”
- Sherry Alford
“Sherry Alford, 16, was shot on February 1, 1982 on Highway 139 in Swartz, LA.”