'She did not abandon her children,' Daughter learns mother is unidentified Las Vegas murder victim 30 years later

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A daughter, who thought her mother abandoned her more than three decades ago, was shocked when Las Vegas police called, saying her mother was a once-unidentified homicide victim found buried in the desert.

Linda Sue Anderson, who was about 38 at the time of her death, was known only as “Jane Tropicana Doe” for 30 years. Anderson, a mother of three children, who lived in Las Vegas and Henderson and had ties to Bakersfield, California, also used the last name Andrews.

In April 1993, scientists working in a then-desert area near Tropicana Avenue and Durango Drive in the southwest valley discovered the grave, which was covered with a quilt and rocks, while canvassing the area for tortoises, police said.

Homicide detectives then found a woman’s skeletal remains inside, LVMPD Cold Case Investigator Terri Miller said. In 1993, the Clark County coroner determined the woman, now identified as Anderson, likely died in mid-to-late 1991 from multiple gunshot wounds, Miller said.

*Linda Sue Anderson, who was about 38 at the time of her death, was known only as “Jane Tropicana Doe” for 30 years. (Mical Collition/KLAS)*

Anderson was never reported missing. Anderson’s children said their mother suffered from mental illness, and they believed she walked out on them.

“So, this whole time we’re thinking that she left us, and she didn’t love us,” Mical Collition, one of Anderson’s daughters, told investigators with NewsNation local affiliate KLAS. This is a huge — a huge thing in our lives.”

Collition believed her mother walked out and started a new life. While Anderson was living with her husband in Henderson, Collition and her siblings were living in northern Nevada with their father.

“We called each other all the time on the phone,” Collition said.

But one day in 1991, Collition’s stepfather told her and her siblings that their mother decided to leave and start a new life.

“He came home. Her stuff was gone,” Collition said about that conversation. “She left a note that she was starting a new life. She doesn’t want anyone to go find her.”

Collition never saw the note, she said. A copy of divorce records filed in 1992 reveals Collition’s stepfather believed he last saw Anderson in October 1991.

Last year, Texas-based Othram Labs, which works with Metro to identify victims in similar cold case homicides, informed police about the match, Miller said. In addition to Othram, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) and the FBI aided in the identification. Anderson’s brother’s DNA matched with the then-unidentified homicide victim.

In April 1993, scientists working in a then-desert area near Tropicana Avenue and Durango Drive in the southwest valley discovered the grave, which was covered with a quilt and rocks, while canvassing the area for tortoises, police said. (LVMPD/KLAS)

“31 years later, we have her identified, we now know what happened to her as far as where she went,” Miller told the 8 News Now Investigators last month. “She did not abandon her children.”

Collition said she was told her mother was living a double life and having an affair.

“Everyone was just shocked,” she said. “They were like, ‘I don’t understand why she would leave her children. Linda wouldn’t do that.’ And then we’re just like, ‘Well she did, she left us.’”

Collition said she hoped one day her mother would contact her. She never expected that call from Metro police.

“To know that she had been murdered, and we’re wondering if she suffered? And we’re wondering what she’s thinking. And who did this to her?” Collition said. “We do want to find answers.”

In December, with the help of Othram, Metro identified Gwenn Marie Story, 19, of Colerain Township, Ohio, the 8 News Now Investigators first reported. Story was murdered near the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue on Aug. 14, 1979, police said. A man discovered her remains on the site of the demolished El Rancho hotel, though the nearby intersection gave her the moniker “Sahara Sue Doe.”

Both cases remained unsolved as of Thursday with the hopes their identification would lead to more information about who killed them.

Tips can be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers by calling 702-385-5555 or at crimestoppersofnv.com/report-a-crime. Information can also be sent via text by sending “CRIMENV” and then your message to “CRIMES” (274637). Crime Stoppers offers a reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

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