Where is Joseph Clinton Mills Now? We discuss the murder of Linda Slaten following the release of the 2023 Hulu true crime series Cold Case Files: DNA Speaks. This article contains disturbing details.
The issue with true crime is the abundance of content available. As more and more streaming platforms arrive looking for products, it is easy to understand why they might look for overflowing wells that they can take from.
True crime, unfortunately, is the television gift that keeps on giving. The rise in popularity comes from the ease of access to the genre, and it does not look like it will slow down. A vast audience out there loves the true crime category on their home screen.
The shows, if well produced, offer insight into the minds of disturbed individuals and often show the horrific effect of crime on those left behind.
Perhaps you are like me, intrigued by certain stories but often wary of the content, worried by the mark it might leave after, or maybe you watch, hoping to see justice being served to those who commit such heinous crimes.
Whatever the reason, expect more of this type of content in the wake of a writers and actors strike, which will no doubt reduce the number of scripted productions available for platforms to buy.
Hulu’s ten-part series covers cold cases that have been reignited by advancements in the field of DNA investigation and features cases, often decades old, that finally see some closure.
This article explains one such case as we answer the question: Where is Joseph Clinton Mills Now? The man behind the murder of Linda Slaten.
Who is Joseph Clinton Mills, and what did he do?
Joseph Mills was a football coach who became a person of interest in the murder of Linda Slaten. One of Linda’s sons was a player under the supervision of Mills, and on the night of her murder in September 1981, Mills had dropped the son off at his mother’s home after training, as he had often done before.
Linda Slaten would be attacked in her home later that night.
At the time of the sexual assault and murder of Linda, Mills was twenty years old.
Mills would claim he had dropped the young footballer off, and Linda had come out from her home and thanked him for dropping her son off, and he would leave immediately after that interaction.
How was Linda Slaten killed?
Linda Slaten was attacked and beaten by her attacker, who had climbed into the house through a bedroom window.
Linda was brutally sexually assaulted and murdered. Police would find a wire coat hanger around her neck that had been used to strangle her to death.
Where is Joseph Clinton Mills Now?
In February of 2022, after the investigation would lead to Joseph Clinton Mills, the killer was arrested and would admit to killing Linda and sexually assaulting her.
His plea meant he would avoid the death penalty but would receive life imprisonment for the crime.
Sources state that he is incarcerated in Union County, Florida’s Reception and Medical Centre.
How did DNA evidence convict Joseph Clinton Mills?
As there was no concrete evidence, police at the time of the murder had little to go on, and the case would go cold. However, decades later, investigators would re-open the case, sending evidence they gathered at the time to an online ancestry database.
This would link Mills through genetic genealogy.
A fresh sample of Mills’ DNA would be surreptitiously acquired from the killer’s garbage, and it would match the DNA originally found in Linda’s r*pe kit at the time of the original incident.
Fingerprints from the scene would also match Mills’, and the police finally had their killer in their grip.
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