The Coach Next Door: Linda Slaten

The case

Our summary of the public record. The small numbers show where each fact comes from.

Linda Slaten, a 31-year-old single mother, was found killed in her Lakeland apartment on September 4, 1981, while her two young sons were asleep at home. Police said an intruder had sexually assaulted and killed her. Evidence was collected and a DNA profile was eventually developed, but the case went unsolved for almost four decades.

In November 2018, FDLE approached Lakeland detectives about submitting the case's DNA for genetic genealogy work, and the profile went to Parabon NanoLabs. In June 2019, investigators said, the results pointed to Joseph Clinton Mills, who had coached one of Slaten's sons in youth football and had met her the evening before she died. Detectives collected items from Mills' trash, and in August 2019 the DNA on them was found to be consistent with the crime-scene profile.

Mills was arrested on December 18, 2019. On February 9, 2022, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and sexual battery, avoiding a possible death sentence, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Slaten's grown sons confronted him in court.