If convicted, Laroche, 64, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.Patch is a space for neighborhood news. News you use every day! In a press conference Friday, police identified the Jane Doe as Peggy Lynn Johnson, of McHenry. "After her mother died, Peggy, who was approximately 18 years old, cognitively impaired and on her own, went searching for help at a medical clinic in McHenry, Illinois," Schmaling said. A woman stands accused of her killing. Daily, weekend and Sunday packages.Stay connected to us wherever you are! She stated she didn't know what to do and that she thought about calling an ambulance but later decided against it.According to the criminal complaint, Laroche said Johnson's eyes were fluttering, but she eventually woke up. There, she suffered long-term and horrific abuse at the hand of Laroche. Authorities said the woman suffered from significant injuries, and had been brutalized by many means over a long period of time. Laroche has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse.
According to a criminal complaint, La Roche was charged Thursday with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse in the killing of Peggy Lynn Johnson, 23, of McHenry. A former McHenry nurse has been charged in the beating death of a 23-year-old cognitively impaired woman whose battered body was discovered at the edge of a cornfield in southeastern Wisconsin in July 1999, police said Friday.Linda S. La Roche, 64, whom court records show now lives in Cape Coral, Florida, was arrested Tuesday in Cape Coral, Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling "All of us here who have investigated the deaths of individuals during the course of our careers have seen many troubling things," Schmaling said. La Roche's ex-husband confirmed the abuse and said the last time he saw Johnson, she was lifeless on the ground. Laroche is currently being held in the Lee County, Florida jail and is awaiting extradition to Wisconsin to face charges.According to investigators, on July 21, 1999, a woman walking along 92nd Street between 6 Mile Road and 7 Mile Road in the Town of Raymond in rural Racine County discovered a young woman's body lying in a corn field several feet from the road. Johnson has been buried as "Jane Doe" at the Holy Family Cemetery in Caledonia since 1999. Johnson, then about 18 years old, went there seeking help after her mother died, Schmaling said.Johnson subsequently moved in to La Roche's home in McHenry, and the nurse "barbarically" brutalized her over a long period of time, Schmaling said.Johnson lived in McHenry with La Roche for the last five years of her life and never was reported as a missing person, he said.Schmaling did not provide details about Johnson's cognitive impairment, nor explain if La Roche still was employed as a nurse.The criminal complaint says La Roche's children remembered their mother was abusive to Johnson.
She was reinterred in 2015, 16 years to the day after her body was discovered.It was only a few weeks ago that investigators found information that identified Johnson as the victim and led them to La Roche, Schmaling said.
RACINE COUNTY, WI — After 20 years, authorities in Racine County say they've learned the identity of a 23-year-old woman who was found dead along the side of a road in rural Racine County, and have also tracked down her killer. Authorities said Johnson admitted to taking Johnson into her home in McHenry around 1994.
Laroche was taken into custody by members of the Racine County Sheriff's investigative team and is awaiting extradition to Wisconsin to face charges. Peggy Lynn Johnson, a McHenry, Illinois, native, was identified as the victim of a 1999 cold case murder in Racine County, Wisconsin. One recalled her stabbing at Johnson's head with a pitchfork. According to a criminal complaint, La Roche was charged Thursday with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse in the killing of Peggy Lynn Johnson…