Daily Stormer The Most Censored Publication in History
Courier Post
November 15, 2014
A small apartment off the White Horse Pike is home to one of Stratford’s biggest mysteries, but Police Chief Ronald Morello aims to change that.
He has reopened the department’s only unsolved homicide, the 1973 murder of 20-year-old Linda Lepordo.
Lepordo was strangled at the Yorkshire Plaza Apartments, now known as the Woodmere Apartments. The petite Massachusetts native was found lying face up next to her bed in a sheer pink nightgown pulled up to her waist.
The killer also etched a misspelled racial slur onto her leg.
Authorities never made an arrest or identified a suspect, and the case went cold. But with help from the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, police recently have uncovered new evidence and are seeking the public’s help, Morello said.
“We believe we have science on our side, but not time,” the chief added.
Authorities have yet to identify any suspects, but noted they have multiple persons of interest. Police even took a DNA sample from a local man, according to Morello, but the chief would not disclose his name due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.
Lepordo’s former boyfriend, Melvin “Doc” Pinkston, who is black, confirmed at his Magnolia home Thursday he has been targeted by police.
“It’s unfair,” Pinkston said.
The 64-year-old declined to comment further, saying he needed to talk with his attorney.
“Right now I need someone in my corner.”
It was Oct. 22, 1973, and Lepordo was a no-show at her job as a secretary with Murphy Trane Air Conditioning in Maple Shade.
That prompted her boss to call Stratford police.
“At about 10:50 in the morning, the Stratford Police Department responded to her home for a well-being check,” Morello recounted.
“After entering the apartment, they found Miss Lepordo dead within her bedroom.”
Though the apartment was sparsely furnished, John Hunsinger, a homicide detective with the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, indicated there were signs of a struggle in the bedroom.
According to newspaper clippings from the time, police assumed Lepordo knew her killer and had let him in. There were bruises to her face and neck.
Authorities at the time also speculated she was killed the night before. Neighbors reportedly heard screams from her apartment unit on Oct. 21, according to previous news accounts.
“There was some talk that individuals did hear commotion that night in the apartment,” Hunsinger noted. “I know when detectives went to do the well-being check, the TV was still on in the apartment.”
Morello said Lepordo’s body was exhumed later in 1973 and additional evidence was gathered, but a suspect was never identified.
“The investigation continued for approximately two years, at which time the case went cold,” he added.
