Darlene Russell Hall: 1981, Connersville, IN

  

   Darlene Russell Hall was born October 5th 1959 to Evelyn Angel Russell and David R. Russell in Estill, Kentucky. It was a busy household eventually holding 12 children. 

  In 1981 the family lived in Connersville, Indiana at 117 South Eastern Avenue in a modest home. Connersville is in southeast Indiana. You may have heard of historic Metamora Indiana. That charmingly preserved town is just a few minutes south of Connersville. Fans of the movie “Hoosiers” will know that Milan, the real town thdd Wed movie is based on, is also in that southeast corner of Indiana. She attended Connersville, Indiana. 

  She married Jerry William Hall in 1977 when she was 18.  The marriage did not last and he had moved away but they had not yet officially divorced.  

  In 1981, Darlene was 21. She was trying to find herself and figure life out, it seems. She would stay with her mother sometimes at 117 S. Eastern Avenue Connersville and stay with friends. Sometimes she went to Richmond, Indiana. She visited family in Kentucky sometimes too. 

  Darlene was like a lot of young people. She lived in a small town and there are usually not enough jobs to go 

around. That’s why people tend to move away. They move away if they can, anyway. If you started off poor; your chances of getting out of poverty are slim. 

  Darlene was a brunette. She was petite; about 5’2” and 110 pounds. She was unemployed in September 1981. Many people were. Unemployment was around 7-8 percent. Unemployment would continue to rise during the Reagan Administration and peak at 11 percent in December 1982. 

  On Sunday September 20th 1981, Darlene was out with friends and acquaintances at the Kozy Korner Tavern in Connersville. She and others had been drinking heavily.  Many 21 year olds do that. I certainly did. She was last seen there around 4:30 a.m. 

   She returned home and told her mother that she planned to hitchhike to Kentucky to visit family. She didn’t make it to Kentucky. 

   Two days later on September 22nd 1981, a local man, Jerry Adkins, noticed a pair of jeans strewn across a fence on the Harry Caldwell property. This was just over the Fayette County line and in Wayne County.  This seems to be a little northwest of Connersville. The newspaper articles state the location as “the east side of Wayne County Rd. 1000 W. and a half mile North of Wayne County Rd. 800 s”.  Her death certificate simply states the location as “county road between Wayne-Fayette Cos”. It is also said to be a road called “Fayette County Line Road”.  

  The area where her body was found is still very rural. It is a patchwork of fields and farms are few and far between. There are a lot of creeks and patches of woods here and there too. In one article, the spot that her body was found was described as wooded.

  Jerry Adkins was curious enough to stop and take a look around on September 22, 1981. He found Darlene’s body just over the fence. She had been badly beaten and her throat had been cut. State Police Detective Gerald Sons felt that she had been killed there at the roadside and then had been thrown over the fence. 

  She was described as partially clothed. She was naked from the waist down. Investigators didn’t believe she had been raped. It seems like that might have been the intention. Perhaps she refused or fought back and the man then killed her in anger. 

   This man would have likely gotten a lot of her blood on his clothes and shoes when he cut her throat.  Darlene also suffered several blows to the head. This man might have had bruises or cut knuckles. 

   No one had reported her missing, of course.  No one thought she was missing. Her mother thought she had gone to Kentucky. Her friends knew she wasn’t likely to stay in one place for too long. It had only been two days. They wouldn’t have become concerned yet. 

  Who did this? Was the perpetrator someone at the bar that night?  Was this a stranger who picked her up hitchhiking? 

  According to one tip, Darlene claimed to be 2 months pregnant. According to the person who submitted the tip Darlene was unsure who the father was. Was there a man who didn’t want to be a father? Was there a man who was jealous because Darlene had other sexual partners. 

  Investigators interviewed dozens of friends and acquaintances at the time. They pursued leads and sought tips. Decades have passed with no answers for Darlene’s family.  Her parents have passed away without seeing Justice for their daughter’s murder. 

  Darlene would have turned 66 in 2024.  She did not get to grow up and grow old. She missed so much of life. She deserves to be here. 

  Someone out there knows. Maybe they saw someone come home with blood on their clothes and shoes. Maybe someone overheard something. Maybe they felt loyal to that person in the past.  Maybe their loyalty has changed over the years. 

   Rest in Peace Darlene. 

  If you have information about the murder of Darlene Russell Hall please call the Indiana State Police at (765)778-2121.