On the night of November 23, 1983 (Thanksgiving Evening) Linda J. Crites was speaking to her oldest son on the phone. She was making plans to visit with him and his wife at their home on the following day at approximately 9:00 a.m. Linda Crites never made it to the Thanksgiving Dinner and has never been seen or heard from since. She was in the process of getting a divorce from her husband at the time of her disappearance. Although the couple was getting a divorce, they still lived in the same house. The husband told investigators at the time that around midnight he went into her bedroom to talk about their impending divorce. They argued, he told investigators, then he left and she closed the bedroom door. It was still closed the next morning when he said he left to go to his parents' home in Sedgewickville. Her family eventually came looking for her Thanksgiving day. Because of family discord at the time, it was a week before anyone actually reported her missing.

In 2023, her husband Lou died aged 76 years old. In his Obituary while it mentions him marrying Linda Long (Crites), it makes no mention of her surviving him/ predeceasing him. Whatever he knew about Lindas fate, he took it to his grave. Foul play is suspected in the case.