Northbrook police digging in yard for remains of Linda Seymour; woman missing for 38 years

Linda Seymour was last seen on Dec. 21, 1982.

By Mitch Dudek

A tent was erected in the yard of a Northbrook home where authorities are searching for remains of Linda Seymour. — A tent was erected in the yard of a Northbrook home where authorities are searching for remains of Linda Seymour, who went missing in 1982.

As investigators dug deeper into the backyard of a Northbrook home Wednesday in search of the remains of a woman who went missing nearly four decades ago, the police chief made it clear that the excavation could take several days.

“We began digging Tuesday, and it’s a slow and methodical process,” Northbrook Police Chief Christopher Kennedy said Wednesday, noting less than a foot of earth had been removed so far.

“We’ll go down as deep as we need, maybe as many as 5 to 7 feet,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday morning.

A wooden shed in the yard was moved, and investigators are digging under the spot where it had been, Kennedy said.

Linda Seymour lived in the home before she went missing in 1982. Her son James Seymour Jr. lives in the home now.

Reached Wednesday, he declined to comment on the search for his mother.

Kennedy said interviews conducted by Northbrook police detectives led investigators to dig up a section of the yard at the home in the 1400 block of Orchard Lane.

Kennedy declined to elaborate on those interviews or the circumstances surrounding Seymour’s disappearance.

A tent was set up over the dig site, and dogs were used by investigators to search the area several weeks ago, Kennedy said.

The Doe Network, a nonprofit that maintains a database of missing persons, said Seymour was last seen about 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 21, 1982, in Northbrook.

The home is less than a block from Meadowhill Park, which is well known for housing a number of recreational facilities, including a velodrome.

Neighbors, none of whom wanted to be identified, said Linda’s husband, James Seymour Sr., lived at the home until he died in 2009. The couple had two sons together. James Seymour Sr. later remarried and had more children.

Linda Seymour’s disappearance was known among neighbors, most of whom moved in well after she went missing in 1982. What was behind her disappearance was a mystery to them, but they hadn’t assumed foul play.

The North Regional Major Crimes Task Force, a group that combines resources from area police departments, was assisting with the investigation, Kennedy said.