The buried remains of Sobek, 27, were discovered in November 1995 in the twisting trails and plunging canyons of the Angeles National Forest, 25 miles north of Los Angeles.
Charles Rathbun, then 38, was the one who directed investigators to Sobek’s shallow grave, having claimed that he had accidentally struck and killed her with a car during a photo shoot for an automobile magazine.
A little more than a year after Sobek went missing, justice was served with a first-degree murder conviction for Rathbun — after his account of her brutal killing changed yet again and as details emerged of her final moments alive.
The case, with Sobek, “the quintessential California girl and a blonde bombshell,” at its center, is featured on Monday night’s episode ofPeople Magazine Investigates: Crimes of Fashion, airing on Investigation Discovery and exclusively previewed above.
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A modeling industry source who spoke to PEOPLE for a 1995 cover story agreed, saying then, “I was amazed at what a hard worker she was.”
But Sobek’s sinister vanishing, after she said she was heading out for a daytime photo shoot, cut all of her opportunities short.
In the days between her disappearance and confirmation of her death, her family was left in limbo, hoping for the best but grappling with the worst.
As one friend recalled to PEOPLE in ’95: “Linda would never let her mother worry, no matter where she is. [Her mom] Elaine knew something was wrong.”
People Magazine Investigates: Crimes of Fashionairs Monday (9 p.m. ET) on Investigation Discovery.
source: people.com
