By LARRY AULT
The Sentinel-Record  1-15-1977

Mrs. Irene Browning, mother of Linda Edwards, a Garland County Sheriff’s Deputy who has been missing for the past five months, said Friday in an interview that despite all the conversation regarding the legalities of the investigation of her daughters’ disappearance, that her daughter continues to be missing.

“I’d like to say that even though it has been said that a crime has not been committed, that there is a crime committed because my daughter has not been found,” she said.

Mrs. Browning stated that her daughter “disappeared off the face of the earth with just the clothes she had on. Her bank account has never been touched. No money has been taken from her bank account since she disappeared. I have her last paycheck which was given to me for her. No one would have left without one penny or without anything else.”

Mrs. Browning said that she has written to all five members of the Hot Springs Civil Service Commission asking for their help in the matter, but has received no answer from any of the members.

Mrs. Browning said that her daughter has been missing five months and “I have had no help from the city officials whatsoever. Maybe the city doesn’t care about her, (Linda Edwards), but the sheriff’s office and the state police do care. Her family will not let it be forgotten. ”

Mrs. Browning was responding to an article in The Sentinel Record published Friday which recounted some of the history of the Linda Edwards case; and noted that even though a Hot Springs City Police Officer has been named as a suspect in the case, that no crime can be proven.

The article quoted city officials as stating that the officers constitutional rights are at stake and that according to a legal opinion of the City Attorney, that the officer cannot be dismissed, at least until it can be established that a crime occurred and the officer is implicated.

Hot Springs Mayor Tom Ellsworth said that he and other “responsible” individuals, including the representatives of the Civil Service Commission, had met Friday to redefine their legal stand on the matter.

Noting that the investigation was still open, Mayor Ellsworth said that the “conversation” regarding the legal stand of the city had reestablished that the city had no legal recourse against the officer at this time.

Mayor Ellsworth said that no crime can be
proven and that it cannot be established that any employee of the city was responsible for the disappearance of Linda Edwards.