Secrets Of Palm Beach

A Socialite's Secret Love Life Leads To Murder

(CBS)  Just after midnight on Feb. 7, 2003, Lt. Tim McCabe and Chief Richard Loundsbury responded to a fire alarm at Linda's house. But even before the firemen entered the home, something did not seem right: the garage door was open and no car inside.

Once inside, the firefighters' instincts were confirmed when they found Linda's body near the front door. "I could tell something is around her neck," McCabe recalls. "What struck me odd was the way her body was laid out, just perfectly flat on her back, arms by her side with a blue cloth over her face."

Investigators believed the killer had arrived at the house some time before 10:30 p.m. that night.

Police learned Linda had been out that night for dinner and drinks with a friend in Palm Beach. "We went into the case initially believing that she knew the person based on the way she was dressed. She was in her pajamas," Det. Keith explains.

While there were no signs of forced entry, Keith did find some strange clues. "There's a broken plate of pancakes on the table. Linda had just eaten before she came home. Who are those for?" he wonders. "I mean, who's that hungry? Is it her who just ate or is it the guy waiting for her to come home?"

At some point, things turned ugly. The killer strangled Linda with a piece of twine, and placed a piece of cloth over her face. The killer also stole jewelry, paintings and attempted to set the house on fire.

"Her personal belongings appeared to have been put on a bed and lit on fire. Another small fire was set in the second bedroom in the house as well," Det. Kenneth Buss explains.

Buss thinks the fire was set up to cover up the murder. "It appeared that it was started by using rubbing alcohol, isopropyl alcohol that was also found in the house. Several bottles were found in the house. One of those bottles was even found in the living room chair next to where the victim's body was found."

Why is rubbing alcohol significant?

"It can also be used to destroy the evidence that we were so much looking for," Buss explains. "Alcohol if you think about it, doctors, medical examiners, they use alcohol to clean instruments during the performance of their duties and it destroys the DNA. It can destroy fingerprints, anything left behind."

Keith says investigators recovered no evidence -- not even a fingerprint -- that was valuable. The killer, investigators say, left absolutely no trace of himself before making off with Linda's car.

In the early morning hours, deputies tried to locate Linda's next-of-kin. That's when her nephew, who lived just minutes away, first appeared on investigators' radar screen.

"The deputies noted that he did smell of alcohol when he answered the door. And as I understand it, he basically was shocked that she was dead, but didn't necessarily inquire as to the means of her death or how she died. But was, you know, interested in whether jewelry was taken. Where her cat was, things along those lines," Buss recalls.

Asked if it's true that he inquired about his aunt's jewelry before asking how she was killed, Jamrock tells Roberts, "I don't remember. I could have. I know what she kept in her house."

"But you asked about the jewelry several times. That seemed to be a priority for you," Roberts remarks.

"I wanted to make sure that everything was secure in her house. 'Cause I knew what she had in her home," Jamrock explains.

"You know that that line of questioning raised some eyebrows," Roberts points out.

"I'm sure it did," he admits. "I'm sure it did."

"Does that mean we thought he did it? Not necessarily. Does it make us suspicious? Obviously," Keith explains.